*Praise the Lord! Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, and his loyal love endures! *Who can adequately recount the Lord’s mighty acts, or relate all his praiseworthy deeds? *How blessed are those who promote justice, and do what is right all the time!*Remember me, O Lord, when you show favor to your people! Pay attention to me, when you deliver,*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. *We have sinned like our ancestors; we have done wrong, we have done evil.*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. *Yet he delivered them for the sake of his reputation, that he might reveal his power.*He shouted at the Red Sea and it dried up; he led them through the deep water as if it were a desert.*He delivered them from the power of the one who hated them, and rescued them from the power of the enemy.*The water covered their enemies; not even one of them survived. *They believed his promises; they sang praises to him.*They quickly forgot what he had done; they did not wait for his instructions. *In the wilderness they had an insatiable craving for meat; they challenged God in the desert.*He granted their request, then struck them with a disease. *In the camp they resented Moses, and Aaron, the Lord’s holy priest. *The earth opened up and swallowed Dathan; it engulfed the group led by Abiram. *Fire burned their group; the flames scorched the wicked. *They made an image of a calf at Horeb, and worshiped a metal idol.*They traded their majestic God for the image of an ox that eats grass.*They rejected the God who delivered them, the one who performed great deeds in Egypt,*amazing feats in the land of Ham, mighty acts by the Red Sea.*He threatened to destroy them, but Moses, his chosen one, interceded with him and turned back his destructive anger. *They rejected the fruitful land; they did not believe his promise. *They grumbled in their tents; they did not obey the Lord.*So he made a solemn vow that he would make them die in the desert,*make their descendants die among the nations, and scatter them among foreign lands. *They worshiped Baal of Peor, and ate sacrifices offered to the dead. *They made the Lord angry by their actions, and a plague broke out among them.*Phinehas took a stand and intervened, and the plague subsided.*This brought him a reward, an eternal gift. *They made him angry by the waters of Meribah, and Moses suffered because of them,*for they aroused his temper, and he spoke rashly. *They did not destroy the nations, as the Lord had commanded them to do.*They mixed in with the nations and learned their ways. *They worshiped their idols, which became a snare to them. *They sacrificed their sons and daughters to demons. *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. *They were defiled by their deeds, and unfaithful in their actions. *So the Lord was angry with his people and despised the people who belong to him. *He handed them over to the nations, and those who hated them ruled over them.*Their enemies oppressed them; they were subject to their authority. *Many times he delivered them, but they had a rebellious attitude, and degraded themselves by their sin.*Yet he took notice of their distress, when he heard their cry for help.*He remembered his covenant with them, and relented because of his great loyal love.*He caused all their conquerors to have pity on them.*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. *The Lord God of Israel deserves praise, in the future and forevermore. Let all the people say, “We agree! Praise the Lord!”
