1. PRAISE THE Lord! (Hallelujah!) O give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; for His mercy and loving-kindness endure forever! [I Chron. 16:34.]

2. Who can put into words and tell the mighty deeds of the Lord? Or who can show forth all the praise [that is due Him]?

3. Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) are those who observe justice [treating others fairly] and who do right and are in right standing with God at all times.

4. [Earnestly] remember me, O Lord, when You favor Your people! O visit me also when You deliver them, and grant me Your salvation!–

5. That I may see and share the welfare of Your chosen ones, that I may rejoice in the gladness of Your nation, that I may glory with Your heritage.

6. We have sinned, as did also our fathers; we have committed iniquity, we have done wickedly. [Lev. 26:40-42.]

7. Our fathers in Egypt understood not nor appreciated Your miracles; they did not [earnestly] remember the multitude of Your mercies nor imprint Your loving-kindness [on their hearts], but they were rebellious and provoked the Lord at the sea, even at the Red Sea. [Exod. 14:21.]

8. Nevertheless He saved them for His name's sake [to prove the righteousness of the divine character], that He might make His mighty power known.

9. He rebuked the Red Sea also, and it dried up; so He led them through the depths as through a pastureland. [Exod. 14:21.]

10. And He saved them from the hand of him that hated them, and redeemed them from the hand of the [Egyptian] enemy. [Exod. 14:30.]

11. And the waters covered their adversaries; not one of them was left. [Exod. 14:27, 28; 15:5.]

12. Then [Israel] believed His words [trusting in, relying on them]; they sang His praise.

13. But they hastily forgot His works; they did not [earnestly] wait for His plans [to develop] regarding them,

14. But lusted exceedingly in the wilderness and tempted and tried to restrain God [with their insistent desires] in the desert. [Num. 11:4.]

15. And He gave them their request, but sent leanness into their souls and [thinned their numbers by] disease and death. [Ps. 78:29-31.]

16. They envied Moses also in the camp, and Aaron [the high priest], the holy one of the Lord. [Num. 16:1-32.]

17. Therefore the earth opened and swallowed up Dathan and closed over the company of Abiram. [Num. 16:31, 32.]

18. And a fire broke out in their company; the flame burned up the wicked. [Num. 16:35, 46.]

19. They made a calf in Horeb and worshiped a molten image. [Exod. 32:4.]

20. Thus they exchanged Him Who was their Glory for the image of an ox that eats grass [they traded their Honor for the image of a calf]!

21. They forgot God their Savior, Who had done such great things in Egypt,

22. Wonders and miracles in the land of Ham, dreadful and awesome things at the Red Sea.

23. Therefore He said He would destroy them. [And He would have done so] had not Moses, His chosen one, stepped into the breach before Him to turn away His threatening wrath. [Exod. 32:10, 11, 32.]

24. Then they spurned and despised the pleasant and desirable land [Canaan]; they believed not His word [neither trusting in, relying on, nor holding to it];

25. But they murmured in their tents and hearkened not to the voice of the Lord.

26. Therefore He lifted up His hand [as if taking an oath] against them, that He would cause them to fall in the wilderness,

27. Cast out their descendants among the nations, and scatter them in the lands [of the earth].

28. They joined themselves also to the [idol] Baal of Peor and ate sacrifices [offered] to the lifeless [gods].

29. Thus they provoked the Lord to anger with their practices, and a plague broke out among them.

30. Then stood up Phinehas [the priest] and executed judgment, and so the plague was stayed. [Num. 25:7, 8.]

31. And that was credited to him for righteousness (right doing and right standing with God) to all generations forever.

32. They angered the Lord also at the waters of Meribah, so that it went ill with Moses for their sakes; [Num. 20:3-13.]

33. For they provoked [Moses'] spirit, so that he spoke unadvisedly with his lips.

34. They did not destroy the [heathen] nations as the Lord commanded them,

35. But mingled themselves with the [idolatrous] nations and learned their ways and works

36. And served their idols, which were a snare to them.

37. Yes, they sacrificed their sons and their daughters to demons [II Kings 16:3.]

38. And shed innocent blood, even the blood of their sons and of their daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan; and the land was polluted with their blood.

39. Thus were they defiled by their own works, and they played the harlot and practiced idolatry with their own deeds [of idolatrous rites].

40. Therefore was the wrath of the Lord kindled against His people, insomuch that He abhorred and rejected His own heritage. [Deut. 32:17.]

41. And He gave them into the hands of the [heathen] nations, and they that hated them ruled over them.

42. Their enemies also oppressed them, and they were brought into subjection under the hand of their foes.

43. Many times did [God] deliver them, but they were rebellious in their counsel and sank low through their iniquity.

44. Nevertheless He regarded their distress when He heard their cry;

45. And He [earnestly] remembered for their sake His covenant and relented their sentence of evil [comforting and easing Himself] according to the abundance of His mercy and loving-kindness [when they cried out to Him].

46. He also caused [Israel] to find sympathy among those who had carried them away captive.

47. Deliver us, O Lord our God, and gather us from among the nations, that we may give thanks to Your holy name and glory in praising You.

48. Blessed (affectionately and gratefully praised) be the Lord, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting! And let all the people say, Amen! Praise the Lord! (Hallelujah!) [I Chron. 16:35, 36.]