1 P raise the Lord! (Hallelujah!) O give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; for His mercy and loving-kindness endure forever!

2 W ho can put into words and tell the mighty deeds of the Lord? Or who can show forth all the praise ?

3 B lessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) are those who observe justice and who do right and are in right standing with God at all times.

4 r emember me, O Lord, when You favor Your people! O visit me also when You deliver them, and grant me Your salvation!—

5 T hat I may see and share the welfare of Your chosen ones, that I may rejoice in the gladness of Your nation, that I may glory with Your heritage.

6 W e have sinned, as did also our fathers; we have committed iniquity, we have done wickedly.

7 O ur fathers in Egypt understood not nor appreciated Your miracles; they did not remember the multitude of Your mercies nor imprint Your loving-kindness, but they were rebellious and provoked the Lord at the sea, even at the Red Sea.

8 N evertheless He saved them for His name’s sake, that He might make His mighty power known.

9 H e rebuked the Red Sea also, and it dried up; so He led them through the depths as through a pastureland.

10 A nd He saved them from the hand of him that hated them, and redeemed them from the hand of the enemy.

11 A nd the waters covered their adversaries; not one of them was left.

12 T hen believed His words; they sang His praise.

13 B ut they hastily forgot His works; they did not wait for His plans regarding them,

14 B ut lusted exceedingly in the wilderness and tempted and tried to restrain God in the desert.

15 A nd He gave them their request, but sent leanness into their souls and disease and death.

16 T hey envied Moses also in the camp, and Aaron, the holy one of the Lord.

17 T herefore the earth opened and swallowed up Dathan and closed over the company of Abiram.

18 A nd a fire broke out in their company; the flame burned up the wicked.

19 T hey made a calf in Horeb and worshiped a molten image.

20 T hus they exchanged Him Who was their Glory for the image of an ox that eats grass!

21 T hey forgot God their Savior, Who had done such great things in Egypt,

22 W onders and miracles in the land of Ham, dreadful and awesome things at the Red Sea.

23 T herefore He said He would destroy them. had not Moses, His chosen one, stepped into the breach before Him to turn away His threatening wrath.

24 T hen they spurned and despised the pleasant and desirable land; they believed not His word;

25 B ut they murmured in their tents and hearkened not to the voice of the Lord.

26 T herefore He lifted up His hand against them, that He would cause them to fall in the wilderness,

27 C ast out their descendants among the nations, and scatter them in the lands.

28 T hey joined themselves also to the Baal of Peor and ate sacrifices to the lifeless.

29 T hus they provoked the Lord to anger with their practices, and a plague broke out among them.

30 T hen stood up Phinehas and executed judgment, and so the plague was stayed.

31 A nd that was credited to him for righteousness (right doing and right standing with God) to all generations forever.

32 T hey angered the Lord also at the waters of Meribah, so that it went ill with Moses for their sakes;

33 F or they provoked spirit, so that he spoke unadvisedly with his lips.

34 T hey did not destroy the nations as the Lord commanded them,

35 B ut mingled themselves with the nations and learned their ways and works

36 A nd served their idols, which were a snare to them.

37 Y es, they sacrificed their sons and their daughters to demons

38 A nd shed innocent blood, even the blood of their sons and of their daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan; and the land was polluted with their blood.

39 T hus were they defiled by their own works, and they played the harlot and practiced idolatry with their own deeds.

40 T herefore was the wrath of the Lord kindled against His people, insomuch that He abhorred and rejected His own heritage.

41 A nd He gave them into the hands of the nations, and they that hated them ruled over them.

42 T heir enemies also oppressed them, and they were brought into subjection under the hand of their foes.

43 M any times did deliver them, but they were rebellious in their counsel and sank low through their iniquity.

44 N evertheless He regarded their distress when He heard their cry;

45 A nd He remembered for their sake His covenant and relented their sentence of evil according to the abundance of His mercy and loving-kindness.

46 H e also caused to find sympathy among those who had carried them away captive.

47 D eliver us, O Lord our God, and gather us from among the nations, that we may give thanks to Your holy name and glory in praising You.

48 B lessed (affectionately and gratefully praised) be the Lord, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting! And let all the people say, Amen! Praise the Lord! (Hallelujah!)