1  ⁱPraise the Lord!

^jOh give thanks to the Lord, ^kfor he is good,

^lfor his steadfast love endures forever!

2  Who can utter the mighty deeds of the Lord,

or declare all his praise?

3  Blessed are they who observe justice,

who ^mdo righteousness at all times!

4  ⁿRemember me, O Lord, when you show favor to your people;

help me when you save them,¹

5  that I may look upon the prosperity of your ^ochosen ones,

that I may rejoice in the gladness of your nation,

that I may glory with your inheritance.

6  ^pBoth we and ^qour fathers have sinned;

we have committed iniquity; we have done wickedness.

7  Our fathers, when they were in Egypt,

did not consider your wondrous works;

they ^rdid not remember the abundance of your steadfast love,

but ^srebelled by the sea, at the Red Sea.

8  Yet he saved them ^tfor his name’s sake,

^uthat he might make known his mighty power.

9  He ^vrebuked the Red Sea, and it ^wbecame dry,

and he ^xled them through the deep as through a desert.

10  So he ^ysaved them from the hand of the foe

and ^zredeemed them from the power of the enemy.

11  And ^athe waters covered their adversaries;

not one of them was left.

12  Then ^bthey believed his words;

they ^csang his praise.

13  But they soon ^dforgot his works;

they did not wait for ^ehis counsel.

14  But they had ^fa wanton craving in the wilderness,

and ^gput God to the test in the desert;

15  he ^hgave them what they asked,

but sent ⁱa wasting disease among them.

16  When men in the camp ^jwere jealous of Moses

and Aaron, ^kthe holy one of the Lord,

17  ^lthe earth opened and swallowed up Dathan,

and covered the company of Abiram.

18  ^mFire also broke out in their company;

the flame burned up the wicked.

19  They ⁿmade a calf in Horeb

and worshiped a metal image.

20  They ^oexchanged the glory of God²

for the image of an ox that eats grass.

21  They ^pforgot God, their Savior,

who had done great things in Egypt,

22  wondrous works in ^qthe land of Ham,

and awesome deeds by the Red Sea.

23  Therefore ^rhe said he would destroy them—

had not Moses, his ^schosen one,

^tstood in the breach before him,

to turn away his wrath from destroying them.

24  Then they ^udespised ^vthe pleasant land,

having ^wno faith in his promise.

25  They ^xmurmured in their tents,

and did not obey the voice of the Lord.

26  Therefore he ^yraised his hand and swore to them

that he would make them fall in the wilderness,

27  and would make their offspring fall among the nations,

^zscattering them among the lands.

28  Then they ^ayoked themselves to the ^aBaal of Peor,

and ate sacrifices offered to ^bthe dead;

29  they provoked the Lord to anger with their deeds,

and a plague broke out among them.

30  Then ^cPhinehas stood up and intervened,

and the plague was stayed.

31  And that was ^dcounted to him as righteousness

from generation to generation forever.

32  They ^eangered him at the waters of Meribah,

and it went ill with Moses on their account,

33  for they ^fmade his spirit bitter,³

and he ^gspoke rashly with his lips.

34  They did not ^hdestroy the peoples,

ⁱas the Lord commanded them,

35  but they ^jmixed with the nations

and learned to do as they did.

36  They served their idols,

which became ^ka snare to them.

37  They ^lsacrificed their sons

and their daughters to ^mthe demons;

38  they poured out innocent blood,

the blood of their sons and daughters,

whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan,

and the land was ⁿpolluted with blood.

39  Thus they ^obecame unclean by their acts,

and ^pplayed the whore in their deeds.

40  Then ^qthe anger of the Lord was kindled against ^rhis people,

and he abhorred his ^rheritage;

41  he ^sgave them into the hand of the nations,

so that those who hated them ruled over them.

42  Their enemies ^toppressed them,

and they were brought into subjection under their power.

43  ^uMany times he delivered them,

but they were rebellious in their ^vpurposes

and were ^wbrought low through their iniquity.

44  Nevertheless, he looked upon their distress,

when he ^xheard their cry.

45  For their sake he ^yremembered his covenant,

and ^zrelented according to ^athe abundance of his steadfast love.

46  He caused them to be ^bpitied

by all those who held them captive.

47  ^cSave us, O Lord our God,

and ^dgather us from among the nations,

that we may give thanks to your holy name

and glory in your praise.

48  ^eBlessed be the Lord, the God of Israel,

from everlasting to everlasting!

^eAnd let all the people say, “Amen!”

^fPraise the Lord!

^k“If the righteous is scarcely saved,

what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?”³