A psalm written by Asaph

1My friends, listen to what I am going to teach you; pay careful attention [IDM] to what I say.

2I 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 [MET],

3things that we have heard and known previously, things that our parents and grandparents told us.

4We will tell these things to our children [LIT],
and we will also tell to our grandchildren about Yahweh’s power and the glorious/great things that he has done.

5He gave laws and commandments to the Israeli people,
those who are the descendants of Jacob [DOU],
and he told our ancestors to teach them to their children

6in order that their children would also know them and then they would teach them to their children.

7In that way, they also would trust in God, and not forget the things that he has done; instead, they would obey his commandments.

8They 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 only him.

9The soldiers of the tribe of Ephraim had bows and arrows
but they ran away from their enemies on the day that they fought a battle with their enemies.

10They did not do what they had agreed with God that they would do; they refused to obey his laws.

11They forgot what he had done; they forgot about the miracles that they had seen him perform.

12While our ancestors were watching,
God performed miracles in the area around Zoan city in Egypt.

13Then he caused the Red Sea 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.

14He led them by a bright cloud during the day
and by a fiery light during the night.

15He split rocks open in the desert,
giving to our ancestors plenty of water from deep inside the earth.

16He caused a stream of water to flow from the rock; the water flowed like a river [DOU].

17But our ancestors continued to sin against God;
in the desert they rebelled against the one who is greater than any other god.

18By 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.

19They insulted God by saying, “We don’t think he can supply food for us here in this desert!

20It is true that he struck the rock, with the result that water gushed/flowed out, but ◄can he also provide bread and meat for us, his people?/we doubt that he can also provide bread and meat for us, his people.►” [RHQ]

21So, when Yahweh heard that, he became very angry, and he sent a fire to burn up some of his Israeli people. [MTY, DOU]

22He did that because they did not trust in him,
and they did not believe that he would rescue them.

23But God spoke to the sky above them; he commanded it to open like a door,

24and then food fell down like rain, food which they named ‘manna’; God gave them grain from ◄heaven/the sky►.

25So the people ate the food that angels eat, and God gave to them all the manna that they wanted.

26Later, he caused the wind to blow from the east, and by his power he also sent wind from the south,

27and the wind brought birds which were as numerous as the grains of sand on the seashore.

28God caused those birds to fall dead in the middle of ◄their camp►/the area where the people had put up their tents. There were dead birds all around their tents.

29So the people cooked the birds and ate the meat and their stomachs were full, because God had given them what they wanted.

30But before they had eaten all that they wanted, and while they were still eating it,

31God was still very angry with them, and he caused their strongest men to die;
he got rid of many of the finest young Israeli men.

32In spite of all that, 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.

33So, he caused their lives to end as quickly as a puff of wind ends; they died when disasters suddenly struck them.

34When God caused some of them to die,
the others turned to God;
they repented and earnestly asked God to save them.

35They remembered that God is like a huge rock ledge under which they would be safe [MET],
and that he, who was greater than any other god, is the one who protected/rescued them.

36But they tried to deceive God by what they said [MTY]; their words [MTY] were all lies.

37They were not loyal to him; they disregarded/ignored the agreement that he had made with them.

38But God was merciful to 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 from furiously/severely punishing them [MTY].

39He remembered/considered that they were only humans who die; they disappear quickly [SIM], like a wind that blows by and then is gone.

40Many times our ancestors rebelled against God in the desert
and caused him to become very sad.

41Many 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 disgusted/sad.

42They forgot about his great power, and they ◄forgot/did not think► about the time when he rescued them from their enemies.

43They forgot about when he performed many miracles in the area near Zoan city in Egypt.

44He caused the Nile River (OR, their sources of water) to become red like blood, with the result that the people of Egypt had no water to drink.

45He sent among the people of Egypt swarms of flies that bit them,
and he sent frogs that ate up everything.

46He sent locusts to eat their crops
and the other things that grew in their fields.

47He sent hail that destroyed the grapevines,
and sent frost that ruined the figs.

48He sent hail that killed their cattle
and sent lightning that killed their sheep and cows.

49Because 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.

50He did not lessen his being angry with them, and he did not ◄spare their lives/prevent them from dying►; he sent a ◄plague/serious illness► that killed many of them.

51He also caused all the firstborn sons of the people of Egypt to die.

52Then he led his people out of Egypt like a shepherd leads his sheep [SIM], and he guided them while they walked through the desert.

53He led them safely, and they were not afraid, but their enemies were drowned in the sea.

54Later he brought them to Canaan, his sacred land, to Zion Hill (OR, the hilly area)
and by his power [MTY] he enabled them to conquer the people who were living there.

55He expelled the people-groups while his people were advancing; he allotted part of the land for each tribe to possess,
and he gave to the Israeli people the houses of those people who had been expelled.

56However, the Israeli people 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,
and they did not obey his commandments.

57Instead, like their ancestors did, they rebelled against God and ◄were not loyal to/did not faithfully obey► him; they were as unreliable as a crooked arrow that does not go straight [SIM].

58Because they worshiped carved images of their gods on the tops of hills,
they caused God to become angry [DOU].

59He saw what they were doing and became very angry, so he rejected the Israeli people.

60He no longer appeared to them at Shiloh in the tent where he had lived among them.

61He allowed their enemies to capture the sacred chest, which was the symbol of his power and his glory.

62Because he was angry with his people, he allowed them to be killed [MTY] by their enemies.

63Young men were killed in battles, with the result that the young women had no one to marry.

64Many priests were killed by their enemies’ swords, and ◄the people did not allow the priests’ widows/the priests’ widows were not allowed► to mourn.

65Later, it was as though the Lord awoke from sleeping;
he was like a strong man who ◄became stimulated/felt that he was strong► by (OR, became sober after) drinking a lot of wine [SIM].

66He pushed their enemies back and caused them to be very ashamed for a long time [HYP]
because they had been defeated.

67But 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.

68Instead he chose the area where the tribe of Judah lived; he chose Zion Hill, which he loves.

69He decided to have his temple built there, high up, like his home in heaven;
he caused it to be firm, and intended that his temple would last forever, like the earth.

70He chose David, who served him faithfully, and took him from the pastures

71where he was taking care of his father’s sheep, and appointed him to be the leader [MET] of the Israeli people, the people who belong to God.

72David took care of the Israeli people sincerely and wholeheartedly, and guided them skillfully/wisely.