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v1

Praise Yah. ^[Hebrew hallelujah] Give thanks to Yahweh, for he is good, for his loyal love is forever.

v2

Who can utter the mighty deeds of Yahweh, or proclaim all his praise?

v3

Blessed are those who observe justice, he who does righteousness at all times.

v4

Remember me, O Yahweh, when you show favor to your people. Look after me when you deliver,

v5

that I may see the good done your chosen ones, to be glad in the joy of your nation, to glory together with your inheritance.

v6

We have sinned along with our ancestors. ^[Or “fathers”] We have committed iniquity; we have incurred guilt.

v7

Our ancestors ^[Or “fathers”] in Egypt did not understand your wonderful works. They did not remember your many acts of loyal love, and so they rebelled by the sea at the Red Sea. ^[Literally “sea of reed”]

v8

Yet he saved them for the sake of his name, to make known his might.

v9

So he rebuked the Red Sea, ^[Literally “sea of reed”] and it dried up, and he led them through the deep as through a desert.

v10

Thus he saved them from the hand of the hater and redeemed them from the hand of the enemy.

v11

But waters covered their adversaries; not one of them survived.

v12

Then they believed his words; they sang his praise.

v13

They quickly forgot his works; they did not wait for his counsel.

v14

And they craved intensely ^[Literally “craved a craving”] in the wilderness, and tested God in the desert.

v15

So he gave to them their request, but he sent leanness into their souls. ^[Hebrew “soul” or “inner self”]

v16

And they were jealous of Moses in the camp, and of Aaron, the holy one of Yahweh.

v17

The earth opened and swallowed up Dathan, and it covered over the gang of Abiram.

v18

Also fire burned in their assembly; the flame devoured the wicked.

v19

They made a calf at Horeb and bowed down to a cast image.

v20

And so they exchanged their glory for an image of an ox that eats grass.

v21

They forgot God their Savior, who had done great things in Egypt,

v22

wonders in the land of Ham, awesome deeds by the Red Sea. ^[Literally “sea of reed”]

v23

So he said he would exterminate them, had not Moses, his chosen one, stood in the breach before him, to reverse his wrath from destroying them.

v24

Then they refused the desirable land; they did not believe his word,

v25

but grumbled in their tents. They did not obey the voice of Yahweh.

v26

So he made an oath ^[Literally “he lifted his hand,” an act accompanying an oath] against them, to make them drop in the wilderness,

v27

and to disperse ^[Or “let drop”] their descendants ^[Literally “seed”] among the nations and to scatter them among the lands.

v28

They also attached themselves to Baal of Peor, and they ate sacrifices offered to the dead. ^[Hebrew “sacrifices of dead”]

v29

Thus they provoked to anger by their deeds, and a plague broke out among them.

v30

Then Phinehas stood up and intervened, and so the plague was stopped,

v31

and it was reckoned to him as righteousness throughout all generations. ^[Literally “for a generation and a generation”]

v32

They also angered God at the waters of Meribah, and it went badly for Moses on account of them,

v33

because they rebelled against his Spirit, ^[A slightly different verbal form yields “they embittered his spirit”] and he spoke thoughtlessly with his lips.

v34

They did not exterminate the peoples, as Yahweh had commanded them, ^[Hebrew “said to them”]

v35

but they mingled with the nations and learned their works,

v36

and served their idols, which became ^[Hebrew “and they became”] a snare to them.

v37

They even sacrificed their sons and daughters to the demons,

v38

and they poured out innocent blood, the blood of their sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan, and so the land was defiled with the blood. ^[Hebrew “bloods,” that is, bloodshed]

v39

And they became unclean by their works, and were unfaithful in their deeds.

v40

So Yahweh’s anger burned against his people, and he abhorred his inheritance.

v41

Then he gave them into the hand of the nations, and those who hated them ruled over them.

v42

And their enemies oppressed them, and they were subdued under their hand.

v43

Many times he delivered them, but they rebelled in their counsel, and were brought low by their iniquity.

v44

Yet he looked upon their distress when he heard their cry.

v45

And he remembered his covenant with them, and relented based on the abundance of his loyal love.

v46

And he let them find compassion ^[Literally “gave them to have mercies”] before all their captors.

v47

Save us, O Yahweh our God, and gather us from the nations, so that we may give thanks to your holy name and boast in your praise.

v48

Blessed is Yahweh, the God of Israel, from everlasting and to everlasting. And let all the people say, “Amen!” Praise Yah. ^[Hebrew hallelujah]