Psalm 78:17–42

¹⁷But they continued to sin against Him,

rebelling in the desert against the Most High.

¹⁸They willfully tested God

by demanding the food they craved.

¹⁹They spoke against God, saying,

“Can God really prepare a table in the wilderness?

²⁰When He struck the rock, water gushed out

and torrents raged.

But can He also give bread

or supply His people with meat?”

²¹Therefore the LORD heard

and was filled with wrath;

so a fire was kindled against Jacob,

and His anger flared against Israel,

²²because they did not believe God

or rely on His salvation.

²³Yet He commanded the clouds above

and opened the doors of the heavens.

²⁴He rained down manna for them to eat;

He gave them grain from heaven.^c

²⁵Man ate the bread of angels;

He sent them food in abundance.

²⁶He stirred the east wind from the heavens

and drove the south wind by His might.

²⁷He rained meat on them like dust,

and winged birds like the sand of the sea.

²⁸He felled them in the midst of their camp,

all around their dwellings.

²⁹So they ate and were well filled,

for He gave them what they craved.

³⁰Yet before they had filled their desire,

with the food still in their mouths,

³¹God’s anger flared against them,

and He put to death their strongest

and subdued the young men of Israel.

³²In spite of all this, they kept on sinning;

despite His wonderful works, they did not believe.

³³So He ended their days in futility,^d

and their years in sudden terror.

³⁴When He slew them, they would seek Him;

they repented and searched for God.

³⁵And they remembered that God was their Rock,

that God Most High^e was their Redeemer.

³⁶But they deceived Him with their mouths,

and lied to Him with their tongues.

³⁷Their hearts were disloyal to Him,

and they were unfaithful to His covenant.

³⁸And yet He was compassionate;

He forgave their iniquity and did not destroy them.

He often restrained His anger

and did not unleash His full wrath.

³⁹He remembered that they were but flesh,

a passing breeze that does not return.

⁴⁰How often they disobeyed Him in the wilderness

and grieved Him in the desert!

⁴¹Again and again they tested God

and provoked the Holy One of Israel.

⁴²They did not remember His power^f —

the day He redeemed them from the adversary,