Psalm 106–107

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!

God Saves from Many Dangers

107Thank the Lord because he is good.

His love continues forever.

²That is what those whom the Lord has saved should say.

He has saved them from the enemy

³and has gathered them from other lands,

from east and west, north and south.

⁴Some people had wandered in the desert lands.

They found no city in which to live.

⁵They were hungry and thirsty,

and they were discouraged.

⁶In their misery they cried out to the Lord,

and he saved them from their troubles.

⁷He led them on a straight road

to a city where they could live.

⁸Let them give thanks to the Lord for his love

and for the miracles he does for people.

⁹He satisfies the thirsty

and fills up the hungry.

¹⁰Some sat in gloom and darkness;

they were prisoners suffering in chains.

¹¹They had turned against the words of God

and had refused the advice of God Most High.

¹²So he broke their pride by hard work.

They stumbled, and no one helped.

¹³In their misery they cried out to the Lord,

and he saved them from their troubles.

¹⁴He brought them out of their gloom and darkness

and broke their chains.

¹⁵Let them give thanks to the Lord for his love

and for the miracles he does for people.

¹⁶He breaks down bronze gates

and cuts apart iron bars.

¹⁷Some fools turned against God

and suffered for the evil they did.

¹⁸They refused to eat anything,

so they almost died.

¹⁹In their misery they cried out to the Lord,

and he saved them from their troubles.

²⁰God gave the command and healed them,

so they were saved from dying.

²¹Let them give thanks to the Lord for his love

and for the miracles he does for people.

²²Let them offer sacrifices to thank him.

With joy they should tell what he has done.

²³Others went out to sea in ships

and did business on the great oceans.

²⁴They saw what the Lord could do,

the miracles he did in the deep oceans.

²⁵He spoke, and a storm came up,

which blew up high waves.

²⁶The ships were tossed as high as the sky and fell low to the depths.

The storm was so bad that they lost their courage.

²⁷They stumbled and fell like people who were drunk.

They did not know what to do.

²⁸In their misery they cried out to the Lord,

and he saved them from their troubles.

²⁹He stilled the storm

and calmed the waves.

³⁰They were happy that it was quiet,

and God guided them to the port they wanted.

³¹Let them give thanks to the Lord for his love

and for the miracles he does for people.

³²Let them praise his greatness in the meeting of the people;

let them praise him in the meeting of the elders.

³³He changed rivers into a desert

and springs of water into dry ground.

³⁴He made fertile land salty,

because the people there did evil.

³⁵He changed the desert into pools of water

and dry ground into springs of water.

³⁶He had the hungry settle there

so they could build a city in which to live.

³⁷They planted seeds in the fields and vineyards,

and they had a good harvest.

³⁸God blessed them, and they grew in number.

Their cattle did not become fewer.

³⁹Because of disaster, troubles, and sadness,

their families grew smaller and weaker.

⁴⁰He showed he was displeased with their leaders

and made them wander in a pathless desert.

⁴¹But he lifted the poor out of their suffering

and made their families grow like flocks of sheep.

⁴²Good people see this and are happy,

but the wicked say nothing.

⁴³Whoever is wise will remember these things

and will think about the love of the Lord.