Psalm 106

¹ Praise the Lord! (Hallelujah!) O give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; for His mercy and loving-kindness endure forever!^(A)

² Who can put into words and tell the mighty deeds of the Lord? Or who can show forth all the praise [that is due Him]?

³ Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) are those who observe justice [treating others fairly] and who do right and are in right standing with God at all times.

⁴ [Earnestly] remember me, O Lord, when You favor Your people! O visit me also when You deliver them, and grant me Your salvation!—

⁵ That I may see and share the welfare of Your chosen ones, that I may rejoice in the gladness of Your nation, that I may glory with Your heritage.

⁶ We have sinned, as did also our fathers; we have committed iniquity, we have done wickedly.^(B)

⁷ Our fathers in Egypt understood not nor appreciated Your miracles; they did not [earnestly] remember the multitude of Your mercies nor imprint Your loving-kindness [on their hearts], but they were rebellious and provoked the Lord at the sea, even at the Red Sea.^(C)

⁸ Nevertheless He saved them for His name’s sake [to prove the righteousness of the divine character], that He might make His mighty power known.

⁹ He rebuked the Red Sea also, and it dried up; so He led them through the depths as through a pastureland.^(D)

¹⁰ And He saved them from the hand of him that hated them, and redeemed them from the hand of the [Egyptian] enemy.^(E)

¹¹ And the waters covered their adversaries; not one of them was left.^(F)

¹² Then [Israel] believed His words [trusting in, relying on them]; they sang His praise.

¹³ But they hastily forgot His works; they did not [earnestly] wait for His plans [to develop] regarding them,

¹⁴ But lusted exceedingly in the wilderness and tempted and tried to restrain God [with their insistent desires] in the desert.^(G)

¹⁵ And He gave them their request, but sent leanness into their souls and [thinned their numbers by] disease and death.^(H)

¹⁶ They envied Moses also in the camp, and Aaron [the high priest], the holy one of the Lord.^(I)

¹⁷ Therefore the earth opened and swallowed up Dathan and closed over the company of Abiram.^(J)

¹⁸ And a fire broke out in their company; the flame burned up the wicked.^(K)

¹⁹ They made a calf in Horeb and worshiped a molten image.^(L)

²⁰ Thus they exchanged Him Who was their Glory for the image of an ox that eats grass [they traded their Honor for the image of a calf]!

²¹ They forgot God their Savior, Who had done such great things in Egypt,

²² Wonders and miracles in the land of Ham, dreadful and awesome things at the Red Sea.

²³ Therefore He said He would destroy them. [And He would have done so] had not Moses, His chosen one, stepped into the breach before Him to turn away His threatening wrath.^(M)

²⁴ Then they spurned and despised the pleasant and desirable land [Canaan]; they believed not His word [neither trusting in, relying on, nor holding to it];

²⁵ But they murmured in their tents and hearkened not to the voice of the Lord.

²⁶ Therefore He lifted up His hand [as if taking an oath] against them, that He would cause them to fall in the wilderness,

²⁷ Cast out their descendants among the nations, and scatter them in the lands [of the earth].

²⁸ They joined themselves also to the [idol] Baal of Peor and ate sacrifices [offered] to the lifeless [gods].

²⁹ Thus they provoked the Lord to anger with their practices, and a plague broke out among them.

³⁰ Then stood up Phinehas [the priest] and executed judgment, and so the plague was stayed.^(N)

³¹ And that was credited to him for righteousness (right doing and right standing with God) to all generations forever.

³² They angered the Lord also at the waters of Meribah, so that it went ill with Moses for their sakes;^(O)

³³ For they provoked [Moses’] spirit, so that he spoke unadvisedly with his lips.

³⁴ They did not destroy the [heathen] nations as the Lord commanded them,

³⁵ But mingled themselves with the [idolatrous] nations and learned their ways and works

³⁶ And served their idols, which were a snare to them.

³⁷ Yes, they sacrificed their sons and their daughters to demons^(P)

³⁸ And shed innocent blood, even the blood of their sons and of their daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan; and the land was polluted with their blood.

³⁹ Thus were they defiled by their own works, and they played the harlot and practiced idolatry with their own deeds [of idolatrous rites].

⁴⁰ Therefore was the wrath of the Lord kindled against His people, insomuch that He abhorred and rejected His own heritage.^(Q)

⁴¹ And He gave them into the hands of the [heathen] nations, and they that hated them ruled over them.

⁴² Their enemies also oppressed them, and they were brought into subjection under the hand of their foes.

⁴³ Many times did [God] deliver them, but they were rebellious in their counsel and sank low through their iniquity.

⁴⁴ Nevertheless He regarded their distress when He heard their cry;

⁴⁵ And He [earnestly] remembered for their sake His covenant and relented their sentence of evil [comforting and easing Himself] according to the abundance of His mercy and loving-kindness [when they cried out to Him].

⁴⁶ He also caused [Israel] to find sympathy among those who had carried them away captive.

⁴⁷ Deliver us, O Lord our God, and gather us from among the nations, that we may give thanks to Your holy name and glory in praising You.

⁴⁸ Blessed (affectionately and gratefully praised) be the Lord, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting! And let all the people say, Amen! Praise the Lord! (Hallelujah!)^(R)