and sang His praises.
13But they soon forgot His deeds;
they would not wait to learn His plan.
14They were seized with craving in the wilderness,
and put God to the test in the wasteland.
15He gave them what they asked for,
then made them waste away.
16There was envy of Moses in the camp,
and of Aaron, the holy one of the LORD.
17The earth opened up and swallowed Dathan,
closed over the party of Abiram.
18A fire blazed among their party,
a flame that consumed the wicked.
19They made a calf at Horeb
and bowed down to a molten image.
20They exchanged their glory
for the image of a bull that feeds on grass.
21They forgot God who saved them,
who performed great deeds in Egypt,
22wondrous deeds in the land of Ham,
awesome deeds at the Sea of Reeds.
23He would have destroyed them
had not Moses His chosen one
confronted Him in the breach
to avert His destructive wrath.
24They rejected the desirable land,
and put no faith in His promise.
25They grumbled in their tents
and disobeyed the LORD.
26So He raised His hand in oath
to make them fall in the wilderness,
27to dispersea their offspring among the nations
and scatter them through the lands.
28They attached themselves to Baal Peor,
ate sacrifices offered to the dead.
29They provoked anger by their deeds,
and a plague broke out among them.
30Phinehas stepped forth and intervened,
and the plague ceased.
31It was reckoned to his merit
for all generations, to eternity.
32They provoked wrath at the waters of Meribah
and Moses suffered on their account,
33because they rebelled against Him
and he spoke rashly.
34They did not destroy the nations
as the LORD had commanded them,
35but mingled with the nations
and learned their ways.
36They worshiped their idols,
which became a snare for them.
37Their own sons and daughters
they sacrificed to demons.
38They shed innocent blood,
the blood of their sons and daughters,
whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan;
so the land was polluted with bloodguilt.
39Thus they became defiled by their acts,
debauched through their deeds.
40The LORD was angry with His people
and He abhorred His inheritance.
41He handed them over to the nations;
their foes ruled them.
42Their enemies oppressed them
and they were subject to their power.
43He saved them time and again,
but they were deliberately rebellious,
and so they were brought low by their iniquity.
44When He saw that they were in distress,
when He heard their cry,
45He was mindful of His covenant
and in His great faithfulness relented.
46He made all their captors kindly disposed toward them.
47Deliver us, O LORD our God,
and gather us from among the nations,
to acclaim Your holy name,
to glory in Your praise.
48Blessed is the LORD, God of Israel,
From eternity to eternity.
Let all the people say, “Amen.”
Hallelujah.
book five
107 “Praise the LORD, for He is good;
His steadfast love is eternal!”
2Thus let the redeemed of the LORD say,
those He redeemed from adversity,
3whom He gathered in from the lands,
from east and west,
from the north and from the sea.
4Some lost their way in the wilderness,
in the wasteland;
they found no settled place.
5Hungry and thirsty,
their spirit failed.
6In their adversity they cried to the LORD,
and He rescued them from their troubles.
7He showed them a direct way
to reach a settled place.
8Let them praise the LORD for His steadfast love,
His wondrous deeds for mankind;
9for He has satisfied the thirsty,
filled the hungry with all good things.
10Some lived in deepest darkness,
bound in cruel irons,
11because they defied the word of God,
spurned the counsel of the Most High.
12He humbled their hearts through suffering;
they stumbled with no one to help.
13In their adversity they cried to the LORD,
and He rescued them from their troubles.
14He brought them out of deepest darkness,
broke their bonds asunder.
15Let them praise the LORD for His steadfast love,
His wondrous deeds for mankind,
16For He shattered gates of bronze,
He broke their iron bars.
17There were fools who suffered for their sinful way,
and for their iniquities.
18All food was loathsome to them;
they reached the gates of death.
19In their adversity they cried to the LORD
and He saved them from their troubles.
20He gave an order and healed them;
He delivered them from the pits.a
21Let them praise the LORD for His steadfast love,
His wondrous deeds for mankind.
22Let them offer thanksgiving sacrifices,
and tell His deeds in joyful song.
23Others go down to the sea in ships,
ply their trade in the mighty waters;
24they have seen the works of the LORD
and His wonders in the deep.
25By His word He raised a storm wind
that made the waves surge.
26Mounting up to the heaven,
plunging down to the depths,
disgorging in their misery,
27they reeled and staggered like a drunken man,
all their skill to no avail.
28In their adversity they cried to the LORD,
and He saved them from their troubles.
29He reduced the storm to a whisper;
the waves were stilled.
30They rejoiced when all was quiet,
and He brought them to the port they desired.
31Let them praise the LORD for His steadfast love,
His wondrous deeds for mankind.
32Let them exalt Him in the congregation of the people,
acclaim Him in the assembly of the elders.
33He turns the rivers into a wilderness,
springs of water into thirsty land,
34fruitful land into a salt marsh,
because of the wickedness of its inhabitants.
35He turns the wilderness into pools,
parched land into springs of water.
36There He settles the hungry;
they build a place to settle in.
37They sow fields and plant vineyards
that yield a fruitful harvest.
38He blesses them and they increase greatly;
and He does not let their cattle decrease,
39after they had been few and crushed
by oppression, misery, and sorrow.
40He pours contempt on great men
and makes them lose their way in trackless deserts;
41but the needy He secures from suffering,
and increases their families like flocks.
42The upright see it and rejoice;
the mouth of all wrongdoers is stopped.
43The wise man will take note of these things;
he will consider the steadfast love of the LORD.
108 A song. A psalm of David.
2aMy heart is firm, O God;
I will sing and chant a hymn with all my soul.
3Awake, O harp and lyre!
I will wake the dawn.
4I will praise You among the peoples, O LORD,
sing a hymn to You among the nations;
5for Your faithfulness is higher than the heavens;
Your steadfastness reaches to the sky.
6Exalt Yourself over the heavens, O God;
let Your glory be over all the earth!
7bThat those whom You love may be rescued,
deliver with Your right hand and answer me.
8God promised c-in His sanctuary-c
that I would exultingly divide up Shechem,
and measure the Valley of Sukkoth;
9Gilead and Manasseh would be mine,
Ephraim my chief stronghold,
Judah my scepter;
10Moab would be my washbasin;
on Edom I would cast my shoe;
I would raise a shout over Philistia.
11Would that I were brought to the bastion!
Would that I were led to Edom!
12But You have rejected us, O God;
God, You do not march with our armies.
13Grant us Your aid against the foe,
for the help of man is worthless.
14With God we shall triumph;
He will trample our foes.
109 For the leader. Of David. A psalm.
O God of my praise,
do not keep aloof,
2for the wicked and the deceitful
open their mouth against me;
they speak to me with lying tongue.
3They encircle me with words of hate;
they attack me without cause.
4They answer my love with accusation
a-and I must stand judgment.-a
5They repay me with evil for good,
with hatred for my love.
6Appoint a wicked man over him;
may an accuser stand at his right side;
7may he be tried and convicted;
may he be judged and found guilty.
8May his days be few;
may another take over b-his position.-b
9May his children be orphans,
his wife a widow.
10May his children wander from their hovels,
begging in search of [bread].
11May his creditor seize all his possessions;
may strangers plunder his wealth.
12May no one show him mercy;
may none pity his orphans;
13may his posterity be cut off;
may their names be blotted out in the next generation.
14May God be ever mindful of his father’s iniquity,
and may the sin of his mother not be blotted out.
15May the LORD be aware of them always
and cause their names to be cut off from the earth,
16because he was not minded to act kindly,
and hounded to death the poor and needy man,
one crushed in spirit.
17He loved to curse—may a curse come upon him!
He would not bless—may blessing be far from him!
18May he be clothed in a curse like a garment,
may it enter his body like water,
his bones like oil.
19Let it be like the cloak he wraps around him,
like the belt he always wears.
20May the LORD thus repay my accusers,
all those who speak evil against me.
21Now You, O God, my Lord,
act on my behalf as befits Your name.
Good and faithful as You are, save me.
22For I am poor and needy,
and my heart is pierced within me.
23I fade away like a lengthening shadow;
I am shaken off like locusts.
24My knees give way from fasting;
my flesh is lean, has lost its fat.
25I am the object of their scorn;
when they see me, they shake their head.
26Help me, O LORD, my God;
save me in accord with Your faithfulness,
27that men may know that it is Your hand,
that You, O LORD, have done it.
28Let them curse, but You bless;
let them rise up, but come to grief,
while Your servant rejoices.
29My accusers shall be clothed in shame,
wrapped in their disgrace as in a robe.
30My mouth shall sing much praise to the LORD;
I will acclaim Him in the midst of a throng,
31because He stands at the right hand of the needy,
to save him from those who would condemn him.
110 Of David. A psalm.
The LORD said to my lord,
“Sit at My right hand
while I make your enemies your footstool.”
2The LORD will stretch forth from Zion your mighty scepter;
hold sway over your enemies!
3a-Your people come forward willingly on your day of battle.
In majestic holiness, from the womb,
from the dawn, yours was the dew of youth.-a
4The LORD has sworn and will not relent,
“You are a priest forever, b-a rightful king by My decree.”-b
5The Lord is at your right hand.
He crushes kings in the day of His anger.
6He works judgment upon the nations,
heaping up bodies,
crushing heads far and wide.
7He drinks from the stream on his way;
therefore he holds his head high.
111 Hallelujah.
I praise the LORD with all my heart
in the assembled congregation of the upright.
2The works of the LORD are great,
a-within reach of
