12
When they were few in number,
very few indeed,
and temporary residents in Canaan,
13
wandering from nation to nation
and from one kingdom to another,
14
He allowed no one to oppress them;
He rebuked kings on their behalf:
15
“Do not touch My anointed ones,
or harm My prophets.”
16
He called down famine against the land
and destroyed the entire food supply.
17
He had sent a man ahead of them —
Joseph, who was sold as a slave.
18
They hurt his feet with shackles;
his neck was put in an iron collar.
19
Until the time his prediction came true,
the word of the
Lord
tested him.
20
The king sent for him and released him;
the ruler of peoples set him free.
21
He made him master of his household,
ruler over all his possessions —
22
binding his officials at will
and instructing his elders.
23
Then Israel went to Egypt;
Jacob lived as a foreigner in the land of Ham.
24
The
Lord
made His people very fruitful;
He made them more numerous than their foes,
25
whose hearts He turned to hate His people
and to deal deceptively with His servants.
26
He sent Moses His servant,
and Aaron, whom He had chosen.
27
They performed His miraculous signs among them,
and wonders in the land of Ham.
28
He sent darkness, and it became dark —
for did they not defy His commands?
29
He turned their water into blood
and caused their fish to die.
30
Their land was overrun with frogs,
even in their royal chambers.
31
He spoke, and insects came —
gnats throughout their country.
32
He gave them hail for rain,
and lightning throughout their land.
33
He struck their vines and fig trees
and shattered the trees of their territory.
34
He spoke, and locusts came —
young locusts without number.
35
They devoured all the vegetation in their land
and consumed the produce of their land.
36
He struck all the firstborn in their land,
all their first progeny.
37
Then He brought Israel out with silver and gold,
and no one among His tribes stumbled.
38
Egypt was glad when they left,
for the dread of Israel had fallen on them.
39
He spread a cloud as a covering
and gave a fire to light up the night.
40
They asked, and He brought quail
and satisfied them with bread from heaven.
41
He opened a rock, and water gushed out;
it flowed like a stream in the desert.
42
For He remembered His holy promise
to Abraham His servant.
43
He brought His people out with rejoicing,
His chosen ones with shouts of joy.
44
He gave them the lands of the nations,
and they inherited
what other peoples had worked for.
45
All this happened
so that they might keep His statutes
and obey His instructions.
•Hallelujah
!
Psalms
Israel's Unfaithfulness to God
106
•Hallelujah
!
Give thanks to the
Lord
, for He is good;
His faithful love endures forever.
2
Who can declare the
Lord
's mighty acts
or proclaim all the praise due Him?
3
How happy are those who uphold justice,
who practice righteousness at all times.
4
Remember me,
Lord
,
when You show favor to Your people.
Come to me with Your salvation
5
so that I may enjoy the prosperity
of Your chosen ones,
rejoice in the joy of Your nation,
and boast about Your heritage.
6
Both we and our fathers have sinned;
we have done wrong and have acted wickedly.
7
Our fathers in Egypt did not grasp
the significance of Your wonderful works
or remember Your many acts of faithful love;
instead, they rebelled by the sea — the
•Red
Sea.
8
Yet He saved them because of His name,
to make His power known.
9
He rebuked the Red Sea, and it dried up;
He led them through the depths as through a desert.
10
He saved them from the hand of the adversary;
He redeemed them from the hand of the enemy.
11
Water covered their foes;
not one of them remained.
12
Then they believed His promises
and sang His praise.
13
They soon forgot His works
and would not wait for His counsel.
14
They were seized with craving in the wilderness
and tested God in the desert.
15
He gave them what they asked for,
but sent a wasting disease among them.
16
In the camp they were envious of Moses
and of Aaron, the
Lord
's holy one.
17
The earth opened up and swallowed Dathan;
it covered the assembly of Abiram.
18
Fire blazed throughout their assembly;
flames consumed the wicked.
19
At Horeb they made a calf
and worshiped the cast metal image.
20
They exchanged their glory
for the image of a grass-eating ox.
21
They forgot God their Savior,
who did great things in Egypt,
22
wonderful works in the land of Ham,
awe-inspiring acts at the Red Sea.
23
So He said He would have destroyed them —
if Moses His chosen one
had not stood before Him in the breach
to turn His wrath away from destroying them.
24
They despised the pleasant land
and did not believe His promise.
25
They grumbled in their tents
and did not listen to the
Lord
's voice.
26
So He raised His hand against them with an oath
that He would make them fall in the desert
27
and would disperse their descendants
among the nations,
scattering them throughout the lands.
28
They aligned themselves with
•Baal
of Peor
and ate sacrifices offered to lifeless gods.
29
They provoked the
Lord
with their deeds,
and a plague broke out against them.
30
But Phinehas stood up and intervened,
and the plague was stopped.
31
It was credited to him as righteousness
throughout all generations to come.
32
They angered the
Lord
at the waters of Meribah,
and Moses suffered because of them;
33
for they embittered his spirit,
and he spoke rashly with his lips.
34
They did not destroy the peoples
as the
Lord
had commanded them
35
but mingled with the nations
and adopted their ways.
36
They served their idols,
which became a snare to them.
37
They sacrificed their sons and daughters to demons.
38
They shed innocent blood —
the blood of their sons and daughters
whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan;
so the land became polluted with blood.
39
They defiled themselves by their actions
and prostituted themselves by their deeds.
40
Therefore the
Lord
's anger burned against His people,
and He abhorred His own inheritance.
41
He handed them over to the nations;
those who hated them ruled them.
42
Their enemies oppressed them,
and they were subdued under their power.
43
He rescued them many times,
but they continued to rebel deliberately
and were beaten down by their sin.
44
When He heard their cry,
He took note of their distress,
45
remembered His covenant with them,
and relented according to the riches
of His faithful love.
46
He caused them to be pitied
before all their captors.
47
Save us,
•Yahweh
our God,
and gather us from the nations,
so that we may give thanks to Your holy name
and rejoice in Your praise.
48
May Yahweh, the God of Israel, be praised
from everlasting to everlasting.
Let all the people say, “
•Amen
! ”
Hallelujah!
Psalms
BOOK V
(Psalms 107–150)
Thanksgiving for God's Deliverance
107
Give thanks to the
Lord
, for He is good;
His faithful love endures forever.
2
Let the redeemed of the
Lord
proclaim
that He has redeemed them from the hand of the foe
3
and has gathered them from the lands —
from the east and the west,
from the north and the south.
4
Some wandered in the desolate wilderness,
finding no way to a city where they could live.
5
They were hungry and thirsty;
their spirits failed within them.
6
Then they cried out to the
Lord
in their trouble;
He rescued them from their distress.
7
He led them by the right path
to go to a city where they could live.
8
Let them give thanks to the
Lord
for His faithful love
and His wonderful works for all
•humanity
.
9
For He has satisfied the thirsty
and filled the hungry with good things.
10
Others sat in darkness and gloom —
prisoners in cruel chains —
11
because they rebelled against God's commands
and despised the counsel of the
•Most
High.
12
He broke their spirits with hard labor;
they stumbled, and there was no one to help.
13
Then they cried out to the
Lord
in their trouble;
He saved them from their distress.
14
He brought them out of darkness and gloom
and broke their chains apart.
15
Let them give thanks to the
Lord
for His faithful love
and His wonderful works for all humanity.
16
For He has broken down the bronze gates
and cut through the iron bars.
17
Fools suffered affliction
because of their rebellious ways and their sins.
18
They loathed all food
and came near the gates of death.
19
Then they cried out to the
Lord
in their trouble;
He saved them from their distress.
20
He sent His word and healed them;
He rescued them from the
•Pit
.
21
Let them give thanks to the
Lord
for His faithful love
and His wonderful works for all humanity.
22
Let them offer sacrifices of thanksgiving
and announce His works with shouts of joy.