Psalm LXXVIII.
1
Attend my people to my words,
Give ear O Israel:
To what I am about to say,
Incline and listen well.
2
In parables I will declare,
And sayings dark of old;
Which by our fathers heretofore,
Were to their children told.
3
We from the Ages yet to come,
God's praise will not conceal:
But all his power and wondrous works,
To them we will reveal.
4
For he in Israel made a law,
That father to the son,
And so forth on from age to age,
Should tell what God had done.
5
That they might learn their hope and trust
In God alone to set:
And that they might not break his laws,
Nor mighty works forget.
6
Nor might their fathers imitate,
Who stiff and stubborn were:
Whose heart was not upright with God,
Nor spirit was sincere.
7
The Ephraimites though arm'd with bows,
In battel fled away:
Because they kept not his commands,
Nor would his laws obey.
8
For they forgot the mighty works
He had in Egypt shown:
And what he in their fathers sight,
In Zoan field had done.
9
He brought them through the parted waves,
Which stood on heaps upright:
And led them with a cloud by day,
And with a fire by night.
10
He in the desart clave the rocks,
And made the waters flow:
That they in floods came streaming down,
As mighty rivers do.
11
And yet they did but sin the more,
Provoking God most high:
And tempted him by asking meat,
Their lust to satisfie.
12
Yea they did these blasphemous words,
Against the Lord express,
Can God provide a feast for us,
In such a wilderness?
13
He gave us water from the rock,
And made the streams to flow:
But can he give us bread and flesh
For all this people too?
14
At this the anger of the Lord
Was kindled to a flame:
And soon upon his Israel
A dreadful vengeance came.
15
Because they would not him believe,
Nor in his mercy hope:
Though he had made the clouds give way,
And doors in heaven set ope.
16
He manna rain'd, and gave them corn
Of heaven, most sweet and good:
And mortal man most plenteously,
Was fed with Angels food.
17
He caus'd the south-east wind to blow,
And by his mighty power,
He rained flesh as thick as dust,
Or sand upon the shoar.
18
He let it fall about their tents,
That they might eat their fill:
So very man had his desire,
And feasted at his will.
19
But while the meat was in their mouths,
The plague from heaven fell;
And swept away the choicest men
That were in Israel.
20
Yet after this they sinned still,
Nor would his works believe:
For which he made them all their days
To pine away and grieve.
21
When thus he plagu'd them for their sin,
To seek him then they seem'd:
Confessing that he was their rock,
And had their lives redeem'd.
22
But all this while they flatter'd him,
And did but feign and lie:
They spoke him fair, but in their hearts
There was no honesty.
23
Yet he in mercy spar'd them still,
Nor did them all destroy:
Yea oft his anger he restrain'd,
And turn'd his wrath away.
24
For he consider'd with himself
They were but mortal men:
Or like the wind that passeth hence,
And cometh not agen.
25
How often in the wilderness,
Did they his spirit grieve?
They turned back and tempted God,
Nor would his power believe.
26
They thought not on his mighty hand,
When he their lives did save:
And wondrous signs in Egypt's land,
And field of Zoan gave.
27
He turn'd their rivers into blood,
That none thereof could drink:
He sent most noisome flies and frogs,
That made their land to stink.
28
Their crops by locusts were devour'd,
And all their labour lost:
Their vines by hailstones were destroy'd,
And sycamores by frost.
29
By hail and fiery thunderbolts,
Their flocks he did annoy:
And in his wrath bad angels sent,
The people to destroy.
30
He to his anger made a way,
Nor did with life dispence:
But man and beast delivered were
Unto the pestilence.
31
He smote the first born every where,
That came of Egypt's stock:
And guided through the wilderness,
His people like a flock.
32
He led them safely through the flood,
No cause of fear they found:
But by the seas returning waves,
Their enemies were drown'd.
33
He led them to his holy place,
Which his right hand had bought:
This holy mount, from whence his arm
Had cast the heathen out.
34
He gave them an inheritance,
To every tribe their lot:
And made them safe in tents to dwell;
Yet they obey'd him not.
35
But like their fathers turned back,
Nor faithful did abide:
Much like to a deceitful bow,
That carries quite aside.
36
For by their Altars on the hills,
They did his anger try:
And by their graven images,
Provok'd his jealousie.
37
At this the Lord was very wroth,
And loathed Israel:
His tent in Shiloh he forsook,
Where he was wont to dwell.
38
The Ark of God that was the strength,
And glory of the land,
Was taken and deliver'd up
Into the enemies hand.
39
He gave his people to the sword,
His chosen heritage:
Young men were slain, and virgins were
Depriv'd of marriage.
40
Yea priests were slain, and widows made
No lamentation:
At last the Lord awoke from sleep,
To see what men had done.
41
He shouted like a Giant strong,
When wine doth him inflame:
And smote them on their hinder parts,
To their perpetual shame.
42
The tents of Joseph he refus'd,
Nor would in Ephraim dwell:
But Judah chose; and Sion hill,
The place he lov'd so well.
43
And there his holy temple set,
And built it strong and high:
Strong as the earth that never moves,
But stands continually.
44
He took his servant David too
From following the sheep,
And Israel his chosen flock,
Appointed him to keep.
45
So with a true and faithful heart,
His flock he duly fed:
And with a wise and skilful hand,
His people governed.
