Psalms 78:55-72

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.