Psalms 77:20

77:20 You led your people like a flock of sheep,

by the hand of Moses and Aaron.

Psalms 78:14-72

78:14 He led them with a cloud by day,

and with the light of a fire all night long.

78:15 He broke open rocks in the wilderness,

and gave them enough water to fill the depths of the sea.

78:16 He caused streams to flow from the rock,

and made the water flow like rivers.

78:17 Yet they continued to sin against him,

and rebelled against the sovereign One in the desert.

78:18 They willfully challenged God

by asking for food to satisfy their appetite.

78:19 They insulted God, saying,

“Is God really able to give us food in the wilderness?

78:20 Yes, he struck a rock and water flowed out,

streams gushed forth.

But can he also give us food?

Will he provide meat for his people?”

78:21 When the Lord heard this, he was furious.

A fire broke out against Jacob,

and his anger flared up against Israel,

78:22 because they did not have faith in God,

and did not trust his ability to deliver them.

78:23 He gave a command to the clouds above,

and opened the doors in the sky.

78:24 He rained down manna for them to eat;

he gave them the grain of heaven.

78:25 Man ate the food of the mighty ones.

He sent them more than enough to eat.

78:26 He brought the east wind through the sky,

and by his strength led forth the south wind.

78:27 He rained down meat on them like dust,

birds as numerous as the sand on the seashores.

78:28 He caused them to fall right in the middle of their camp,

all around their homes.

78:29 They ate until they were stuffed;

he gave them what they desired.

78:30 They were not yet filled up,

their food was still in their mouths,

78:31 when the anger of God flared up against them.

He killed some of the strongest of them;

he brought the young men of Israel to their knees.

78:32 Despite all this, they continued to sin,

and did not trust him to do amazing things.

78:33 So he caused them to die unsatisfied

and filled with terror.

78:34 When he struck them down, they sought his favor;

they turned back and longed for God.

78:35 They remembered that God was their protector,

and that the sovereign God was their deliverer.

78:36 But they deceived him with their words,

and lied to him.

78:37 They were not really committed to him,

and they were unfaithful to his covenant.

78:38 Yet he is compassionate.

He forgives sin and does not destroy.

He often holds back his anger,

and does not stir up his fury.

78:39 He remembered that they were made of flesh,

and were like a wind that blows past and does not return.

78:40 How often they rebelled against him in the wilderness,

and insulted him in the desert!

78:41 They again challenged God,

and offended the Holy One of Israel.

78:42 They did not remember what he had done,

how he delivered them from the enemy,

78:43 when he performed his awesome deeds in Egypt,

and his acts of judgment in the region of Zoan.

78:44 He turned their rivers into blood,

and they could not drink from their streams.

78:45 He sent swarms of biting insects against them,

as well as frogs that overran their land.

78:46 He gave their crops to the grasshopper,

the fruit of their labor to the locust.

78:47 He destroyed their vines with hail,

and their sycamore-fig trees with driving rain.

78:48 He rained hail down on their cattle,

and hurled lightning bolts down on their livestock.

78:49 His raging anger lashed out against them,

He sent fury, rage, and trouble

as messengers who bring disaster.

78:50 He sent his anger in full force;

he did not spare them from death;

he handed their lives over to destruction.

78:51 He struck down all the firstborn in Egypt,

the firstfruits of their reproductive power in the tents of Ham.

78:52 Yet he brought out his people like sheep;

he led them through the wilderness like a flock.

78:53 He guided them safely along,

while the sea covered their enemies.

78:54 He brought them to the border of his holy land,

to this mountainous land which his right hand acquired.

78:55 He drove the nations out from before them;

he assigned them their tribal allotments

and allowed the tribes of Israel to settle down.

78:56 Yet they challenged and defied the sovereign God,

and did not obey his commands.

78:57 They were unfaithful and acted as treacherously as their ancestors;

they were as unreliable as a malfunctioning bow.

78:58 They made him angry with their pagan shrines,

and made him jealous with their idols.

78:59 God heard and was angry;

he completely rejected Israel.

78:60 He abandoned the sanctuary at Shiloh,

the tent where he lived among men.

78:61 He allowed the symbol of his strong presence to be captured;

he gave the symbol of his splendor into the hand of the enemy.

78:62 He delivered his people over to the sword,

and was angry with his chosen nation.

78:63 Fire consumed their young men,

and their virgins remained unmarried.

78:64 Their priests fell by the sword,

but their widows did not weep.

78:65 But then the Lord awoke from his sleep;

he was like a warrior in a drunken rage.

78:66 He drove his enemies back;

he made them a permanent target for insults.

78:67 He rejected the tent of Joseph;

he did not choose the tribe of Ephraim.

78:68 He chose the tribe of Judah,

and Mount Zion, which he loves.

78:69 He made his sanctuary as enduring as the heavens above;

as secure as the earth, which he established permanently.

78:70 He chose David, his servant,

and took him from the sheepfolds.

78:71 He took him away from following the mother sheep,

and made him the shepherd of Jacob, his people,

and of Israel, his chosen nation.

78:72 David cared for them with pure motives;

he led them with skill.

Psalms 105:39-41

105:39 He spread out a cloud for a cover,

and provided a fire to light up the night.

105:40 They asked for food, and he sent quails;

he satisfied them with food from the sky.

105:41 He opened up a rock and water flowed out;

a river ran through dry regions.

Psalms 106:12-48

106:12 They believed his promises;

they sang praises to him.

106:13 They quickly forgot what he had done;

they did not wait for his instructions.

106:14 In the wilderness they had an insatiable craving for meat;

they challenged God in the desert.

106:15 He granted their request,

then struck them with a disease.

106:16 In the camp they resented Moses,

and Aaron, the Lord’s holy priest.

106:17 The earth opened up and swallowed Dathan;

it engulfed the group led by Abiram.

106:18 Fire burned their group;

the flames scorched the wicked.

106:19 They made an image of a calf at Horeb,

and worshiped a metal idol.

106:20 They traded their majestic God

for the image of an ox that eats grass.

106:21 They rejected the God who delivered them,

the one who performed great deeds in Egypt,

106:22 amazing feats in the land of Ham,

mighty acts by the Red Sea.

106:23 He threatened to destroy them,

but Moses, his chosen one, interceded with him

and turned back his destructive anger.

106:24 They rejected the fruitful land;

they did not believe his promise.

106:25 They grumbled in their tents;

they did not obey the Lord.

106:26 So he made a solemn vow

that he would make them die in the desert,

106:27 make their descendants die among the nations,

and scatter them among foreign lands.

106:28 They worshiped Baal of Peor,

and ate sacrifices offered to the dead.

106:29 They made the Lord angry by their actions,

and a plague broke out among them.

106:30 Phinehas took a stand and intervened,

and the plague subsided.

106:31 This brought him a reward,

an eternal gift.

106:32 They made him angry by the waters of Meribah,

and Moses suffered because of them,

106:33 for they aroused his temper,

and he spoke rashly.

106:34 They did not destroy the nations,

as the Lord had commanded them to do.

106:35 They mixed in with the nations

and learned their ways.

106:36 They worshiped their idols,

which became a snare to them.

106:37 They sacrificed their sons and daughters to demons.

106:38 They shed innocent blood –

the blood of their sons and daughters,

whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan.

The land was polluted by bloodshed.

106:39 They were defiled by their deeds,

and unfaithful in their actions.

106:40 So the Lord was angry with his people

and despised the people who belong to him.

106:41 He handed them over to the nations,

and those who hated them ruled over them.

106:42 Their enemies oppressed them;

they were subject to their authority.

106:43 Many times he delivered them,

but they had a rebellious attitude,

and degraded themselves by their sin.

106:44 Yet he took notice of their distress,

when he heard their cry for help.

106:45 He remembered his covenant with them,

and relented because of his great loyal love.

106:46 He caused all their conquerors

to have pity on them.

106:47 Deliver us, O Lord, our God!

Gather us from among the nations!

Then we will give thanks to your holy name,

and boast about your praiseworthy deeds.

106:48 The Lord God of Israel deserves praise,

in the future and forevermore.

Let all the people say, “We agree! Praise the Lord!”