Psalm 78. Attendite, popule.

Part I: Attendite, popule

1. Hear my teaching, O my people; *
   incline your ears to the words of my mouth.
2. I will open my mouth in a parable; *
   I will declare the mysteries of ancient times.
3. That which we have heard and known, and what our forefathers have told us, *
   we will not hide from their children.
4. We will recount to generations to come the praiseworthy deeds and the power of the Lord, *
   and the wonderful works he has done.
5. He gave his decrees to Jacob and established a law for Israel, *
   which he commanded them to teach their children;
6. That the generations to come might know, and the children yet unborn; *
   that they in their turn might tell it to their children;
7. So that they might put their trust in God, *
   and not forget the deeds of God, but keep his commandments;
8. And not be like their forefathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, *
   a generation whose heart was not steadfast, and whose spirit was not faithful to God.
9. The people of Ephraim, armed with the bow, *
   turned back in the day of battle;
10. They did not keep the covenant of God, *
    and refused to walk in his law;
11. They forgot what he had done, *
    and the wonders he had shown them.
12. He worked marvels in the sight of their forefathers, *
    in the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan.
13. He split open the sea and let them pass through; *
    he made the waters stand up like walls.
14. He led them with a cloud by day, *
    and all the night through with a glow of fire.
15. He split the hard rocks in the wilderness *
    and gave them drink as from the great deep.
16. He brought streams out of the cliff, *
    and the waters gushed out like rivers.
17. But they went on sinning against him, *
    rebelling in the desert against the Most High.
18. They tested God in their hearts, *
    demanding food for their craving.
19. They railed against God and said, *
    "Can God set a table in the wilderness?
20. True, he struck the rock, the waters gushed out, and the gullies overflowed; *
    but is he able to give bread or to provide meat for his people?"
21. When the Lord heard this, he was full of wrath; *
    a fire was kindled against Jacob, and his anger mounted against Israel;
22. For they had no faith in God, *
    nor did they put their trust in his saving power.
23. So he commanded the clouds above *
    and opened the doors of heaven.
24. He rained down manna upon them to eat *
    and gave them grain from heaven.
25. So mortals ate the bread of angels; *
    he provided for them food enough.
26. He caused the east wind to blow in the heavens *
    and led out the south wind by his might.
27. He rained down flesh upon them like dust *
    and winged birds like the sand of the sea.
28. He let it fall in the midst of their camp *
    and round about their dwellings.
29. So they ate and were well filled, *
    for he gave them what they craved.
30. But they did not stop their craving, *
    though the food was still in their mouths.
31. So God's anger mounted against them; *
    he slew their strongest men and laid low the youth of Israel.
32. In spite of all this, they went on sinning *
    and had no faith in his wonderful works.
33. So he brought their days to an end like a breath *
    and their years in sudden terror.
34. Whenever he slew them, they would seek him, *
    and repent, and diligently search for God.
35. They would remember that God was their rock, *
    and the Most High God their redeemer.
36. But they flattered him with their mouths *
    and lied to him with their tongues.
37. Their heart was not steadfast toward him, *
    and they were not faithful to his covenant.
38. But he was so merciful that he forgave their sins and did not destroy them; *
    many times he held back his anger and did not permit his wrath to be roused.
39. For he remembered that they were but flesh, *
    a breath that goes forth and does not return.

Part II: Quoties exacerbaverunt

40. How often the people disobeyed him in the wilderness *
    and offended him in the desert!
41. Again and again they tempted God *
    and provoked the Holy One of Israel.
42. They did not remember his power *
    in the day when he ransomed them from the enemy;
43. How he wrought his signs in Egypt *
    and his omens in the field of Zoan.
44. He turned their rivers into blood, *
    so that they could not drink of their streams.
45. He sent swarms of flies among them, which ate them up, *
    and frogs, which destroyed them.
46. He gave their crops to the caterpillar, *
    the fruit of their toil to the locust.
47. He killed their vines with hail *
    and their sycamores with frost.
48. He delivered their cattle to hailstones *
    and their livestock to hot thunderbolts.
49. He poured out upon them his blazing anger: *
    fury, indignation, and distress, a troop of destroying angels.
50. He gave full rein to his anger; he did not spare their souls from death; *
    but delivered their lives to the plague.
51. He struck down all the firstborn of Egypt, *
    the flower of manhood in the dwellings of Ham.
52. He led out his people like sheep *
    and guided them in the wilderness like a flock.
53. He led them to safety, and they were not afraid; *
    but the sea overwhelmed their enemies.
54. He brought them to his holy land, *
    the mountain his right hand had won.
55. He drove out the Canaanites before them and apportioned an inheritance to them by lot; *
    he made the tribes of Israel to dwell in their tents.
56. But they tested the Most High God, and defied him, *
    and did not keep his commandments.
57. They turned away and were disloyal like their fathers; *
    they were undependable like a warped bow.
58. They grieved him with their hill-altars *
    and provoked his displeasure with their idols.
59. When God heard this, he was angry *
    and utterly rejected Israel.
60. He forsook the shrine at Shiloh, *
    the tabernacle where he had lived among his people.
61. He delivered the ark into captivity, *
    his glory into the adversary's hand.
62. He gave his people to the sword *
    and was angered against his inheritance.
63. The fire consumed their young men; *
    there were no wedding songs for their maidens.
64. Their priests fell by the sword, *
    and their widows made no lamentation.
65. Then the Lord woke as though from sleep, *
    like a warrior refreshed with wine.
66. He struck his enemies on the backside *
    and put them to perpetual shame.
67. He rejected the tent of Joseph *
    and did not choose the tribe of Ephraim;
68. He chose instead the tribe of Judah *
    and Mount Zion, which he loved.
69. He built his sanctuary like the heights of heaven, *
    like the earth which he founded for ever.
70. He chose David his servant, *
    and took him away from the sheepfolds.
71. He brought him from following the ewes, *
    to be a shepherd over Jacob his people and over Israel his inheritance.
72. So he shepherded them with a faithful and true heart *
    and guided them with the skillfulness of his hands.