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Psalm 78:42
They didn’t remember his hand, nor the day when he redeemed them from the adversary;
40How often they rebelled against him in the wilderness, and grieved him in the desert!
41They turned again and tempted God, and provoked the Holy One of Israel.
42They didn’t remember his hand, nor the day when he redeemed them from the adversary;
43how he set his signs in Egypt, his wonders in the field of Zoan,
44he turned their rivers into blood, and their streams, so that they could not drink.
Notice
The hand that redeemed Israel went unremembered, a sobering gap between what God had done for his people and what they kept in mind.
Questions to write on. Each one opens a new entry with this verse already attached.
What help from God, if any, comes to mind as you read about Israel’s forgotten rescue?
Write on thisWhat might change in your prayers if you recalled a specific day of God’s help?
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Where else Scripture says this
10 passages readers most often link with this verse, and the thread each one shares with it.
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Judges 8:34The children of Israel didn’t remember the LORD their God, who had delivered them out of the hand of all their enemies on every side;Both passages describe Israel forgetting the God who had delivered them from their enemies.
Jeremiah 32:21and brought your people Israel out of the land of Egypt with signs, with wonders, with a strong hand, with an outstretched arm, and with great terror;Jeremiah names the strong hand and wonders that brought Israel out of Egypt, the rescue Psalm 78 says they forgot.
Exodus 14:12Isn’t this the word that we spoke to you in Egypt, saying, ‘Leave us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the …Both concern Israel’s rescue from Egypt; Exodus records their preference for serving the Egyptians over facing death in the wilderness.
Psalm 78:11They forgot his doings, his wondrous deeds that he had shown them.Both verses name Israel’s forgetting within the same psalm, with verse 42 identifying the forgotten deeds as redemption from an adversary.
Psalm 106:7–10Our fathers didn’t understand your wonders in Egypt. They didn’t remember the multitude of your loving kindnesses, but were rebellious at the sea, even at the …Both psalms connect Israel’s failure to remember God’s help with rebellion, and Psalm 106 locates that rebellion at the Red Sea.
Psalm 136:10–15to him who struck down the Egyptian firstborn, for his loving kindness endures forever;Psalm 78 recalls redemption from Egypt; Psalm 136 names God’s striking down the Egyptian firstborn among his deeds.
Exodus 13:9It shall be for a sign to you on your hand, and for a memorial between your eyes, that the LORD’s law may be in your mouth; for with a strong hand the LORD has …Exodus provides a memorial of the strong hand that brought Israel out of Egypt; Psalm 78 records their failure to remember.
Isaiah 11:11It will happen in that day that the Lord will set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant that is left of his people from Assyria, from Egypt, …God’s hand rescues his people in both texts: Psalm 78 recalls past redemption, while Isaiah speaks of a future recovery.
Ezekiel 16:43“‘“Because you have not remembered the days of your youth, but have raged against me in all these things; therefore, behold, I also will bring your way on your …Both passages connect failure to remember with rebellion against God, though Ezekiel identifies the forgotten past as the days of youth.
Exodus 14:30–31Thus the LORD saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians; and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore.Exodus records the day God saved Israel from the Egyptians, the rescue Psalm 78 says his people failed to remember.
Where this verse fits
Gratitude. sermon or Bible study notes.
One step
Something small to carry out of this verse
Encouragement
The warning is sober: people who have received God’s help can forget it. Their forgetting did not erase the day when God redeemed them.
Now put it in your words.
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Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).