1Praise the Lord!
Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good,
and his loyal love endures!

2Who can adequately recount the Lord’s mighty acts,
or relate all his praiseworthy deeds?

3How blessed are those who promote justice,
and do what is right all the time!

4Remember me, O Lord, when you show favor to your people!
Pay attention to me, when you deliver,

5so I may see the prosperity of your chosen ones,
rejoice along with your nation,
and boast along with the people who belong to you.

6We have sinned like our ancestors;
we have done wrong, we have done evil.

7Our ancestors in Egypt failed to appreciate your miraculous deeds,
they failed to remember your many acts of loyal love,
and they rebelled at the sea, by the Red Sea.

8Yet he delivered them for the sake of his reputation,
that he might reveal his power.

9He shouted at the Red Sea and it dried up;
he led them through the deep water as if it were a desert.

10He delivered them from the power of the one who hated them,
and rescued them from the power of the enemy.

11The water covered their enemies;
not even one of them survived.

12They believed his promises;
they sang praises to him.

13They quickly forgot what he had done;
they did not wait for his instructions.

14In the wilderness they had an insatiable craving for meat;
they challenged God in the desert.

15He granted their request,
then struck them with a disease.

16In the camp they resented Moses,
and Aaron, the Lord’s holy priest.

17The earth opened up and swallowed Dathan;
it engulfed the group led by Abiram.

18Fire burned their group;
the flames scorched the wicked.

19They made an image of a calf at Horeb,
and worshiped a metal idol.

20They traded their majestic God
for the image of an ox that eats grass.

21They rejected the God who delivered them,
the one who performed great deeds in Egypt,

22amazing feats in the land of Ham,
mighty acts by the Red Sea.

23He threatened to destroy them,
but Moses, his chosen one, interceded with him
and turned back his destructive anger.

24They rejected the fruitful land;
they did not believe his promise.

25They grumbled in their tents;
they did not obey the Lord.

26So he made a solemn vow
that he would make them die in the desert,

27make their descendants die among the nations,
and scatter them among foreign lands.

28They worshiped Baal of Peor,
and ate sacrifices offered to the dead.

29They made the Lord angry by their actions,
and a plague broke out among them.

30Phinehas took a stand and intervened,
and the plague subsided.

31This brought him a reward,
an eternal gift.

32They made him angry by the waters of Meribah,
and Moses suffered because of them,

33for they aroused his temper,
and he spoke rashly.

34They did not destroy the nations,
as the Lord had commanded them to do.

35They mixed in with the nations
and learned their ways.

36They worshiped their idols,
which became a snare to them.

37They sacrificed their sons and daughters to demons.

38They shed innocent blood –
the blood of their sons and daughters,
whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan.
The land was polluted by bloodshed.

39They were defiled by their deeds,
and unfaithful in their actions.

40So the Lord was angry with his people
and despised the people who belong to him.

41He handed them over to the nations,
and those who hated them ruled over them.

42Their enemies oppressed them;
they were subject to their authority.

43Many times he delivered them,
but they had a rebellious attitude,
and degraded themselves by their sin.

44Yet he took notice of their distress,
when he heard their cry for help.

45He remembered his covenant with them,
and relented because of his great loyal love.

46He caused all their conquerors
to have pity on them.

47Deliver us, O Lord, our God!
Gather us from among the nations!
Then we will give thanks to your holy name,
and boast about your praiseworthy deeds.

48The Lord God of Israel deserves praise,
in the future and forevermore.
Let all the people say, “We agree! Praise the Lord!”