Psalm 106

International Standard Version

Give thanks to the Lord,
    since he is good,
        for his gracious love exists forever.

² Who can fully describe the mighty acts of the Lord
    or proclaim all his praises?
³ How happy are those who enforce justice,
    who live righteously all the time.
⁴ Remember me, Lord,
    when you show favor to your people.
Visit us with your deliverance,
⁵ to witness the prosperity of your chosen ones,
to rejoice in your nation’s joy,
    to glory in your inheritance.

⁶ We have sinned, along with our ancestors;
    we have committed iniquity and wickedness.
⁷ In Egypt, our ancestors neither comprehended your awesome deeds
    nor remembered your abundant gracious love.
        Instead, they rebelled beside the sea, the Reed^[a] Sea.
⁸ He delivered for the sake of his name,^[b]
    to make his power known.
⁹ He shouted at the Reed^[c] Sea and it dried up;
    and led them through the sea as though through a desert.
¹⁰ He delivered them from the power of their foe;
    redeeming them from the power of their enemy.
¹¹ The water overwhelmed their enemies,
    so that not one of them survived.^[d]
12 Then they believed his word
    and sung his praise.

¹³ But they quickly forgot his deeds
    and did not wait for his counsel.
¹⁴ They were overwhelmed with craving in the wilderness,
    so God tested them in the wasteland.
¹⁵ God granted them their request,
    but sent leanness into their lives.

¹⁶ They were envious of Moses in the camp,
    and of Aaron, the holy one of the Lord.
¹⁷ The earth opened and swallowed Dathan,
    closing over Abiram’s clan.
¹⁸ Then a fire burned among their company,
    a flame that set the wicked ablaze.

¹⁹ They fashioned a calf at Horeb
    and worshipped a carved image.
²⁰ They exchanged their glory^[e]
    with the image of a grass-eating bull.
²¹ They forgot God their Savior,
    who performed great things in Egypt—
²² awesome deeds in the land of Ham,^[f]
    astonishing deeds at the Reed^[g] Sea.
²³ He would have destroyed them
    but for Moses, his chosen one,
who stood in the breach before him
    to avert^[h] his destructive wrath.

²⁴ They rejected the desirable land,
    and they didn’t trust his promise.
²⁵ They murmured in their tents,
    and didn’t listen to the voice of the Lord.
²⁶ So he swore an oath concerning them—
    that he would cause them to die in the wilderness,
²⁷ to cause their children to perish among the nations
    and be scattered among many^[i] lands.
²⁸ For they adopted the worship^[j] of Baal Peor
    and ate sacrifices offered to the dead.
²⁹ They had provoked anger by their deeds,
    so that a plague broke out against them.
³⁰ But Phinehas intervened and prayed
    so that the plague was restrained.
³¹ And it was credited to him as a righteous act,
    from generation to generation—to eternity.
³² They provoked wrath at the waters of Meribah,
    and Moses suffered^[k] on account of them.
³³ For they rebelled against him,^[l]
    so that he spoke thoughtlessly with his lips.

³⁴ They never destroyed the people,
    as the Lord had commanded them.
³⁵ Instead, they mingled among the nations
    and learned their ways.^[m]
36 They worshipped^[n] their idols,
    and this became a trap for them.
³⁷ They sacrificed their sons and daughters to demons.
³⁸ They shed innocent blood—
    the blood of their sons and daughters—
whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan,
    thereby polluting the land with blood.
³⁹ Therefore, they became unclean because of what they did;
    they have acted like whores by their evil deeds.
⁴⁰ The Lord’s anger burned against his people,
    so that he despised his own inheritance.
⁴¹ He turned them over to domination by nations
    where those who hated them ruled over them.
⁴² Their enemies oppressed them,
    so that they were humiliated by their power.
⁴³ He delivered them many times,
    but they demonstrated rebellion by their evil plans;
        therefore they sunk deep in their sins.

⁴⁴ Yet when he saw their distress
    and heard their cries for help,^[o]
45 he remembered his covenant with them,
    and so relented
        according to the greatness of his gracious love.
⁴⁶ He caused all their captors to show compassion toward them.

⁴⁷ Deliver us, Lord our God,
    gather us from among the nations
so we may praise your holy name
    and rejoice in praising you.
⁴⁸ Blessed are you, Lord God of Israel,
    from eternity to eternity;
Let all the people say, “Amen!”
    Hallelujah!