Read the Bible

¹ Praise the Lord!
Give thanks to the Lord because he is good!
    His faithful love will last forever!
² No one can describe how great the Lord really is.
    No one can praise him enough.
³ Those who obey his commands are happy.
    They do good things all the time.

⁴ Lord, remember me when you show kindness to your people.
    Remember to save me too!
⁵ Let me share in the good things
    that you do for your chosen people.
Let me rejoice with your nation.
    Let me join with your people in praise.

⁶ We sinned just as our ancestors did.
    We were wrong; we did bad things!
⁷ Lord, our ancestors learned nothing
    from the miracles you did in Egypt.
They forgot your kindness at the Red Sea
    and rebelled against you.

⁸ But the Lord saved our ancestors for the honor of his name.
    He saved them to show his great power.
⁹ He gave the command, and the Red Sea became dry.
    He led them through the deep sea on land as dry as the desert.
¹⁰ He saved our ancestors
    and rescued them from their enemies.
¹¹ He covered their enemies with the sea.
    Not one of them escaped!

¹² Then our ancestors believed what he had said.
    They sang praises to him.
¹³ But they quickly forgot about what he did.
    They did not listen to his advice.
¹⁴ They became hungry in the desert,
    and they tested him in the wilderness.
¹⁵ He gave them what they asked for,
    but he also gave them a terrible disease.
¹⁶ The people became jealous of Moses.
    They became jealous of Aaron, the Lord's holy priest.
¹⁷ The ground opened up and swallowed Dathan.
    Then the ground closed up and covered Abiram's group.
¹⁸ Then a fire burned that mob of people.
    It burned those wicked people.
¹⁹ The people made a golden calf at Mount Horeb.
    They worshiped a statue!
²⁰ They traded their glorious God
    for a statue of a grass-eating bull!
²¹ They forgot all about God, the one who saved them,
    the one who did the miracles in Egypt.
²² He did amazing things there in Ham's country^[a]!
    He did awesome things at the Red Sea!

²³ God wanted to destroy those people,
    but Moses, the leader he chose, stood in the way.
God was very angry, but Moses begged him to stop,
    so God did not destroy the people.^[b]

²⁴ But then they refused to go into the wonderful land of Canaan.
    They did not believe that God would help them defeat the people there.
²⁵ Our ancestors complained in their tents
    and refused to obey the Lord.
²⁶ So he swore that they would die
    in the desert.
²⁷ He promised to scatter them among the nations
    and to let other people defeat their descendants.

²⁸ At Baal Peor they joined in worshiping Baal
    and ate sacrifices to honor the dead.^[c]
29 The Lord became angry with his people,
    so he made them sick.
³⁰ But Phinehas prayed^[d] to God,
    and God stopped the sickness.
³¹ He considered what Phinehas did a good work,
    and it will be remembered forever and ever.

³² At Meribah the people made the Lord angry
    and created trouble for Moses.
³³ They upset Moses,
    and he spoke without stopping to think.

³⁴ The Lord told the people to destroy the other nations living in Canaan.
    But the Israelites did not obey him.
³⁵ They mixed with the other people
    and did what those people were doing.
³⁶ They began worshiping the false gods those people worshiped.
    And their idols became a trap.
³⁷ They even offered their own children
    as sacrifices to demons.
³⁸ They killed their innocent sons and daughters
    and offered them to the false gods of Canaan.
    So the land was polluted with the sin of murder.
³⁹ They were unfaithful to him,
    and they became dirty with the sins of other nations.
⁴⁰ So the Lord became angry with his people.
    He rejected those who belonged to him.
⁴¹ He gave his people to other nations
    and let their enemies rule over them.
⁴² Their enemies controlled them
    and made life hard for them.
⁴³ He saved his people many times,
    but they turned against him and did what they wanted to do.
    His people did many bad things.
⁴⁴ But whenever they were in trouble,
    he listened to their prayers.
⁴⁵ He always remembered his agreement,
    and because of his faithful love, he comforted them.
⁴⁶ Other nations took them as prisoners,
    but the Lord caused them to be kind to his people.
⁴⁷ Lord our God, save us!
    Bring us back together from those nations.
Then we will give thanks to your holy name
    and joyfully praise you.
⁴⁸ Praise the Lord, the God of Israel!
    He always was and will always be worthy of praise.
Let all the people say, "Amen!"

Praise the Lord!