Psalms 78:56-72 NIV

Psalms 78:56-72

But they put God to the test

and rebelled against the Most High;

they did not keep his statutes.

Like their ancestors they were disloyal and faithless,

as unreliable as a faulty bow.

They angered him with their high places;

they aroused his jealousy with their idols.

When God heard them, he was furious;

he rejected Israel completely.

He abandoned the tabernacle of Shiloh,

the tent he had set up among humans.

He sent the ark of his might into captivity,

his splendor into the hands of the enemy.

He gave his people over to the sword;

he was furious with his inheritance.

Fire consumed their young men,

and their young women had no wedding songs;

their priests were put to the sword,

and their widows could not weep.

Then the Lord awoke as from sleep,

as a warrior wakes from the stupor of wine.

He beat back his enemies;

he put them to everlasting shame.

Then he rejected the tents of Joseph,

he did not choose the tribe of Ephraim;

but he chose the tribe of Judah,

Mount Zion, which he loved.

He built his sanctuary like the heights,

like the earth that he established forever.

He chose David his servant

and took him from the sheep pens;

from tending the sheep he brought him

to be the shepherd of his people Jacob,

of Israel his inheritance.

And David shepherded them with integrity of heart;

with skillful hands he led them.

Read More of Psalms 78