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Give Thanks to the LORD, for He is Good

(1 Chronicles 16:7-36; Psalm 95:1-11; Psalm 105:1-45)

¹ Hallelujah^(a)! Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; His loving devotion endures forever.² Who can describe the mighty acts of the LORD or fully proclaim His praise?³ Blessed are those who uphold justice, who practice righteousness at all times.⁴ Remember me, O LORD, in Your favor to Your people; visit me with Your salvation,⁵ that I may see the prosperity of Your chosen ones, and rejoice in the gladness of Your nation, and give glory with Your inheritance.

⁶ We have sinned like our fathers; we have done wrong and acted wickedly.⁷ Our fathers in Egypt did not grasp Your wonders or remember Your abundant kindness; but they rebelled by the sea^(a), there at the Red Sea.⁸ Yet He saved them for the sake 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 that hated them, and redeemed them from the hand of the enemy.¹¹ The waters covered their foes; not one of them remained.¹² Then they believed His promises and sang His praise.

¹³ Yet they soon forgot His works and failed to wait for His counsel.¹⁴ They craved intensely in the wilderness and tested God in the desert.¹⁵ So He granted their request, but sent a wasting disease upon them.¹⁶ In the camp they envied Moses and Aaron, the holy one of the LORD.¹⁷ The earth opened up and swallowed Dathan; it covered the assembly of Abiram.¹⁸ Then fire blazed through their company; flames consumed the wicked.¹⁹ At Horeb they made a calf and worshiped a molten image.²⁰ They exchanged their Glory for the image of an ox that eats grass.²¹ They forgot God their Savior, who did great things in Egypt,²² wondrous works in the land of Ham, and awesome deeds by the Red Sea.²³ So He said He would destroy them—had not Moses His chosen one stood before Him in the breach to divert His wrath from destroying them.²⁴ They despised the pleasant land; they did not believe His promise.²⁵ They grumbled in their tents and did not listen to the voice of the LORD.²⁶ So He raised His hand and swore to cast them down in the wilderness,²⁷ to disperse their offspring among the nations and scatter them throughout the lands.²⁸ They yoked themselves to Baal of Peor and ate sacrifices offered to lifeless gods.²⁹ So they provoked the LORD to anger with their deeds, and a plague broke out among them.³⁰ But Phinehas stood and intervened, and the plague was restrained.³¹ It was credited to him as righteousness for endless generations to come.³² At the waters of Meribah they angered the LORD, and trouble came to Moses because of them.³³ For they rebelled against His Spirit^(a), and Moses spoke rashly with his lips.

³⁴ They did not destroy the peoples as the LORD had commanded them,³⁵ but they mingled with the nations and adopted their customs.³⁶ They worshiped their idols, which became a snare to them.³⁷ They sacrificed their sons and their daughters to demons.³⁸ They shed innocent blood—the blood of their sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan, and the land was polluted with blood.³⁹ They defiled themselves by their actions and prostituted themselves by their deeds.⁴⁰ So the anger of the LORD burned against His people, and He abhorred His own inheritance.⁴¹ He delivered them into the hand of the nations, and those who hated them ruled over them.⁴² Their enemies oppressed them, and subdued them under their hand.⁴³ Many times He rescued them, but they were bent on rebellion and sank down in their iniquity.⁴⁴ Nevertheless He heard their cry; He took note of their distress.⁴⁵ And He remembered His covenant with them, and relented by the abundance of His loving devotion.⁴⁶ He made them objects of compassion to all who held them captive.⁴⁷ Save us, O LORD our God, and gather us from the nations, that we may give thanks to Your holy name, that we may glory in Your praise.⁴⁸ Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting. Let all the people say, “Amen!” Hallelujah!