Psalm 105–106

God’s Love for Israel

105Give thanks to the Lord and pray to him.

Tell the nations what he has done.

²Sing to him; sing praises to him.

Tell about all his miracles.

³Be glad that you are his;

let those who seek the Lord be happy.

⁴Depend on the Lord and his strength;

always go to him for help.

⁵Remember the miracles he has done;

remember his wonders and his decisions.

⁶You are descendants of his servant Abraham,

the children of Jacob, his chosen people.

⁷He is the Lord our God.

His laws are for all the world.

⁸He will keep his agreement forever;

he will keep his promises always.

⁹He will keep the agreement he made with Abraham

and the promise he made to Isaac.

¹⁰He made it a law for the people of Jacob;

he made it an agreement with Israel to last forever.

¹¹The Lord said, “I will give you the land of Canaan,

and it will belong to you.”

¹²Then God’s people were few in number.

They were strangers in the land.

¹³They went from one nation to another,

from one kingdom to another.

¹⁴But the Lord did not let anyone hurt them;

he warned kings not to harm them.

¹⁵He said, “Don’t touch my chosen people,

and don’t harm my prophets.”

¹⁶God ordered a time of hunger in the land,

and he destroyed all the food.

¹⁷Then he sent a man ahead of them—

Joseph, who was sold as a slave.

¹⁸They put chains around his feet

and an iron ring around his neck.

¹⁹Then the time he had spoken of came,

and the Lord’s words proved that Joseph was right.

²⁰The king of Egypt sent for Joseph and freed him;

the ruler of the people set him free.

²¹He made him the master of his house;

Joseph was in charge of his riches.

²²He could order the princes as he wished.

He taught the older men to be wise.

²³Then his father Israel came to Egypt;

Jacob ⁿ lived in Egypt. ⁿ

²⁴The Lord made his people grow in number,

and he made them stronger than their enemies.

²⁵He caused the Egyptians to hate his people

and to make plans against his servants.

²⁶Then he sent his servant Moses,

and Aaron, whom he had chosen.

²⁷They did many signs among the Egyptians

and worked wonders in Egypt.

²⁸The Lord sent darkness and made the land dark,

but the Egyptians turned against what he said.

²⁹So he changed their water into blood

and made their fish die.

³⁰Then their country was filled with frogs,

even in the bedrooms of their rulers.

³¹The Lord spoke and flies came,

and gnats were everywhere in the country.

³²He made hail fall like rain

and sent lightning through their land.

³³He struck down their grapevines and fig trees,

and he destroyed every tree in the country.

³⁴He spoke and grasshoppers came;

the locusts were too many to count.

³⁵They ate all the plants in the land

and everything the earth produced.

³⁶The Lord also killed all the firstborn sons in the land,

the oldest son of each family.

³⁷Then he brought his people out,

and they carried with them silver and gold.

Not one of his people stumbled.

³⁸The Egyptians were glad when they left,

because the Egyptians were afraid of them.

³⁹The Lord covered them with a cloud

and lit up the night with fire.

⁴⁰When they asked, he brought them quail

and filled them with bread from heaven.

⁴¹God split the rock, and water flowed out;

it ran like a river through the desert.

⁴²He remembered his holy promise

to his servant Abraham.

⁴³So God brought his people out with joy,

his chosen ones with singing.

⁴⁴He gave them lands of other nations,

so they received what others had worked for.

⁴⁵This was so they would keep his orders

and obey his teachings.

Praise the Lord!

Israel’s Failure to Trust God

106Praise the Lord!

Thank the Lord because he is good.

His love continues forever.

²No one can tell all the mighty things the Lord has done;

no one can speak all his praise.

³Happy are those who do right,

who do what is fair at all times.

⁴Lord, remember me when you are kind to your people;

help me when you save them.

⁵Let me see the good things you do for your chosen people.

Let me be happy along with your happy nation;

let me join your own people in praising you.

⁶We have sinned just as our ancestors did.

We have done wrong; we have done evil.

⁷Our ancestors in Egypt

did not learn from your miracles.

They did not remember all your kindnesses,

so they turned against you at the Red Sea.

⁸But the Lord saved them for his own sake,

to show his great power.

⁹He commanded the Red Sea, and it dried up.

He led them through the deep sea as if it were a desert.

¹⁰He saved them from those who hated them.

He saved them from their enemies,

¹¹and the water covered their foes.

Not one of them escaped.

¹²Then the people believed what the Lord said,

and they sang praises to him.

¹³But they quickly forgot what he had done;

they did not wait for his advice.

¹⁴They became greedy for food in the desert,

and they tested God there.

¹⁵So he gave them what they wanted,

but he also sent a terrible disease among them.

¹⁶The people in the camp were jealous of Moses

and of Aaron, the holy priest of the Lord.

¹⁷Then the ground opened up and swallowed Dathan

and closed over Abiram’s group.

¹⁸A fire burned among their followers,

and flames burned up the wicked.

¹⁹The people made a gold calf at Mount Sinai

and worshiped a metal statue.

²⁰They exchanged their glorious God

for a statue of a bull that eats grass.

²¹They forgot the God who saved them,

who had done great things in Egypt,

²²who had done miracles in Egypt ⁿ

and amazing things by the Red Sea.

²³So God said he would destroy them.

But Moses, his chosen one, stood before him

and stopped God’s anger from destroying them.

²⁴Then they refused to go into the beautiful land of Canaan;

they did not believe what God promised.

²⁵They grumbled in their tents

and did not obey the Lord.

²⁶So he swore to them

that they would die in the desert.

²⁷He said their children would be killed by other nations

and that they would be scattered among other countries.

²⁸They joined in worshiping Baal at Peor

and ate meat that had been sacrificed to lifeless statues.

²⁹They made the Lord angry by what they did,

so many people became sick with a terrible disease.

³⁰But Phinehas prayed to the Lord,

and the disease stopped.

³¹Phinehas did what was right,

and it will be remembered from now on.

³²The people also made the Lord angry at Meribah,

and Moses was in trouble because of them.

³³The people turned against the Spirit of God,

so Moses spoke without stopping to think.

³⁴The people did not destroy the other nations

as the Lord had told them to do.

³⁵Instead, they mixed with the other nations

and learned their customs.

³⁶They worshiped other nations’ idols

and were trapped by them.

³⁷They even killed their sons and daughters

as sacrifices to demons.

³⁸They killed innocent people,

their own sons and daughters,

as sacrifices to the idols of Canaan.

So the land was made unholy by their blood.

³⁹The people became unholy by their sins;

they were unfaithful to God in what they did.

⁴⁰So the Lord became angry with his people

and hated his own children.

⁴¹He handed them over to other nations

and let their enemies rule over them.

⁴²Their enemies were cruel to them

and kept them under their power.

⁴³The Lord saved his people many times,

but they continued to turn against him.

So they became even more wicked.

⁴⁴But God saw their misery

when he heard their cry.

⁴⁵He remembered his agreement with them,

and he felt sorry for them because of his great love.

⁴⁶He caused them to be pitied

by those who held them captive.

⁴⁷Lord our God, save us

and bring us back from other nations.

Then we will thank you

and will gladly praise you.

⁴⁸Praise the Lord, the God of Israel.

He always was and always will be.

Let all the people say, “Amen!”

Praise the Lord!