Read the Bible

¹ Praise the Lord!
Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good,
and his loyal love endures!
² Who can adequately recount the Lord's mighty acts,
or relate all his praiseworthy deeds?
³ How blessed are those who promote justice,
and do what is right all the time!
⁴ Remember me, O Lord, when you show favor to your people!
Pay attention to me, when you deliver,
⁵ so I may see the prosperity of your chosen ones,
rejoice along with your nation,
and boast along with the people who belong to you.
⁶ We have sinned like our ancestors;
we have done wrong, we have done evil.
⁷ Our 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.
⁸ Yet he delivered them for the sake of his reputation,
that he might reveal his power.
⁹ He shouted at the Red Sea and it dried up;
he led them through the deep water as if it were a desert.
¹⁰ He delivered them from the power of the one who hated them,
and rescued them from the power of the enemy.
¹¹ The water covered their enemies;
not even one of them survived.
¹² They believed his promises;
they sang praises to him.
¹³ They quickly forgot what he had done;
they did not wait for his instructions.
¹⁴ In the wilderness they had an insatiable craving for meat;
they challenged God in the desert.
¹⁵ He granted their request,
then struck them with a disease.
¹⁶ In the camp they resented Moses,
and Aaron, the Lord's holy priest.
¹⁷ The earth opened up and swallowed Dathan;
it engulfed the group led by Abiram.
¹⁸ Fire burned their group;
the flames scorched the wicked.
¹⁹ They made an image of a calf at Horeb,
and worshiped a metal idol.
²⁰ They traded their majestic God
for the image of an ox that eats grass.
²¹ They rejected the God who delivered them,
the one who performed great deeds in Egypt,
²² amazing feats in the land of Ham,
mighty acts by the Red Sea.
²³ He threatened to destroy them,
but Moses, his chosen one, interceded with him
and turned back his destructive anger.
²⁴ They rejected the fruitful land;
they did not believe his promise.
²⁵ They grumbled in their tents;
they did not obey the Lord.
²⁶ So he made a solemn vow
that he would make them die in the desert,
²⁷ make their descendants die among the nations,
and scatter them among foreign lands.
²⁸ They worshiped Baal of Peor,
and ate sacrifices offered to the dead.
²⁹ They made the Lord angry by their actions,
and a plague broke out among them.
³⁰ Phinehas took a stand and intervened,
and the plague subsided.
³¹ This brought him a reward,
an eternal gift.
³² They made him angry by the waters of Meribah,
and Moses suffered because of them,
³³ for they aroused his temper,
and he spoke rashly.
³⁴ They did not destroy the nations,
as the Lord had commanded them to do.
³⁵ They mixed in with the nations
and learned their ways.
³⁶ They worshiped their idols,
which became a snare to them.
³⁷ They sacrificed their sons and daughters to demons.
³⁸ They shed innocent blood—
the blood of their sons and daughters,
whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan.
The land was polluted by bloodshed.
³⁹ They were defiled by their deeds,
and unfaithful in their actions.
⁴⁰ So the Lord was angry with his people
and despised the people who belong to him.
⁴¹ He handed them over to the nations,
and those who hated them ruled over them.
⁴² Their enemies oppressed them;
they were subject to their authority.
⁴³ Many times he delivered them,
but they had a rebellious attitude,
and degraded themselves by their sin.
⁴⁴ Yet he took notice of their distress,
when he heard their cry for help.
⁴⁵ He remembered his covenant with them,
and relented because of his great loyal love.
⁴⁶ He caused all their conquerors
to have pity on them.
⁴⁷ Deliver 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.
⁴⁸ The Lord God of Israel deserves praise,
in the future and forevermore.
Let all the people say, "We agree! Praise the Lord!"