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1PRAISE the Lord!
Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good;
His faithful love endures forever.
2 Who can proclaim all the mighty works of the Lord,
or fully declare his praise?
3 Blessed are they who maintain justice,
who practice righteousness at all times.
4 Remember me, O Lord, when You show favour to Your people,
come to me with Your salvation,
5 so that I may enjoy the prosperity of Your chosen ones,
that I may rejoice in the joy of Your nation,
and join with Your inheritance in praising You.
6 We have sinned, like our fathers also sinned;
we have gone astray and done wickedly.
7 When our fathers were in Egypt,
they did not recognize Your miracles;
they did not remember Your many acts of mercy,
instead, they rebelled by the sea, the Red Sea.
8 Yet He saved them for His name’s sake,
to make His mighty power known.
9 He rebuked the Red Sea, and it dried up;
He led them through the depths as through a desert.
10 He saved them from the hand of the enemy;
He redeemed them from the hand of the foe.
11 The waters covered their adversaries;
not one of them survived.
12 Then they believed His words;
and sang His praise.
13 But they soon forgot what He had done;
they would not wait for His counsel.
14 They were seized with craving in the wilderness;
they put God to the test in the desert.
15 So He gave them what they demanded,
but sent a wasting disease upon them.
16 They became envious of Moses in the camp,
and of Aaron, who was consecrated to the Lord.
17 The earth opened up and swallowed Dathan,
and covered the assembly of Abiram.
18 A fire erupted among their assembly;
the flames consumed the wicked.
19 They made a calf at Horeb,
and worshipped an idol of cast metal.
20 The exchanged the glory of God
for the image of an ox that eats grass.
21 They forgot God their Saviour,
who had done great things in Egypt,
22 wonders in the land of Ham,
and awesome deeds by the Red Sea.
23 So He said He would destroy them—
had not Moses, His chosen one,
stood before Him in the breach,
to turn away His wrath from destroying them.
24 Then they despised the pleasant land;
they did not believe His promise,
25 but grumbled in their tents,
and did not listen to the voice of the Lord.
26 So He lifted up His hand,
and swore an oath against them,
that He would make them fall in the wilderness,
27 and disperse their descendants among the nations,
scattering them throughout the lands.
28 They joined themselves to the Baal of Peor,
and ate the sacrifices offered to lifeless gods.
29 Thus they provoked Him to anger with their deeds,
and a plague broke out against them.
30 Then Phinehas stood up and intervened,
and the plague was stayed.
31 This was credited to him as righteousness
throughout all the generations to come.
32 They angered the Lord at the waters of Meribah,
so that trouble came to Moses on their account;
33 for they provoked his spirit,
so Moses spoke rashly with his lips.
34 They did not destroy the peoples,
as the Lord had commanded them,
35 but they mingled with the nations,
and adopted their ways.
36 They worshipped their idols,
which became a snare to them.
37 They sacrificed their sons
and their daughters to demons.
38 They shed innocent blood,
the blood of their sons and daughters,
whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan;
and the land was polluted with blood.
39 Thus they were defiled by their own works,
and prostituted themselves by their own deeds.
40 Therefore the Lord was very angry with His people,
and He abhorred His own inheritance.
41 He handed them over to the nations,
and those who hated them ruled over them.
42 Their enemies oppressed them,
and subjected them to their power.
43 Many times He delivered them,
but they were deliberately rebellious,
and were beaten down by their iniquity.
44 But He took notice of their distress,
when He heard their cry;
45 He remembered His covenant with them,
and relented because of His great love.
46 He caused them to be pitied
by all who carried them off as captives.
47 Save us, O Lord our God,
and gather us from among the nations,
that we may give thanks to Your holy name,
and triumph in Your praise.
48 Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel,
from everlasting to everlasting.
Let all the people say, “Amen!”
Praise the Lord!