• Israel’s Rebelliousness and the Lord’s Help.

  • 1 Praise the Lord! Oh give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; For His mercy is everlasting.
  • 2 Who can speak of the mighty deeds of the Lord, Or can proclaim all His praise?
  • 3 How blessed are those who maintain justice, Who practice righteousness at all times!
  • 4 Remember me, Lord, in Your favor toward Your people. Visit me with Your salvation,
  • 5 So that I may see the prosperity of Your chosen ones, That I may rejoice in the joy of Your nation, That I may boast with Your inheritance.
  • 6 We have sinned like our fathers, We have gone astray, we have behaved wickedly.
  • 7 Our fathers in Egypt did not understand Your wonders; They did not remember Your abundant kindnesses, But rebelled by the sea, at the Red Sea.
  • 8 Nevertheless He saved them for the sake of His name, So that He might make His power known.
  • 9 So He rebuked the Red Sea and it dried up, And He led them through the mighty waters, as through the wilderness.
  • 10 So He saved them from the hand of one who hated them, And redeemed them from the hand of the enemy.
  • 11 The waters covered their adversaries; Not one of them was left.
  • 12 Then they believed His words; They sang His praise.
  • 13 They quickly forgot His works; They did not wait for His plan,
  • 14 But became lustfully greedy in the wilderness, And put God to the test in the desert.
  • 15 So He gave them their request, But sent a wasting disease among them.
  • 16 When they became envious of Moses in the camp, And of Aaron, the holy one of the Lord,
  • 17 The earth opened and swallowed up Dathan, And engulfed the company of Abiram.
  • 18 And a fire blazed up in their company; The flame consumed the wicked.
  • 19 They made a calf in Horeb, And worshiped a cast metal image.
  • 20 So they exchanged their glory For the image of an ox that eats grass.
  • 21 They forgot God their Savior, Who had done great things in Egypt,
  • 22 Wonders in the land of Ham, And awesome things by the Red Sea.
  • 23 Therefore He said that He would destroy them, If Moses, His chosen one, had not stood in the gap before Him, To turn away His wrath from destroying them.
  • 24 Then they rejected the pleasant land; They did not believe His word,
  • 25 But grumbled in their tents; They did not listen to the voice of the Lord.
  • 26 Therefore He swore to them That He would have them fall in the wilderness,
  • 27 And that He would bring down their descendants among the nations, And scatter them in the lands.
  • 28 They also followed Baal-peor, And ate sacrifices offered to the dead.
  • 29 So they provoked Him to anger with their deeds, And a plague broke out among them.
  • 30 Then Phinehas stood up and intervened, And so the plague was brought to a halt.
  • 31 And it was credited to him as righteousness, To all generations forever.
  • 32 They also provoked Him to wrath at the waters of Meribah, So that it went badly for Moses on their account.
  • 33 Because they were rebellious against His Spirit, He spoke rashly with his lips.
  • 34 They did not destroy the peoples, As the Lord had commanded them,
  • 35 But they got involved with the nations And learned their practices,
  • 36 And served their idols, Which became a snare to them.
  • 37 They even sacrificed their sons and their daughters to the demons,
  • 38 And shed innocent blood, The blood of their sons and their daughters Whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan; And the land was defiled with the blood.
  • 39 So they became unclean in their practices, And were unfaithful in their deeds.
  • 40 Therefore the anger of the Lord was kindled against His people, And He loathed His inheritance.
  • 41 So He handed them over to the nations, And those who hated them ruled over them.
  • 42 Their enemies also oppressed them, And they were subdued under their power.
  • 43 Many times He would rescue them; They, however, were rebellious in their plan, And they sank down into their guilt.
  • 44 Nevertheless He looked at their distress When He heard their cry;
  • 45 And He remembered His covenant for their sake, And relented according to the greatness of His mercy.
  • 46 He also made them objects of compassion In the presence of all their captors.
  • 47 Save us, Lord our God, And gather us from the nations, To give thanks to Your holy name And glory in Your praise.
  • 48 Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, From everlasting to everlasting. And all the people shall say, “Amen.” Praise the Lord!