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Psalm 78:1-72

Tell the Coming Generation

Lyrics · Psalms

Tell the Coming Generation

Psalm 78:1-72

Lyrics

About this song

About this song

This song belongs to the Psalms collection. One recording is available to play here, with the complete lyrics below.

Bible book
Psalms
Collection
Psalms
Musical styles
Cinematic Soundtrack
Give ear, my people, to the ancient teaching; We will open hidden lessons from the past. What our fathers told us must not vanish; Tell the coming generation what God has done. He divided sea and led them through it, Set a cloud by day and fire at night. He broke the rocks and gave them streams in desert, Yet their hearts kept testing His great might. Still He commanded heaven and sent them manna, Opened doors above and rained down bread. Still they sinned and doubted in the wilderness, Forgetting every wonder they had seen. When He struck, they sought Him for a moment; Their lips spoke love their hearts did not maintain. But He remembered they were only mortal, A wind that passes and returns no more. They grieved Him from the desert into Canaan, Turned to idols and provoked His holy name. He rejected Shiloh, then chose Judah, Chose Mount Zion and His servant David. David shepherded them with a faithful heart And guided them with skillful hands. Tell the coming generation: Set your hope in God and do not forget His works.

Named in this songMannaCanaanShilohMount ZionDavid

About the passage

Psalms 78: A remembered rescue and a repeatedly forgotten covenant

Psalm 78 turns remembered history into instruction about the heart. The coming generations are to inherit more than flattering memories, because Israel's past includes repeated failure alongside repeated provision. An armed Ephraim can turn back, a people that saw the sea divided can ask whether God can set a table, and mouths can return to correct religious language while hearts remain unstable. The psalm repeatedly places God's remembering against the people's forgetting. He remembers that they are flesh, restrains anger, and continues to act even while the poem exposes their unreliable response. The history doubles back to Egypt because forgotten wonders need to be set out again. It then moves through settlement, idolatry, Shiloh's loss, and the choice of Zion. David's shepherding closes the long account with two qualities that answer its recurring failures: integrity of heart and skill of hands. Memory matters here because it is meant to shape future faithfulness.

Study Psalms 78 in depth