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¹ Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good,
and his loyal love endures!
² Let those delivered by the Lord speak out,
those whom he delivered from the power of the enemy,
³ and gathered from foreign lands,
from east and west,
from north and south.
⁴ They wandered through the wilderness on a desert road;
they found no city in which to live.
⁵ They were hungry and thirsty;
they fainted from exhaustion.
⁶ They cried out to the Lord in their distress;
he delivered them from their troubles.
⁷ He led them on a level road,
that they might find a city in which to live.
⁸ Let them give thanks to the Lord for his loyal love,
and for the amazing things he has done for people!
⁹ For he has satisfied those who thirst,
and those who hunger he has filled with food.
¹⁰ They sat in utter darkness,
bound in painful iron chains,
¹¹ because they had rebelled against God's commands,
and rejected the instructions of the sovereign king.
¹² So he used suffering to humble them;
they stumbled and no one helped them up.
¹³ They cried out to the Lord in their distress;
he delivered them from their troubles.
¹⁴ He brought them out of the utter darkness,
and tore off their shackles.
¹⁵ Let them give thanks to the Lord for his loyal love,
and for the amazing things he has done for people!
¹⁶ For he shattered the bronze gates,
and hacked through the iron bars.
¹⁷ They acted like fools in their rebellious ways,
and suffered because of their sins.
¹⁸ They lost their appetite for all food,
and they drew near the gates of death.
¹⁹ They cried out to the Lord in their distress;
he delivered them from their troubles.
²⁰ He sent them an assuring word and healed them;
he rescued them from the pits where they were trapped.
²¹ Let them give thanks to the Lord for his loyal love,
and for the amazing things he has done for people!
²² Let them present thank offerings,
and loudly proclaim what he has done!
²³ Some traveled on the sea in ships,
and carried cargo over the vast waters.
²⁴ They witnessed the acts of the Lord,
his amazing feats on the deep water.
²⁵ He gave the order for a windstorm,
and it stirred up the waves of the sea.
²⁶ They reached up to the sky,
then dropped into the depths.
The sailors' strength left them because the danger was so great.
²⁷ They swayed and staggered like a drunk,
and all their skill proved ineffective.
²⁸ They cried out to the Lord in their distress;
he delivered them from their troubles.
²⁹ He calmed the storm,
and the waves grew silent.
³⁰ The sailors rejoiced because the waves grew quiet,
and he led them to the harbor they desired.
³¹ Let them give thanks to the Lord for his loyal love,
and for the amazing things he has done for people!
³² Let them exalt him in the assembly of the people!
Let them praise him in the place where the leaders preside!
³³ He turned streams into a desert,
springs of water into arid land,
³⁴ and a fruitful land into a barren place,
because of the sin of its inhabitants.
³⁵ As for his people, he turned a desert into a pool of water,
and a dry land into springs of water.
³⁶ He allowed the hungry to settle there,
and they established a city in which to live.
³⁷ They cultivated fields,
and planted vineyards,
which yielded a harvest of fruit.
³⁸ He blessed them so that they became very numerous.
He would not allow their cattle to decrease in number.
³⁹ As for their enemies, they decreased in number and were beaten down,
because of painful distress and suffering.
⁴⁰ He would pour contempt upon princes,
and he made them wander in a wasteland with no road.
⁴¹ Yet he protected the needy from oppression,
and cared for his families like a flock of sheep.
⁴² When the godly see this, they rejoice,
and every sinner shuts his mouth.
⁴³ Whoever is wise, let him take note of these things!
Let them consider the Lord's acts of loyal love!