Psalms 78:1–6

⁴¶ Hearken unto me, my people; and give ear unto me, O my nation: for a law shall proceed from me, and I will make my judgment to rest for a light of the people.

³Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.

¹AND the Spirit of God came upon Azariah the son of Oded:

²And he went out to meet Asa, and said unto him, Hear ye me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin; The Lord is with you, while ye be with him; and if ye seek him, he will be found of you; but if ye forsake him, he will forsake you.

³Now for a long season Israel hath been without the true God, and without a teaching priest, and without law.

⁴But when they in their trouble did turn unto the Lord God of Israel, and sought him, he was found of them.

⁵And in those times there was no peace to him that went out, nor to him that came in, but great vexations were upon all the inhabitants of the countries.

⁶And nation was destroyed of nation, and city of city: for God did vex them with all adversity.

⁷Be ye strong therefore, and let not your hands be weak: for your work shall be rewarded.

⁸And when Asa heard these words, and the prophecy of Oded the prophet, he took courage, and put away the abominable idols out of all the land of Judah and Benjamin, and out of the cities which he had taken from mount Ephraim, and renewed the altar of the Lord, that was before the porch of the Lord.

⁹And he gathered all Judah and Benjamin, and the strangers with them out of Ephraim and Manasseh, and out of Simeon: for they fell to him out of Israel in abundance, when they saw that the Lord his God was with him.

¹⁰So they gathered themselves together at Jerusalem in the third month, in the fifteenth year of the reign of Asa.

¹¹And they offered unto the Lord the same time, of the spoil which they had brought, seven hundred oxen and seven thousand sheep.

¹²And they entered into a covenant to seek the Lord God of their fathers with all their heart and with all their soul;

¹³That whosoever would not seek the Lord God of Israel should be put to death, whether small or great, whether man or woman.

¹⁴And they sware unto the Lord with a loud voice, and with shouting, and with trumpets, and with cornets.

¹⁵And all Judah rejoiced at the oath: for they had sworn with all their heart, and sought him with their whole desire; and he was found of them: and the Lord gave them rest round about.

¹⁶¶ And also concerning Maachah the mother of Asa the king, he removed her from being queen, because she had made an idol in a grove: and Asa cut down her idol, and stamped it, and burnt it at the brook Kidron.

³Hear, O ye kings; give ear, O ye princes; I, even I, will sing unto the Lord; I will sing praise to the Lord God of Israel.

⁴Unto you, O men, I call; and my voice is to the sons of man.

⁵O ye simple, understand wisdom: and, ye fools, be ye of an understanding heart.

⁶Hear; for I will speak of excellent things; and the opening of my lips shall be right things.

¹HEAR this, all ye people; give ear, all ye inhabitants of the world:

²Both low and high, rich and poor, together.

³My mouth shall speak of wisdom; and the meditation of my heart shall be of understanding.

⁷Hear, O my people, and I will speak; O Israel, and I will testify against thee: I am God, even thy God.

¹O GOD, why hast thou cast us off for ever? why doth thine anger smoke against the sheep of thy pasture?

⁹Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.

⁴Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest.

³⁴All these things spake Jesus unto the multitude in parables; and without a parable spake he not unto them:

³⁵That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world.

³⁴But without a parable spake he not unto them: and when they were alone, he expounded all things to his disciples.

¹¹He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.

¹²For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath.

¹³Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.

⁴I will incline mine ear to a parable: I will open my dark saying upon the harp.

⁶To understand a proverb, and the interpretation; the words of the wise, and their dark sayings.

¹WE have heard with our ears, O God, our fathers have told us, what work thou didst in their days, in the times of old.

²⁶And it shall come to pass, when your children shall say unto you, What mean ye by this service?

²⁷That ye shall say, It is the sacrifice of the Lord’s passover, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, when he smote the Egyptians, and delivered our houses. And the people bowed the head and worshipped.

¹⁴¶ And it shall be when thy son asketh thee in time to come, saying, What is this? that thou shalt say unto him, By strength of hand the Lord brought us out from Egypt, from the house of bondage:

¹⁵And it came to pass, when Pharaoh would hardly let us go, that the Lord slew all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both the firstborn of man, and the firstborn of beast: therefore I sacrifice to the Lord all that openeth the matrix, being males; but all the firstborn of my children I redeem.

⁸¶ And thou shalt shew thy son in that day, saying, This is done because of that which the Lord did unto me when I came forth out of Egypt.

⁸As we have heard, so have we seen in the city of the Lord of hosts, in the city of our God: God will establish it for ever. Selah.

¹⁹And ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.

⁹Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life: but teach them thy sons, and thy sons’ sons;

³Tell ye your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children another generation.

⁴One generation shall praise thy works to another, and shall declare thy mighty acts.

⁵I will speak of the glorious honour of thy majesty, and of thy wondrous works.

⁶And men shall speak of the might of thy terrible acts: and I will declare thy greatness.

⁷And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.

¹⁷O God, thou hast taught me from my youth: and hitherto have I declared thy wondrous works.

¹⁸Now also when I am old and grayheaded, O God, forsake me not; until I have shewed thy strength unto this generation, and thy power to every one that is to come.

¹WHY standest thou afar off, O Lord? why hidest thou thyself in times of trouble?

²The wicked in his pride doth persecute the poor: let them be taken in the devices that they have imagined.

³For the wicked boasteth of his heart’s desire, and blesseth the covetous, whom the Lord abhorreth.

⁴The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts.

⁵His ways are always grievous; thy judgments are far above out of his sight: as for all his enemies, he puffeth at them.

⁶That this may be a sign among you, that when your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, What mean ye by these stones?

⁷Then ye shall answer them, That the waters of Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord; when it passed over Jordan, the waters of Jordan were cut off: and these stones shall be for a memorial unto the children of Israel for ever.

¹⁴¶ And it shall be when thy son asketh thee in time to come, saying, What is this? that thou shalt say unto him, By strength of hand the Lord brought us out from Egypt, from the house of bondage:

²¹And he spake unto the children of Israel, saying, When your children shall ask their fathers in time to come, saying, What mean these stones?

²²Then ye shall let your children know, saying, Israel came over this Jordan on dry land.

²³For the Lord your God dried up the waters of Jordan from before you, until ye were passed over, as the Lord your God did to the Red sea, which he dried up from before us, until we were gone over:

²⁴That all the people of the earth might know the hand of the Lord, that it is mighty: that ye might fear the Lord your God for ever.

²⁶And it shall come to pass, when your children shall say unto you, What mean ye by this service?

⁸¶ And thou shalt shew thy son in that day, saying, This is done because of that which the Lord did unto me when I came forth out of Egypt.

⁷¶ I will mention the lovingkindnesses of the Lord, and the praises of the Lord, according to all that the Lord hath bestowed on us, and the great goodness toward the house of Israel, which he hath bestowed on them according to his mercies, and according to the multitude of his lovingkindnesses.

⁸For he said, Surely they are my people, children that will not lie: so he was their Saviour.

⁹In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them: in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; and he bare them, and carried them all the days of old.

¹⁰¶ But they rebelled, and vexed his holy Spirit: therefore he was turned to be their enemy, and he fought against them.

¹¹Then he remembered the days of old, Moses, and his people, saying, Where is he that brought them up out of the sea with the shepherd of his flock? where is he that put his holy Spirit within him?

¹²That led them by the right hand of Moses with his glorious arm, dividing the water before them, to make himself an everlasting name?

¹³That led them through the deep, as an horse in the wilderness, that they should not stumble?

¹⁴As a beast goeth down into the valley, the Spirit of the Lord caused him to rest: so didst thou lead thy people, to make thyself a glorious name.

¹⁵¶ Look down from heaven, and behold from the habitation of thy holiness and of thy glory: where is thy zeal and thy strength, the sounding of thy bowels and of thy mercies toward me? are they restrained?

¹⁶Doubtless thou art our father, though Abraham be ignorant of us, and Israel acknowledge us not: thou, O Lord, art our father, our redeemer; thy name is from everlasting.

¹⁷¶ O Lord, why hast thou made us to err from thy ways, and hardened our heart from thy fear? Return for thy servants’ sake, the tribes of thine inheritance.

¹⁸The people of thy holiness have possessed it but a little while: our adversaries have trodden down thy sanctuary.

¹⁹We are thine: thou never barest rule over them; they were not called by thy name.

⁷That I may publish with the voice of thanksgiving, and tell of all thy wondrous works.

¹⁴That I may shew forth all thy praise in the gates of the daughter of Zion: I will rejoice in thy salvation.

¹⁸Which wise men have told from their fathers, and have not hid it:

⁴And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.

⁴⁵These are the testimonies, and the statutes, and the judgments, which Moses spake unto the children of Israel, after they came forth out of Egypt,

⁷And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.

¹⁹For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment; that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him.

⁵This he ordained in Joseph for a testimony, when he went out through the land of Egypt: where I heard a language that I understood not.

¹⁹And ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.

¹⁹The living, the living, he shall praise thee, as I do this day: the father to the children shall make known thy truth.

²⁰To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.

²Much every way: chiefly, because that unto them were committed the oracles of God.

⁹If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater: for this is the witness of God which he hath testified of his Son.

¹⁰He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son.

¹¹And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.

¹²He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.

²¹And thou shalt put the mercy seat above upon the ark; and in the ark thou shalt put the testimony that I shall give thee.

³And thou shalt put therein the ark of the testimony, and cover the ark with the vail.

⁷The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.

³Which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us.

⁴We will not hide them from their children, shewing to the generation to come the praises of the Lord, and his strength, and his wonderful works that he hath done.

¹⁶And thou shalt put into the ark the testimony which I shall give thee.

¹⁵²Concerning thy testimonies, I have known of old that thou hast founded them for ever.

¹⁹He sheweth his word unto Jacob, his statutes and his judgments unto Israel.

²⁰¶ And he took and put the testimony into the ark, and set the staves on the ark, and put the mercy seat above upon the ark:

³Tell ye your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children another generation.

¹⁸This shall be written for the generation to come: and the people which shall be created shall praise the Lord.

¹⁰Specially the day that thou stoodest before the Lord thy God in Horeb, when the Lord said unto me, Gather me the people together, and I will make them hear my words, that they may learn to fear me all the days that they shall live upon the earth, and that they may teach their children.

²⁸And that these days should be remembered and kept throughout every generation, every family, every province, and every city; and that these days of Purim should not fail from among the Jews, nor the memorial of them perish from their seed.

⁴One generation shall praise thy works to another, and shall declare thy mighty acts.

³¹They shall come, and shall declare his righteousness unto a people that shall be born, that he hath done this.

¹⁶Let thy work appear unto thy servants, and thy glory unto their children.

²⁴And if we have not rather done it for fear of this thing, saying, In time to come your children might speak unto our children, saying, What have ye to do with the Lord God of Israel?

²⁵For the Lord hath made Jordan a border between us and you, ye children of Reuben and children of Gad; ye have no part in the Lord: so shall your children make our children cease from fearing the Lord.

¹³Mark ye well her bulwarks, consider her palaces; that ye may tell it to the generation following.

¹⁸Now also when I am old and grayheaded, O God, forsake me not; until I have shewed thy strength unto this generation, and thy power to every one that is to come.