TRV
Translation
King James Version
¶ Maschil of Asaph. Give ear, O my people, to my law: incline your ears to the words of my mouth.
Complete Jewish Bible
A maskil of Asaf: Listen, my people, to my teaching; turn your ears to the words from my mouth.
Berean Standard Bible
Give ear, O my people, to my instruction; listen to the words of my mouth.
American Standard Version
Give ear, O my people, to my law: Incline your ears to the words of my mouth.
World English Bible Messianic
Hear my teaching, my people. Turn your ears to the words of my mouth.
Geneva Bible (1599)
A Psalme to give instruction committed to Asaph. Heare my doctrine, O my people: incline your eares vnto the wordes of my mouth.
Young's Literal Translation
An Instruction of Asaph. Give ear, O my people, to my law, Incline your ear to sayings of my mouth.
In the KJVVerse 15,115 of 31,102
Study This Verse
Commentary on Psalms 78 verses 1–8
1 ¶ Maschil of Asaph. Give ear, O my people, to my law: incline your ears to the words of my mouth.
2 I will open my mouth in a parable: I will utter dark sayings of old:
3 Which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us.
4 We will not hide them from their children, shewing to the generation to come the praises of the LORD, and his strength, and his wonderful works that he hath done.
5 For he established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children:
6 That the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born; who should arise and declare them to their children:
7 That they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments:
8 And might not be as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation; a generation that set not their heart aright, and whose spirit was not stedfast with God.
These verses, which contain the preface to this history, show that the psalm answers the title; it is indeed Maschil - a psalm to give instruction; if we receive not the instruction it gives, it is our own fault. Here,
I. The psalmist demands attention to what he wrote (Psa 78:1): Give ear, O my people! to my law. Some make these the psalmist's words. David, as a king, or Asaph, in his name, as his secretary of state, or scribe to the sweet singer of Israel, here calls upon the people, as his people committed to his charge, to give ear to his law. He calls his instructions his law or edict; such was their commanding force in themselves. Every good truth, received in the light and love of it, will have the power of a law upon the conscience; yet that was not all: David was a king, and he would interpose his royal power for the edification of his people. If God, by his grace, make great men good men, they will be capable of doing more good than others, because their word will be a law to all about them, who must therefore give ear and hearken; for to what purpose is divine revelation brought our ears if we will not incline our ears to it, both humble ourselves and engage ourselves to hear it and heed it? Or the psalmist, being a prophet, speaks as God's mouth, and so calls them his people, and demands subjection to what was said as to a law. Let him that has an ear thus hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches, Rev 2:7.
II. Several reasons are given why we should diligently attend to that which is here related. 1. The things here discoursed of are weighty, and deserve consideration, strange, and need it (Psa 78:2): I will open my mouth in a parable, in that which is sublime and uncommon, but very excellent and well worthy your attention; I will utter dark sayings, which challenge your most serious regards as much as the enigmas with which the eastern princes and learned men used to try one another. These are called dark sayings, not because they are hard to be understood, but because they are greatly to be admired and carefully to be looked into. This is said to be fulfilled in the parables which our Saviour put forth (Mat 13:35), which were (as this) representations of the state of the kingdom of God among men. 2. They are the monuments of antiquity - dark sayings of old which our fathers have told us, Psa 78:3. They are things of undoubted certainty; we have heard them and known them, and there is no room left to question the truth of them. The gospel of Luke is called a declaration of those things which are most surely believed among us (Luk 1:1), so were the things here related. The honour we owe to our parents and ancestors obliges us to attend to that which our fathers have told us, and, as far as it appears to be true and good, to receive it with so much the more reverence and regard. 3. They are to be transmitted to posterity, and it lies as a charge upon us carefully to hand them down (Psa 78:4); because our fathers told them to us we will not hide them from their children. Our children are called theirs, for they were in care for their seed's seed, and looked upon them as theirs; and, in teaching our children the knowledge of God, we repay to our parents some of that debt we owe to them for teaching us. Nay, if we have no children of our own, we must declare the things of God to their children, the children of others. Our care must be for posterity in general, and not only for our own posterity; and for the generation to come hereafter, the children that shall be born, as well as for the generation that is next rising up and the children that are born. That which we are to transmit to our children is not only the knowledge of languages, arts and sciences, liberty and property, but especially the praises of the Lord, and his strength appearing in the wonderful works he has done. Our great care must be to lodge our religion, that great deposit, pure and entire in the hands of those that succeed us. There are two things the full and clear knowledge of which we must preserve the entail of to our heirs: - (1.) The law of God; for this was given with a particular charge to teach it diligently to their children (Psa 78:5): He established a testimony or covenant, and enacted a law, in Jacob and Israel, gave them precepts and promises, which he commanded them to make known to their children, Deu 6:7, Deu 6:20. The church of God, as the historian says of the Roman commonwealth, was not to be res unius aetatis - a thing of one age but was to be kept up from one generation to another; and therefore, as God provided for a succession of ministers in the tribe of Levi and the house of Aaron, so he appointed that parents should train up their children in the knowledge of his law: and, when they had grown up, they must arise and declare them to their children (Psa 78:6), that, as one generation of God's servants and worshippers passes away, another generation may come, and the church, as the earth, may abide for ever; and thus God's name among men may be as the days of heaven. (2.) The providences of God concerning them, both in mercy and in judgment. The former seem to be mentioned for the sake of this; since God gave order that his laws should be made known to posterity, it is requisite that with them his works also should be made known, the fulfilling of the promises made to the obedient and the threatenings denounced against the disobedient. Let these be told to our children and our children's children, [1.] That they may take encouragement to conform to the will of God (Psa 78:7): that, not forgetting the works of God wrought in former days, they might set their hope in God and keep his commandments, might make his command their rule and his covenant their stay. Those only may with confidence hope for God's salvation that make conscience of doing his commandments. The works of God, duly considered, will very much strengthen our resolution both to set our hope in him and to keep his commandments, for he is able to bear us out in both. [2.] That they may take warning not to conform to the example of their fathers (Psa 78:8): That they might not be as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation. See here, First, What was the character of their fathers. Though they were the seed of Abraham, taken into covenant with God, and, for aught we know, the only professing people he had then in the world, yet they were stubborn and rebellious, and walked contrary to God, in direct opposition to his will. They did indeed profess relation to him, but they did not set their hearts aright; they were not cordial in their engagements to God, nor inward with him in their worship of him, and therefore their spirit was not stedfast with him, but upon every occasion they flew off from him. Note, Hypocrisy is the high road to apostasy. Those that do not set their hearts aright will not be stedfast with God, but play fat and loose. Secondly, What was a charge to the children: That they be not as their fathers. Note, Those that have descended from wicked and ungodly ancestors, if they will but consider the word and works of God, will see reason enough not to tread in their steps. It will be no excuse for a vain conversation that it was received by tradition from our fathers (Pe1 1:18); for what we know of them that was evil must be an admonition to us, that we dread that which was so pernicious to them as we would shun those courses which they took that were ruinous to their health or estates.
Matthew Henry (1662–1714) — Commentary on the Whole Bible. This section covers verses 1–8. Public domain.
Copy as
Augustine of HippoAD 430
Exposition on Psalm 78
"Hearken ye," He says, "My people, to My law" [Psalm 78:1]. Whom may we suppose to be here speaking, but God? For it was Himself that gave a law to His people, whom when delivered out of Egypt He gathered together, the which gathering together is properly named a Synagogue, which the word Asaph is interpreted to signify. Hath it then been said, "Understanding of Asaph," in the sense that Asaph himself has understood; or must it be figuratively understood, in the sense that the same Synagogue, that is, the same people, has understood, unto whom is said, "Hearken, My people, unto My law"? Why is it then that He is rebuking the same people by the mouth of the Prophet, saying, "But Israel has not known Me, and My people has not understood"? [Isaiah 1:3] But, in fact, there were even in that people they that understood, having the faith which was afterwards revealed, not pertaining to the letter of the law, but the grace of the Spirit. For they cannot have been without the same faith, who were able to foresee and foretell the revelation thereof that should be in Christ, inasmuch as even those old Sacraments were significants of those that should be. Had the prophets alone this faith, and not the people too? Nay indeed, but even they that faithfully heard the Prophets, were aided by the same grace in order that they might understand what they heard. But without doubt the mystery of the Kingdom of Heaven was veiled in the Old Testament, which in the fullness of time should be unveiled in the New. "For," says the Apostle, "they did drink of the Spiritual Rock following them, but the Rock was Christ." [1 Corinthians 10:4] In a mystery therefore theirs was the same meat and drink as ours, but in signification the same, not in form; because the same Christ was Himself figured to them in a Rock, manifested to us in the Flesh. "But," he says, "not in all of them God was well pleased." [1 Corinthians 10:5] All indeed ate the same spiritual meat and drank the same spiritual drink, that is to say, signifying something spiritual: but not in all of them was God well pleased. When, he says, "not in all:" there were evidently there some in whom was God well pleased; and although all the Sacraments were common, grace, which is the virtue of the Sacraments, was not common to all. Just as in our times, now that the faith has been revealed, which then was veiled, to all men that have been baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, [Matthew 28:19] the Laver of regeneration is common; but the very grace whereof these same are the Sacraments, whereby the members of the Body of Christ are to reign together with their Head, is not common to all. For even heretics have the same Baptism, and false brethren too, in the communion of the Catholic name.
Source: Quotations drawn from early Church Fathers and historical Christian theologians (AD 100–1500). Some quotes address the surrounding passage context rather than this verse alone.
Copy as
Continue studying Psalms 78:1 across the web’s major study libraries — every link below opens this exact verse, chapter, or book on the destination site.
Read & Compare
BibleGatewayThis verse in more than 200 translations and 70 languages.
Bible.comThe YouVersion reader — hundreds of translations, reading plans, and highlights.
ESV.orgCrossway's official English Standard Version reader.
NET BibleThe NET translation with 60,000+ translators' notes on every rendering decision.
STEP BibleTyndale House's free study tool — original text, vocabulary, and scholarly resources.
BibliaLogos Bible Software's free web reader.
USCCBThe New American Bible (Revised Edition) with the U.S. bishops' study notes.
Commentaries
BibleHub CommentariesDozens of classic commentaries on this verse, gathered on one page.
StudyLightMore than 100 commentary sets — the largest collection on the web.
BibleRefPlain-English commentary on what this verse means, verse by verse.
Enduring WordDavid Guzik's free commentary on this chapter, widely used by Bible teachers.
Bible Study ToolsVerse commentary alongside Greek and Hebrew study aids.
Original Language & Research
- BibleHub InterlinearThe verse word by word — original language, transliteration, and English.
- BibleHub LexiconEvery word's original-language definition and Strong's entry.
Blue Letter BibleDeep-study tools — Strong's numbers, concordance, and word studies.
SefariaThe Hebrew text with Rashi and centuries of Jewish commentary.
Sermons, Hymns & Audio
TrulyRandomVerse is not affiliated with these sites and doesn’t control their content. They’re linked because they’re genuinely useful.
SUMMARY
Psalms 78:1 functions as a profound and urgent divine summons, initiating one of the longest and most historically significant psalms in the biblical canon. Authored by Asaph, this verse immediately calls God's covenant people to a posture of deep attention and receptive obedience to divine instruction. It serves as a formal, authoritative preamble, setting the stage for the extensive historical recounting of God's unwavering faithfulness and Israel's recurrent failures, all meticulously designed to impart timeless wisdom, understanding, and crucial lessons to succeeding generations.
CONTEXT
EXPOSITION AND ANALYSIS
Key Word Analysis
Verse Breakdown
Literary Devices
Psalm 78:1 masterfully employs several literary devices to convey its urgent and authoritative message. The Superscription ("Maschil of Asaph") immediately establishes the psalm's didactic purpose and attributes its authority, setting the tone for a profound instructional narrative. The verse then utilizes potent Synonymous Parallelism in the phrases "Give ear, O my people, [to] my law" and "incline your ears to the words of my mouth." This deliberate repetition with slight variation intensifies the command, emphasizing the critical and non-negotiable need for deep, active, and receptive listening. The pervasive use of the Imperative Mood ("Give ear," "incline") underscores the divine authority and the urgency of the summons, demanding an immediate and obedient response. Furthermore, the Direct Address "O my people" powerfully personalizes the command, appealing directly to the covenant community and highlighting their unique and intimate relationship with God. Finally, "the words of my mouth" is a subtle yet impactful Anthropomorphism, attributing human characteristics (a mouth that speaks) to God, thereby making His communication more relatable, immediate, and emphasizing its direct, personal, and authoritative nature.
THEOLOGICAL AND THEMATIC CONNECTIONS
The opening command of Psalm 78 to "give ear" to God's law is a foundational theological principle woven throughout the entire biblical narrative, from the covenant at Sinai to the prophetic calls for repentance. It posits that divine revelation is not merely information to be passively received but a life-giving instruction that demands active reception, profound understanding, and obedient application. This call to listen is intrinsically linked to the covenant relationship, where Israel's identity, well-being, and very existence as God's people were contingent upon heeding His voice and remembering His mighty acts. The psalm's subsequent historical recounting serves as a powerful and sobering reminder that neglecting God's instruction leads inevitably to spiritual decline, covenant unfaithfulness, and divine judgment, while attentive listening fosters wisdom, faithfulness, and enduring blessing. This theme resonates deeply with the prophetic tradition, where the call to "hear the word of the Lord" was a constant refrain against Israel's spiritual deafness and rebellion, urging them back to the path of covenant loyalty and life.
REFLECTION AND APPLICATION
For believers today, Psalms 78:1 serves as a timeless, urgent, and profoundly relevant summons to cultivate a deep and abiding posture of attentiveness to God's authoritative Word. In an age saturated with an overwhelming cacophony of distractions, competing voices, and superficial information, the imperative to "incline our ears" to divine instruction is more critical than ever for spiritual vitality and discernment. This is not a passive act of merely hearing sounds or casually reading text, but an active, intentional engagement of our entire being—heart, mind, and will—recognizing Scripture as the living, authoritative voice of God speaking directly into our lives. Just as ancient Israel was called to learn from their national history of both faithfulness and devastating failure, we too are called to allow the historical narratives, theological truths, and moral imperatives of the Bible to profoundly shape our understanding of God and ourselves, inform our decisions, and progressively transform our character into Christlikeness. This requires humility to submit to divine truth, spiritual discipline to consistently engage with Scripture, and a genuine, earnest desire to know and obey God's will, leading to a life marked by wisdom, discernment, and faithful discipleship.
Questions for Reflection
FAQ
Why is Psalm 78 called a "Maschil"?
Answer: A "Maschil" (Hebrew: maskîyl) is a specific designation for an instructional or didactic psalm. Its primary purpose is to impart wisdom, understanding, and spiritual insight, often achieved through reflection on historical events or profound theological truths. In the context of Psalm 78, it serves as a comprehensive historical recounting of God's dealings with Israel, meticulously designed to teach future generations about God's unwavering faithfulness and the dire consequences of disobedience. This designation highlights the psalm's role in guiding them in wisdom and preventing them from repeating the costly mistakes of the past, as explicitly stated in Psalm 78:2-8.
What is the significance of the phrase "O my people"?
Answer: The address "O my people" carries immense theological and relational significance. It highlights the unique, intimate, and covenantal relationship between God and Israel. This phrase signifies divine ownership, profound affection, and a shared history forged through God's redemptive acts. It underscores that the instruction being given is not for a general, indifferent audience but specifically for those who stand in a special, chosen relationship with God. This intimate address implies both immense privilege—being called God's own—and solemn responsibility, evoking the sacred promises and obligations of the covenant established at Mount Sinai, as beautifully detailed in Exodus 19:5-6.
How does "my law" in this verse relate to the Old Testament Law (Torah)?
Answer: The Hebrew word translated as "law" in this verse is tôwrâh (תּוֹרָה), which is far broader and richer in meaning than merely the legal statutes or commandments given at Mount Sinai. While it certainly encompasses the Decalogue and the Mosaic Law, tôwrâh fundamentally refers to God's entire body of teaching, instruction, guidance, and revelation for His people. It embodies His divine will, His truth, and the comprehensive way of life He prescribes for their flourishing, well-being, and covenant faithfulness. In Psalm 78:1, "my law" refers to the comprehensive divine instruction that the psalmist is about to impart through the ensuing historical narrative, designed to lead Israel to wisdom, obedience, and a deeper understanding of God's character and ways, echoing themes found in Deuteronomy 4:1-2.
CHRIST-CENTERED FULFILLMENT
The urgent call to "give ear" to God's law and "incline your ears to the words of my mouth" in Psalm 78:1 finds its ultimate and most profound fulfillment in the person and redemptive work of Jesus Christ. While the Old Covenant pointed Israel to God's instruction through the written Torah and the prophetic word, Jesus Himself is the living Word, the perfect and complete embodiment of God's final revelation. He unequivocally declared that He came not to abolish the Law and the Prophets but to fulfill them in every detail (Matthew 5:17). The "words of my mouth" spoken by God in the Old Testament foreshadow the very words of Christ, which are intrinsically "spirit and life" (John 6:63), and to which His true sheep are called to listen intently and follow obediently (John 10:27). In the New Covenant, the emphasis shifts from a written code to a dynamic, personal relationship with the divine Son, who is the ultimate teacher, the supreme revelation of God's character, and the very wisdom of God incarnate (1 Corinthians 1:24). Through Christ, God has spoken His final, most complete, and most glorious word to humanity (Hebrews 1:1-2), making Him the supreme object of our attentive listening and obedient faith. Therefore, to truly "give ear" to God's law today is preeminently to listen to and obey Christ, through whom we receive the fullness of grace and truth (John 1:17), and whose life, teachings, and atoning sacrifice are the perfect fulfillment of all God's instruction and redemptive purposes.