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Israel's Rebelliousness and the LORD'S Deliverances.

¹ Praise the LORD! (Hallelujah!)
Oh ^(C1)give thanks to the LORD, for He ^(C2)is good;
For ^(C3)His mercy and lovingkindness endure forever! ^(VR1)

² Who can put into words the ^(C1)mighty deeds of the LORD?
Or who can proclaim all His praise that is due Him?

³ Blessed are those who observe justice by honoring God's precepts,
Who ^(C1)practice righteousness at all times.

⁴ Remember me, O LORD, when You ^(C1)favor Your people.
Visit me with Your salvation when You rescue them,

⁵ That I may see the ^(C1)prosperity of Your chosen ones,
That I may ^(C2)rejoice in the gladness of Your nation,
That I may ^(C3)glory with Your inheritance.

^6 (C1)We have sinned ^(C2)like our fathers;
We have committed iniquity, we have behaved wickedly. ^(VR1)

⁷ Our fathers in Egypt did not understand nor appreciate Your miracles;
They ^(C1)did not remember the abundance of Your mercies nor imprint Your lovingkindnesses on their hearts,
But they were ^(C2)rebellious at the sea, at the ^(F1)Red Sea. ^(VR1)

⁸ Nevertheless He saved them ^(C1)for His name's sake,
That He might ^(C2)make His supreme power known.

⁹ He ^(C1)rebuked the Red Sea, and it ^(C2)dried up;
And He ^(C3)led them through the depths as through a pasture. ^(VR1)

¹⁰ So He ^(C1)saved them from the hand of the one that hated them,
And ^(C2)redeemed them from the hand of the Egyptian enemy. ^(VR1)

¹¹ And ^(C1)the waters covered their adversaries;
Not one of them was left. ^(VR1)

¹² Then Israel ^(C1)believed in the validity of His words;
They ^(C2)sang His praise.

¹³ But they quickly ^(C1)forgot His works;
They ^(C2)did not patiently wait for His counsel and purpose to be revealed regarding them,

¹⁴ But ^(C1)lusted intensely in the wilderness
And ^(C2)tempted God with their insistent desires in the desert. ^(VR1)

¹⁵ So He ^(C1)gave them their request,
But ^(C2)sent a wasting disease among them. ^(VR1)

¹⁶ They ^(C1)envied Moses in the camp,
And Aaron the high priest, the holy one of the LORD, ^(VR1)

¹⁷ Therefore the ^(C1)earth opened and swallowed Dathan,
And engulfed the company of Abiram. ^(VR1)

¹⁸ And a ^(C1)fire broke out in their company;
The flame consumed the wicked. ^(VR1)

¹⁹ They ^(C1)made a calf in Horeb (Sinai)
And worshiped a cast image. ^(VR1)

²⁰ Thus they ^(C1)exchanged the true God who was their glory
For the image of an ox that eats grass.

²¹ They ^(C1)forgot God their Savior,
Who had done such ^(C2)great things in Egypt,

^22 (C1)Wonders in the land of Ham,
Awesome things at the Red Sea.

²³ Therefore ^(C1)He said He would destroy them,
And He would have done so had not ^(C2)Moses, His chosen one, stepped into the gap before Him,
To turn away His wrath from destroying them. ^(VR1)

²⁴ Then they ^(C1)despised the ^(C2)pleasant land of Canaan;
They ^(C3)did not believe in His word nor rely on it,

²⁵ But they ^(C1)sulked and complained in their tents;
They did not listen to the voice of the LORD.

²⁶ Therefore He ^(C1)lifted up His hand swearing to them,
That He would cause them to fall in the wilderness,

^27 (C1)And that He would cast out their descendants among the nations
And ^(C2)scatter them in the lands of the earth.

²⁸ They ^(C1)joined themselves also to the idol Baal of Peor,
And ate ^(C2)sacrifices offered to the dead.

²⁹ Thus they ^(C1)provoked Him to anger with their practices,
And a plague broke out among them.

³⁰ Then Phinehas the priest ^(C1)stood up and ^(F1)interceded,
And so the ^(C2)plague was halted. ^(VR1)

³¹ And that was ^(C1)credited to him for righteousness,
To all generations forever.

³² They ^(C1)provoked Him to anger at the waters of ^(F1)Meribah,
So that it ^(C2)went hard with Moses on their account; ^(VR1)

³³ Because they ^(C1)were rebellious against His Spirit,
Moses spoke recklessly with his lips.

³⁴ They ^(C1)did not destroy the pagan peoples in Canaan,
As ^(C2)the LORD commanded them,

³⁵ But ^(C1)they mingled with the idolatrous nations
And learned their ways,

³⁶ And ^(C1)served their idols,
^(C2)Which became a dreadful snare to them.

³⁷ They even ^(C1)sacrificed their sons and their daughters to ^(C2)demons ^(VR1)

³⁸ And shed ^(C1)innocent blood,
Even the blood of their ^(C2)sons and of their daughters,
Whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan;
And the land was ^(C3)polluted with their blood.

³⁹ In this way they became ^(C1)unclean in their practices;
They ^(C2)played the prostitute in their own deeds by giving their worship, which belongs to God alone, to other "gods".

⁴⁰ Therefore the ^(C1)anger of the LORD was kindled against His people
And He ^(C2)detested His own ^(F1)(C3)inheritance. ^(VR1)

^41 (C1)He gave them into the hands of the nations,
And those who hated them ruled over them.

⁴² Their enemies also ^(C1)oppressed them,
And they were subdued under the powerful hand of their enemies.

⁴³ Many times He ^(C1)rescued them;
But they were rebellious in their ^(C2)counsel,
And ^(C3)sank down in their wickedness.

⁴⁴ Nevertheless He looked sympathetically at their distress
When He ^(C1)heard their cry;

⁴⁵ And He ^(C1)remembered His covenant for their sake,
And ^(C2)relented rescinding their sentence ^(C3)according to the greatness of His lovingkindness when they cried out to Him,

⁴⁶ He also made them ^(C1)objects of compassion
Among those who had carried them away captive. ^(VR1)

^47 (C1)Save us, O LORD our God,
And ^(C2)gather us from among the nations,
That we may give thanks to Your holy name
And ^(C3)glory in praising You.

^48 (C1)Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel,
From everlasting even to everlasting.
And let all the people say, "Amen."
Praise the LORD! (Hallelujah!) ^(VR1)