The Tanakh · JPS 1917 Translation

Psalms 78

Jewish Publication Society 1917 · Ketuvim — the Writings

Psalms chapter 78 — part of the Ketuvim — the Writings in the Jewish Bible. In the classic JPS 1917 translation it opens: “Maschil of Asaph. Give ear, O my people, to my teaching; incline your ears to the words of my mouth.” — the complete text of all 72 verses is below, free to read online.

1Maschil of Asaph. Give ear, O my people, to my teaching; incline your ears to the words of my mouth.

2I will open my mouth with a parable; I will utter dark sayings concerning days of old;

3That which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us,

4We will not hide from their children, telling to the generation to come the praises of HaShem, and His strength, and His wondrous works that He hath done.

5For He established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which He commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children;

6That the generation to come might know them, even the children that should be born; who should arise and tell them to their children,

7That they might put their confidence in G-d, and not forget the works of G-d, but keep His commandments;

8And might not be as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation; a generation that set not their heart aright, and whose spirit was not stedfast with G-d.

9The children of Ephraim were as archers handling the bow, that turned back in the day of battle.

10They kept not the covenant of G-d, and refused to walk in His law;

11And they forgot His doings, and His wondrous works that He had shown them.

12Marvellous things did He in the sight of their fathers, in the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan.

13He cleaved the sea, and caused them to pass through; and He made the waters to stand as a heap.

14By day also He led them with a cloud, and all the night with a light of fire.

15He cleaved rocks in the wilderness, and gave them drink abundantly as out of the great deep.

16He brought streams also out of the rock, and caused waters to run down like rivers.

17Yet went they on still to sin against Him, to rebel against the Most High in the desert.

18And they tried G-d in their heart by asking food for their craving.

19Yea, they spoke against G-d; they said: 'Can G-d prepare a table in the wilderness?

20Behold, He smote the rock, that waters gushed out, and streams overflowed; can He give bread also? or will He provide flesh for His people?'

21Therefore HaShem heard, and was wroth; and a fire was kindled against Jacob, and anger also went up against Israel;

22Because they believed not in G-d, and trusted not in His salvation.

23And He commanded the skies above, and opened the doors of heaven;

24And He caused manna to rain upon them for food, and gave them of the corn of heaven.

25Man did eat the bread of the mighty; He sent them provisions to the full.

26He caused the east wind to set forth in heaven; and by His power He brought on the south wind.

27He caused flesh also to rain upon them as the dust, and winged fowl as the sand of the seas;

28And He let it fall in the midst of their camp, round about their dwellings.

29So they did eat, and were well filled; and He gave them that which they craved.

30They were not estranged from their craving, their food was yet in their mouths,

31When the anger of G-d went up against them, and slew of the lustieth among them, and smote down the young men of Israel.

32For all this they sinned still, and believed not in His wondrous works.

33Therefore He ended their days as a breath, and their years in terror.

34When He slew them, then they would inquire after Him, and turn back and seek G-d earnestly.

35And they remembered that G-d was their Rock, and the Most High G-d their redeemer.

36But they beguiled Him with their mouth, and lied unto Him with their tongue.

37For their heart was not stedfast with Him, neither were they faithful in His covenant.

38But He, being full of compassion, forgiveth iniquity, and destroyeth not; yea, many a time doth He turn His anger away, and doth not stir up all His wrath.

39So He remembered that they were but flesh, a wind that passeth away, and cometh not again.

40How oft did they rebel against Him in the wilderness, and grieve Him in the desert!

41And still again they tried G-d, and set bounds to the Holy One of Israel.

42They remembered not His hand, nor the day when He redeemed them from the adversary.

43How He set His signs in Egypt, and His wonders in the field of Zoan;

44And turned their rivers into blood, so that they could not drink their streams.

45He sent among them swarms of flies, which devoured them; and frogs, which destroyed them.

46He gave also their increase unto the caterpillar, and their labour unto the locust.

47He destroyed their vines with hail, and their sycamore-trees with frost.

48He gave over their cattle also to the hail, and their flocks to fiery bolts.

49He sent forth upon them the fierceness of His anger, wrath, and indignation, and trouble, a sending of messengers of evil.

50He levelled a path for His anger; He spared not their soul from death, but gave their life over to the pestilence;

51And smote all the first-born in Egypt, the first-fruits of their strength in the tents of Ham;

52But He made His own people to go forth like sheep, and guided them in the wilderness like a flock.

53And He led them safely, and they feared not; but the sea overwhelmed their enemies.

54And He brought them to His holy border, to the mountain, which His right hand had gotten.

55He drove out the nations also before them, and allotted them for an inheritance by line, and made the tribes of Israel to dwell in their tents.

56Yet they tried and provoked G-d, the Most High, and kept not His testimonies;

57But turned back, and dealt treacherously like their fathers; they were turned aside like a deceitful bow.

58For they provoked Him with their high places, and moved Him to jealousy with their graven images.

59G-d heard, and was wroth, and He greatly abhorred Israel;

60And He forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent which He had made to dwell among men;

61And delivered His strength into captivity, and His glory into the adversary's hand.

62He gave His people over also unto the sword; and was wroth with His inheritance.

63Fire devoured their young men; and their virgins had no marriage-song.

64Their priests fell by the sword; and their widows made no lamentation.

65Then the L-rd awaked as one asleep, like a mighty man recovering from wine.

66And He smote His adversaries backward; He put upon them a perpetual reproach.

67Moreover He abhorred the tent of Joseph, and chose not the tribe of Ephraim;

68But chose the tribe of Judah, the mount Zion which He loved.

69And He built His sanctuary like the heights, like the earth which He hath founded for ever.

70He chose David also His servant, and took him from the sheepfolds;

71From following the ewes that give suck He brought him, to be shepherd over Jacob His people, and Israel His inheritance.

72So he shepherded them according to the integrity of his heart; and lead them by the skilfulness of his hands.

72 verses · JPS 1917 (public domain)

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