Psalms 78:43-68

43when he performed his awesome deeds in Egypt, and his acts of judgment in the region of Zoan.

44He turned their rivers into blood, and they could not drink from their streams.

45He sent swarms of biting insects against them, as well as frogs that overran their land.

46He gave their crops to the grasshopper, the fruit of their labor to the locust.

47He destroyed their vines with hail, and their sycamore-fig trees with driving rain.

48He rained hail down on their cattle, and hurled lightning bolts down on their livestock.

49His raging anger lashed out against them, He sent fury, rage, and trouble as messengers who bring disaster.

50He sent his anger in full force; he did not spare them from death; he handed their lives over to destruction.

51He struck down all the firstborn in Egypt, the firstfruits of their reproductive power in the tents of Ham.

52Yet he brought out his people like sheep; he led them through the wilderness like a flock.

53He guided them safely along, while the sea covered their enemies.

54He brought them to the border of his holy land, to this mountainous land which his right hand acquired.

55He drove the nations out from before them; he assigned them their tribal allotments and allowed the tribes of Israel to settle down.

56Yet they challenged and defied the sovereign God, and did not obey his commands.

57They were unfaithful and acted as treacherously as their ancestors; they were as unreliable as a malfunctioning bow.

58They made him angry with their pagan shrines, and made him jealous with their idols.

59God heard and was angry; he completely rejected Israel.

60He abandoned the sanctuary at Shiloh, the tent where he lived among men.

61He allowed the symbol of his strong presence to be captured; he gave the symbol of his splendor into the hand of the enemy.

62He delivered his people over to the sword, and was angry with his chosen nation.

63Fire consumed their young men, and their virgins remained unmarried.

64Their priests fell by the sword, but their widows did not weep.

65But then the Lord awoke from his sleep; he was like a warrior in a drunken rage.

66He drove his enemies back; he made them a permanent target for insults.

67He rejected the tent of Joseph; he did not choose the tribe of Ephraim.

68He chose the tribe of Judah, and Mount Zion, which he loves.