Psalm 78:40-72, Chant A
Psalm 78:40-72 Quoties exacerbaverunt
40 How often the people disobeyed him in the wil-derness *
and offended him in the de-sert!
41 Again and again they temp–ted God *
and provoked the Holy One of Is-rael.
42 They did not remember his pow-er *
in the day when he ransomed them from the en-emy;
43 How he wrought his signs in E-gypt *
and his omens in the field of Zo-an.
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 des-troyed them.
46 He gave their crops to the cater-pil-lar, *
the fruit of their toil to the lo-cust.
47 He killed their vines with hail *
and their syca-mores with frost.
48 He delivered their cattle to hail-stones *
and their livestock to hot thun-derbolts.
49 He poured out upon them his blazing an-ger: *
fury, indignation, and distress, a troop of des-troy-ing an-gels.
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 E-gypt, *
the flower of humanity in the dwel-lings 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 a-fraid; *
but the sea over-whelmed their en-emies.
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 de-fied him, *
and did not keep his com-mand-ments.
57 They turned away and were disloyal like their fa-thers; *
they were undependable like a warped bow.
58 They grieved him with their hill-al-tars *
they provoked his displeasure with their i-dols.
59 When God heard this, he was an-gry *
and utterly re-jec-ted Is-rael.
60 He forsook the shrine at Shi-loh, *
the tabernacle where he had lived a-mong his peo-ple.
61 He delivered the ark into cap-tiv-ity, *
his glory into the adver-sa-ry’s hand.
62 He gave his people to the sword *
and was angered against his in-her-itance.
63 The fire consumed their young men; *
there were no wedding songs for their maid-ens.
64 Their priests fell by the sword, *
and their widows made no la-men-ta-tion.
65 Then the LORD woke as though from sleep, *
like a warrior re-freshed with wine.
66 He struck his enemies on the back-side *
and put them to per-pe-tual shame.
67 He rejected the tent of Jo-seph *
and did not choose the tribe of E-phraim;
68 He chose instead the tribe of Ju-dah *
and Mount Zion, which he loved.
69 He built his sanctuary like the heights of hea-ven, *
like the earth which he founded for ev-er.
70 He chose David his ser-vant, *
and took him away from the sheep-folds.
71 He brought him from following the ewes, *
to be a shepherd over Jacob his people and over Israel his in-her-itance.
72 So he shepherded them with a faithful and true heart *
and guided them with the skillfulness of his hands.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spir-it: *
as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ev-er. A-men.