78
Psalm

Psalm 78 (part 2)

Psalm 78:45-72
45He sent swarms of flies among them, and they devoured them; and frogs, and they ruined them. 46He gave their crops to the locust and their toil to the locust. 47He killed their vine with hail and their sycamores with frost. 48He gave their cattle over to the hail and their livestock to the flashes. 49He sent among them the burning anger of his face, fury, indignation, and distress—a deputation of harmful messengers. 50He prepared a path for his anger; he did not withhold their soul from death but shut up their life to the pestilence. 51He struck every firstborn in Egypt, the first of strength, in the tents of Ham. 52He set his people out like a flock and led them like a flock in the wilderness. 53He led them to security, and they did not dread, and the sea covered their enemy. 54He brought them to the border of his holiness, this mountain which his right hand had bought. 55He drove out nations from before them and cast them down by the cord of inheritance, and he made the tribes of Israel dwell in their tents. 56They tested and rebelled against God Most High and did not keep his testimonies. 57They turned back and acted treacherously like their fathers; they were overturned like a deceitful bow. 58They provoked him with their high places and made him jealous with their idols. 59God heard and became angry, and he rejected Israel greatly. 60He abandoned the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent he had made to dwell in among men. 61He gave his strength into captivity and his beauty into the hand of the enemy. 62He shut his people up to the sword and raged against his inheritance. 63Fire ate his young men, and his virgins were not praised. 64His priests fell by the sword, and his widows did not weep. 65Then the Lord awoke like one sleeping, like a mighty man singing because of wine. 66He struck his enemies on the back; he gave them reproach forever. 67He rejected the tent of Joseph and did not choose the tribe of Ephraim. 68He chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion, which he loved. 69He built his sanctuary like the heights, like the earth he founded forever. 70He chose David his servant and took him from the sheepfolds of the flock. 71He brought him from following the nursing ewes to shepherd Jacob his people and Israel his inheritance. 72He shepherded them with the integrity of his heart and guided them with the understanding of his palms.

Key words in this passage

Cross-references

Study notes

Psalm 78 moves from the last plagues on Egypt directly into the people's settlement, only to show them repeating the pattern of rebellion that once brought judgment on their oppressors. High places and idols draw the same burning anger that struck the firstborn in the tents of Ham, now emptying the tabernacle at Shiloh and handing strength and beauty to the enemy. Priests fall and widows do not weep. The Lord then awakes to strike the foes and relocates his choice to Judah and Mount Zion. David is taken from the sheepfolds to guide the people with the integrity of his heart, so that the story of deliverance continues through a new shepherd rather than through the rejected sanctuary or tribes.

What is Psalm 78 (part 2) about?

Psalm 78 reaches its second half by naming the last plagues that fell on Egypt. Swarms of flies and frogs, locusts that consumed crops, hail that destroyed vines and cattle, and finally the death of every firstborn in the tents of Ham prepare the way for departure. God then leads the people out like a flock, brings them across the sea, and sets them inside the border of his holiness. The same people who received this guidance soon test God Most High, turn back to the ways of their fathers, and set up high places that provoke jealousy. The consequences reach Shiloh, where the tabernacle is abandoned and the ark given into enemy hands. Priests fall and young men are consumed. At that point the Lord rises, drives back the foes, and shifts his choice away from the tent of Joseph and the tribe of Ephraim. Instead he takes Judah, Mount Zion, and David from the sheepfolds to shepherd the inheritance. These verses therefore complete the movement from Egypt to the monarchy that now stands at the center of the psalm’s story.

Where does this passage sit in Psalm?

Psalm 78 moves from the final Egyptian plagues straight into the exodus and settlement. The swarms, frogs, locusts, hail, and death of the firstborn give way at once to God leading the people out like a flock and bringing them across the sea to the border of his holiness. That swift shift inside the psalm itself sets up the next movement: the same people who received this guidance test God Most High, turn back like their fathers, and provoke him with high places and idols.

The judgment that follows lands first on the sanctuary at Shiloh. The tabernacle is abandoned, the ark given into enemy hands, priests fall, and young men are consumed. Only after that devastation does the psalm record the Lord rising like a warrior and striking the foes. The reversal then narrows to a change of tribes: the tent of Joseph and the tribe of Ephraim are set aside, while Judah and Mount Zion are taken instead.

Within the psalm’s larger design this choice of Judah prepares the final scene. David is drawn from the sheepfolds to shepherd the people with integrity of heart. The psalm therefore ends not with the wilderness failures but with a settled sanctuary and a shepherd-king on Zion. Psalm 79 opens by describing nations that have invaded and defiled the very sanctuary the preceding verses have just established, so the closing lines of Psalm 78 supply the immediate backdrop for the lament that follows.

How is the passage structured?

The verses open by extending the catalog of Egyptian plagues through five more lines that move from insects and amphibians to locusts, hail, and finally the death of the firstborn in the tents of Ham. This sequence ends at verse 51 without any pause for response, then shifts abruptly at verse 52 to the departure: God sets his people out like a flock and leads them through the wilderness to the border of his holiness. The next three verses complete the positive movement by describing the sea covering the enemy and the allotment of land to the tribes.

A sharp reversal follows at verse 56. The same people who received this guidance test and rebel, turning back like a deceitful bow and provoking God with high places and idols. The consequences occupy the next eight verses: God hears, becomes angry, rejects Israel greatly, abandons the tabernacle at Shiloh, hands his strength and beauty to the enemy, and allows fire and sword to consume young men and priests. The widows do not even weep.

Verse 65 marks the decisive turn. The Lord awakes like one sleeping and strikes his enemies on the back. From that point the poem narrows its focus to the choice of Judah and Mount Zion, the building of the sanctuary, and the selection of David from the sheepfolds. The final line returns to the image of shepherding, now applied to the new leader who guides with the integrity of his heart.

The architecture therefore alternates blocks of divine action with human failure, then resolves the tension by relocating the center of worship and rule from the rejected north to Judah and David.

What is the historical background?

The phrase tents of Ham treats Egypt as the territory of one branch of Noah’s descendants, a convention that appears in several biblical genealogies and lets the psalm locate the plagues inside a wider account of nations after the flood. Shiloh functioned as the principal sanctuary during the generations between the conquest and the rise of kingship. The tent stood there under the care of priests from the line of Eli, and the ark remained at that site until it was carried into battle. When the psalm speaks of the tabernacle abandoned and the strength handed to the enemy, it points to the Philistine victory near Ebenezer, after which the ark was taken and the northern shrine fell into disuse.

High places were open-air platforms or small stone structures built on ridges throughout the hill country. Local communities used them for seasonal offerings and festivals, sometimes blending the worship of the Lord with older Canaanite rites. The psalm presents these installations as the immediate cause of divine anger because they competed with the single tent that had been pitched among the tribes. The cord of inheritance refers to the practice of measuring and assigning land by rope, the same method used when Joshua divided Canaan among the clans.

Mount Zion lay inside the territory of Judah, a modest ridge that became the site of David’s royal sanctuary once the ark was brought up from the house of Obed-edom. Before that move the tribe of Ephraim had supplied the leading sanctuary and several early leaders; the psalm’s notice that the tent of Joseph was set aside records the political shift that accompanied David’s anointing. The detail that David was taken from the sheepfolds reflects the ordinary work of Judean shepherds who guarded flocks in the limestone hills south of Jerusalem, a setting that supplied both the literal origin of the king and the language later used for his rule over the people.

What does this passage teach about God?

God acts first as judge when he sends the swarms of flies and frogs that devour and ruin, then hands crops and cattle to locusts and hail. The same hand that prepares a path for anger also refuses to withhold life from death, striking every firstborn in the tents of Ham. These acts display a God who will not tolerate the oppression of his people and who meets hardened resistance with measured destruction.

Once the people stand free, the same God sets them out like a flock and leads them to the border of his holiness. Security comes not from their strength but from the one whose right hand bought the mountain. Yet the verses record an immediate reversal: the delivered people test God Most High, refuse his testimonies, and turn back like a deceitful bow. Their high places and idols provoke jealousy, so the Lord rejects Israel greatly, abandons the tabernacle at Shiloh, and hands his strength and beauty into enemy hands. Priests fall and young men are consumed because covenant loyalty has been broken.

The Lord then rises like one sleeping and strikes the enemies on the back. Rejection of the tent of Joseph and the tribe of Ephraim follows, but the choice does not end in vacancy. God selects the tribe of Judah and Mount Zion, builds his sanctuary like the heights, and takes David from the sheepfolds. The servant who once followed nursing ewes now shepherds Jacob with the integrity of his heart and guides the inheritance with the understanding of his palms. Human failure does not cancel divine purpose; it narrows the channel through which that purpose continues.

The passage therefore presents a God whose anger burns against idolatry yet whose commitment to an inheritance remains intact. Deliverance, judgment, and renewed leadership all flow from the same resolve to keep a people for himself.

What are the interpretive difficulties?

One question centers on the compressed account of the plagues. The verses list flies that devoured, frogs that ruined, locusts given the crops, hail that killed vines and sycamores, and cattle given over to hail and flashes. They then speak of a deputation of harmful messengers sent with burning anger, a path prepared for anger, and every firstborn struck in the tents of Ham. The wording does not pause to explain how these events relate to one another or to any particular Egyptian response, so the reader must decide whether the sequence stresses cumulative judgment or simply the final blow that opened the way for departure.

A second issue concerns the abrupt shift from divine leading to human rebellion. After the people are set out like a flock and brought to the border of his holiness, the psalm states that they tested and rebelled against God Most High and did not keep his testimonies. It adds that they turned back and acted treacherously like their fathers, overturned like a deceitful bow, and provoked him with high places and idols. The text supplies no further detail about the content of the testimonies or the location of the high places, leaving open whether the provocation lay in the act of worship itself or in its timing after the gift of the land.

The rejection of the tent of Joseph and the tribe of Ephraim raises a third question. The psalm records that God abandoned the tabernacle of Shiloh, gave his strength into captivity, shut his people up to the sword, and let fire eat the young men while priests fell. It then states that the Lord awoke like one sleeping and struck his enemies on the back. Immediately afterward comes the declaration that he rejected the tent of Joseph and did not choose the tribe of Ephraim, choosing instead the tribe of Judah and Mount Zion. The verses do not identify any distinct Ephraimite offense beyond the shared pattern of treachery, so the grounds for the shift remain implicit in the outcome itself.

Finally, the portrait of David chosen from the sheepfolds and brought to shepherd Jacob with the integrity of his heart and the understanding of his palms invites reflection on how much this ending resolves earlier tensions. The psalm presents the choice as settled fact without describing David’s later reign or any subsequent failure, so the reader must weigh whether the integrity claimed here stands as the final word or as one more stage in the ongoing story of covenant people.

Movement by movement

Plagues on Egypt78:45-51

Swarms of flies devour the Egyptians while frogs ruin them, striking both the people and what sustains them. The psalm then hands their crops and the work invested in those crops to the locust, after which hail and frost destroy vines and sycamores. Livestock follows, surrendered to hail and flashes of lightning. These losses accumulate until the psalm names the force behind them: burning anger, fury, indignation, and distress dispatched as a deputation of harmful messengers. That anger travels along a path prepared for it and withholds no life from death, instead closing every life to pestilence. The final stroke falls on every firstborn in Egypt, the first of strength, inside the tents of Ham. The phrase locates the judgment within the line of Noah’s descendants and marks the point where destruction reaches the households themselves rather than fields or animals alone. The verses end without recording any reply from those afflicted, moving at once to the departure that follows.

Leading the People Out78:52-55

God sets his people out like a flock. The image follows immediately after the death of every firstborn in the tents of Ham. The psalm does not pause over the ruined land of Egypt but turns at once to this fresh act of guidance. He leads them like a flock in the wilderness and brings them to security so that they do not dread, while the sea covers their enemy. The same power that sent the plagues now removes every threat that pursues them.

The movement then reaches the border of his holiness. The mountain that his right hand had bought marks the destination. Nations fall before them and are cast down by the cord of inheritance. The tribes of Israel receive tents that once belonged to others. The verbs move from leading and covering to driving out and settling, so that the people stand inside land measured and secured by the hand that first brought them free.

Testing and Divine Anger78:56-64

They tested and rebelled against God Most High and did not keep his testimonies. The same people who had been led like a flock into the land now turn back and act treacherously like their fathers, overturned like a deceitful bow. Their high places and idols provoke him to jealousy. God heard and became angry, and he rejected Israel greatly. He abandoned the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent he had made to dwell in among men. His strength and beauty pass into the hand of the enemy. He shuts his people up to the sword and rages against his inheritance. Fire eats the young men, the virgins receive no praise, the priests fall by the sword, and the widows do not weep. The psalm places this judgment first on the sanctuary itself, showing that the covenant people’s idolatry brings the same kind of desolation once visited on Egypt, only now inside the borders God had given them.

The Lord Rouses Himself78:65-66

The Lord awoke like one sleeping, like a mighty man singing because of wine. That image breaks into the account of judgment at the moment when the psalm has just described priests falling by the sword and widows unable to mourn. The sudden change from abandonment to action is cast as an awakening from sleep, not a gradual return but a decisive rousing. The comparison to a warrior stirred by wine adds force to the movement: the same Lord who earlier prepared a path for his anger now rises to deliver a single, visible blow. He struck his enemies on the back, a posture that leaves them exposed and retreating rather than facing him in open combat. The result is not temporary defeat but lasting reproach that continues without end. This turn follows directly after the description of Shiloh left empty and the people handed to the sword, so the awakening functions as the first reversal in the psalm’s second half. The enemies receive the same kind of public humiliation that earlier fell on Egypt, yet the verse keeps the focus on the Lord’s own initiative rather than on any human response.

Choosing Judah and David78:67-72

The rejection of the tent of Joseph and the tribe of Ephraim marks the decisive turn after the earlier judgment on Israel. The psalm names these northern lineages explicitly as the ones God passes over, shifting the center of his dwelling to the tribe of Judah and to Mount Zion, which he loved. That choice receives further expression in the building of the sanctuary, described as established like the heights and founded like the earth itself, a permanence set against the abandoned tent at Shiloh. David enters the account as the one taken directly from the sheepfolds, brought from following the nursing ewes to the task of shepherding Jacob and Israel. The final lines present this shepherding as carried out with the integrity of his heart and the understanding of his palms, tying the selection of place and king together in a single act of divine initiative. The movement therefore locates the continuation of God’s dealings with his people in Judah’s territory and in the person of David rather than in the earlier sanctuary or the rejected tribes.

Notes accompany the Anselm Project Bible, an AI translation from the original languages. Tap any verse above for the committee's word-level decisions.

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