God's New Revelations

The Book of Psalms

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- Chapter 78 -

I will open my mouth in parables

(Matthew 13:34-35)
1
My friends, listen to what I am going to teach you; pay careful attention to what I will say.
2
I am going to give you some sayings that wise people have said. They will be sayings about things that happened long ago, things that were difficult to understand.
3
These are things that we have heard and known previously, things that our parents and grandparents told us.
4
We will tell these things to our children, but we will also tell our grandchildren about Yahweh’s power and the glorious things that he has done.
5
He gave laws and commandments to the Israelite people, those who are the descendants of Jacob, and he told our ancestors to teach them to their children.
6
He commanded this so that their children would also know them and so that they would teach them to their own children.
7
In that way, they also would trust in God and would not forget the things that he has done; instead, they would obey his commandments.
8
They would not be like their ancestors, who were very stubborn and kept rebelling against God; they did not continue firmly trusting in God, and they did not worship him alone.
9
The soldiers of the tribe of Ephraim had bows and arrows, but they ran away from their enemies on the day that they fought with their enemies.
10
They did not do what they had agreed with God that they would do; they refused to obey his laws.
11
They forgot what he had done; they forgot about the miracles that they had seen him perform.
12
While our ancestors were watching, God performed miracles in the area around the city of Zoan in Egypt.
13
Then he caused the Sea of Reeds to divide, causing the water on each side to pile up like a wall, with the result that our ancestors walked through it on dry ground.
14
He led them by a bright cloud during the day and by a fiery light during the night.
15
He split rocks open in the wilderness and gave to our ancestors plenty of water from deep inside the earth.
16
He caused a stream of water to flow from the rock; the water flowed like a river.
17
But our ancestors continued to sin against God; in the wilderness they rebelled against the one who is greater than any other god.
18
By demanding that God give them the food that they desired, they tried to find out if he would always do what they requested him to do.
19
They insulted God by saying, “Can God supply food for us here in this desert?
20
It is true that he struck the rock, with the result that water gushed out, but can he also provide bread and meat for us, his people?”
21
So when Yahweh heard that, he became very angry, and he sent a fire to burn up some of his Israelite people.
22
He did that because they did not trust in him, and they did not believe that he would rescue them.
23
But God spoke to the sky above them and commanded it to open like a door,
24
and then food fell down like rain, food that they named “manna.” God gave them grain from heaven.
25
So the people ate the food that angels eat, and God gave to them all the manna that they wanted.
26
Later, he caused the wind to blow from the east, and by his power he also sent wind from the south,
27
and the wind brought birds which were as numerous as the grains of sand on the seashore.
28
God caused those birds to fall in the middle of their camp. There were birds all around their tents.
29
So the people cooked the birds and ate the meat; their stomachs were full because God had given them what they wanted.
30
But they had not yet eaten all that they wanted.
31
At that point, God was still very angry with them, and he caused their strongest men to die; he got rid of many of the finest young Israelite men.
32
In spite of all this, the people continued to sin; in spite of all the miracles that God had performed, they still did not trust that he would take care of them.
33
So he made them terrified all their lives; he made them die young.
34
Whenever God caused some of the Israelites to die, the others would repent; they would be sorry and seriously ask God to save them.
35
They would remember that God was like a huge rock on which they would be safe, and that he, who was greater than any other god, was the one who protected them.
36
But they tried to deceive God by what they said; their words were all lies.
37
They were not loyal to him; they ignored the covenant that he had made with them.
38
But God acted mercifully toward his people. He forgave them for having sinned and did not get rid of them. Many times he refrained from becoming angry with them and restrained himself from furiously punishing them.
39
He remembered that they were only humans who die, humans who disappear as quickly as a wind that blows by and then is gone.
40
Many times our ancestors rebelled against God in the wilderness and made him very sad.
41
Many times they did evil things to find out if they could do those things without God punishing them. They frequently caused the holy God of Israel to become angry.
42
They forgot about his great power, and they forgot about the time when he rescued them from their enemies.
43
They forgot about when he performed many miracles in the area near the city of Zoan in Egypt.
44
He caused the Nile River to become red like blood so that the people of Egypt had no water to drink.
45
He sent among the people of Egypt swarms of flies that bit them, and he sent frogs that ate up everything.
46
He sent locusts to eat their crops and the other things that grew in their fields.
47
He sent hail that destroyed the grapevines, and he sent more hail that ruined the figs on the sycamore trees.
48
He sent hail that killed their cattle and lightning that killed their sheep and cows.
49
Because God was fiercely angry with the people of Egypt, he caused them to be very distressed. The disasters that struck them were like a group of angels that destroyed everything.
50
He did not lessen his anger with them, and he did not spare their lives; he sent a plague that killed many of them.
51
In that plague he caused all the firstborn sons of the people of Egypt to die.
52
Then he led his people out of Egypt as a shepherd leads his sheep, and he guided them while they walked through the wilderness.
53
He led them safely, and they were not afraid, but their enemies were drowned in the sea.
54
Later he brought them to Canaan, his sacred land, to Mount Zion, and by his power he enabled them to conquer the people who were living there.
55
He expelled the people groups while his people were advancing; he assigned part of the land for each tribe to possess, and he gave the houses of those people to the Israelites.
56
However, the Israelites rebelled against God, who is greater than any other God, and they did many evil things to see if they could do those things without God punishing them; they did not obey his commandments.
57
Instead, as their ancestors did, they rebelled against God and were not loyal to him; they were as unreliable as a bow that breaks when you try to shoot with it.
58
Because they worshiped carved images of their gods on the tops of hills, they caused God to become angry.
59
He saw what they were doing and became very angry, so he rejected the Israelite people.
60
He no longer appeared to them at Shiloh in the sacred tent where he had lived among them.
61
He allowed their enemies to capture the sacred chest, which was the symbol of his power and his glory.
62
Because he was angry with his people, he allowed their enemies to kill them.
63
Young men were killed in battles, with the result that the young women had no one to marry.
64
Many priests were killed by their enemies’ swords, and the people did not allow the priests’ widows to mourn.
65
Later, it was as though the Lord awoke from sleeping; he was like a strong man who became angry because he drank a lot of wine.
66
He pushed his enemies back and caused them to be very ashamed for a long time because they had been defeated.
67
But he did not set up his tent where the people of the tribe of Ephraim lived; he did not choose their area to do that.
68
Instead he chose the area where the tribe of Judah lived; he chose Mount Zion, which he loves.
69
He decided to have his temple built there, high up, like his home in heaven; he caused it to be firm, like the earth, and intended that his temple would last forever.
70
He chose David, who served him faithfully, and took him from the pastures
71
where he was taking care of his father’s sheep, and appointed him to be the leader of the Israelites, the people who would always belong to God.
72
David took care of the Israelite people sincerely and wholeheartedly, and he guided them skillfully.
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I will open my mouth in parables

(Matthew 13:34-35)
1
Hear my teaching, my people. Turn your ears to the words of my mouth.
2
I will open my mouth in a parable. I will utter dark sayings of old,
3
which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us.
4
We will not hide them from their children, telling to the generation to come the praises of the LORD, his strength, and his wondrous deeds that he has done.
5
For he established a covenant in Jacob, and appointed a teaching in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children;
6
that the generation to come might know, even the children who should be born; who should arise and tell their children,
7
that they might set their hope in God, and not forget God’s deeds, but keep his commandments,
8
and might not be as their fathers— a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation that didn’t make their hearts loyal, whose spirit was not steadfast with God.
9
The children of Ephraim, being armed and carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle.
10
They didn’t keep God’s covenant, and refused to walk in his law.
11
They forgot his doings, his wondrous deeds that he had shown them.
12
He did marvelous things in the sight of their fathers, in the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan.
13
He split the sea, and caused them to pass through. He made the waters stand as a heap.
14
In the daytime he also led them with a cloud, and all night with a light of fire.
15
He split rocks in the wilderness, and gave them drink abundantly as out of the depths.
16
He brought streams also out of the rock, and caused waters to run down like rivers.
17
Yet they still went on to sin against him, to rebel against the Most High in the desert.
18
They tempted God in their heart by asking food according to their desire.
19
Yes, they spoke against God. They said, “Can God prepare a table in the wilderness?
20
Behold, he struck the rock, so that waters gushed out, and streams overflowed. Can he give bread also? Will he provide meat for his people?”
21
Therefore the LORD heard, and was angry. A fire was kindled against Jacob, anger also went up against Israel,
22
because they didn’t believe in God, and didn’t trust in his salvation.
23
Yet he commanded the skies above, and opened the doors of heaven.
24
He rained down manna on them to eat, and gave them food from the sky.
25
Man ate the bread of angels. He sent them food to the full.
26
He caused the east wind to blow in the sky. By his power he guided the south wind.
27
He also rained meat on them as the dust, winged birds as the sand of the seas.
28
He let them fall in the middle of their camp, around their habitations.
29
So they ate, and were well filled. He gave them their own desire.
30
They didn’t turn from their cravings. Their food was yet in their mouths,
31
when the anger of God went up against them, killed some of their strongest, and struck down the young men of Israel.
32
For all this they still sinned, and didn’t believe in his wondrous works.
33
Therefore he consumed their days in vanity, and their years in terror.
34
When he killed them, then they inquired after him. They returned and sought God earnestly.
35
They remembered that God was their rock, the Most High God, their redeemer.
36
But they flattered him with their mouth, and lied to him with their tongue.
37
For their heart was not right with him, neither were they faithful in his covenant.
38
But he, being merciful, forgave iniquity, and didn’t destroy them. Yes, many times he turned his anger away, and didn’t stir up all his wrath.
39
He remembered that they were but flesh, a wind that passes away, and doesn’t come again.
40
How often they rebelled against him in the wilderness, and grieved him in the desert!
41
They turned again and tempted God, and provoked the Holy One of Israel.
42
They didn’t remember his hand, nor the day when he redeemed them from the adversary;
43
how he set his signs in Egypt, his wonders in the field of Zoan,
44
he turned their rivers into blood, and their streams, so that they could not drink.
45
He sent among them swarms of flies, which devoured them; and frogs, which destroyed them.
46
He also gave their increase to the caterpillar, and their labor to the locust.
47
He destroyed their vines with hail, their sycamore fig trees with frost.
48
He also gave over their livestock to the hail, and their flocks to hot thunderbolts.
49
He threw on them the fierceness of his anger, wrath, indignation, and trouble, and a band of angels of evil.
50
He made a path for his anger. He didn’t spare their soul from death, but gave their life over to the pestilence,
51
and struck all the firstborn in Egypt, the chief of their strength in the tents of Ham.
52
But he led out his own people like sheep, and guided them in the wilderness like a flock.
53
He led them safely, so that they weren’t afraid, but the sea overwhelmed their enemies.
54
He brought them to the border of his sanctuary, to this mountain, which his right hand had taken.
55
He also drove out the nations before them, allotted them for an inheritance by line, and made the tribes of Israel to dwell in their tents.
56
Yet they tempted and rebelled against the Most High God, and didn’t keep his testimonies,
57
but turned back, and dealt treacherously like their fathers. They were twisted like a deceitful bow.
58
For they provoked him to anger with their high places, and moved him to jealousy with their engraved images.
59
When God heard this, he was angry, and greatly abhorred Israel,
60
so that he abandoned the tent of Shiloh, the tent which he placed among men,
61
and delivered his strength into captivity, his glory into the adversary’s hand.
62
He also gave his people over to the sword, and was angry with his inheritance.
63
Fire devoured their young men. Their virgins had no wedding song.
64
Their priests fell by the sword, and their widows couldn’t weep.
65
Then the Lord awakened as one out of sleep, like a mighty man who shouts by reason of wine.
66
He struck his adversaries backward. He put them to a perpetual reproach.
67
Moreover he rejected the tent of Joseph, and didn’t choose the tribe of Ephraim,
68
But chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion which he loved.
69
He built his sanctuary like the heights, like the earth which he has established forever.
70
He also chose David his servant, and took him from the sheepfolds;
71
from following the ewes that have their young, he brought him to be the shepherd of Jacob, his people, and Israel, his inheritance.
72
So he was their shepherd according to the integrity of his heart, and guided them by the skillfulness of his hands.
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