Give Thanks to the Lord, for He Is Good
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!
The People Who Sealed the Covenant
1 e“On the seals are the names of1 Nehemiah fthe governor, gthe son of Hacaliah, Zedekiah, 2 hSeraiah, Azariah, Jeremiah, 3 Pashhur, Amariah, Malchijah, 4 iHattush, Shebaniah, Malluch, 5 Harim, Meremoth, Obadiah, 6 Daniel, Ginnethon, Baruch, 7 Meshullam, Abijah, Mijamin, 8 Maaziah, Bilgai, Shemaiah; these are the priests. 9 And the Levites: jJeshua the son of Azaniah, Binnui of the sons of kHenadad, Kadmiel; 10 and their brothers, Shebaniah, Hodiah, Kelita, Pelaiah, Hanan, 11 Mica, Rehob, Hashabiah, 12 Zaccur, Sherebiah, Shebaniah, 13 Hodiah, Bani, Beninu. 14 The chiefs of the people: lParosh, Pahath-moab, Elam, Zattu, Bani, 15 Bunni, Azgad, Bebai, 16 Adonijah, Bigvai, Adin, 17 Ater, Hezekiah, Azzur, 18 Hodiah, Hashum, Bezai, 19 Hariph, Anathoth, Nebai, 20 Magpiash, Meshullam, Hezir, 21 Meshezabel, Zadok, Jaddua, 22 Pelatiah, Hanan, Anaiah, 23 Hoshea, Hananiah, Hasshub, 24 Hallohesh, Pilha, Shobek, 25 Rehum, Hashabnah, Maaseiah, 26 Ahiah, Hanan, Anan, 27 Malluch, Harim, Baanah.
The Obligations of the Covenant
28 m“The rest of the people, the priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers, the temple servants, nand all who have separated themselves from the peoples of the lands to the Law of God, their wives, their sons, their daughters, all who have knowledge and understanding, 29 join with their brothers, their nobles, oand enter into a curse and an oath pto walk in God’s Law that was given by Moses the servant of God, and to observe and do all the commandments of the Lord our Lord and his rules and his statutes. 30 qWe will not give our daughters to the peoples of the land or take their daughters for our sons. 31 rAnd if the peoples of the land bring in goods or any grain on the Sabbath day to sell, we will not buy from them on the Sabbath or on a holy day. And we will forego the crops of the sseventh year and the texaction of every debt.
32 “We also take on ourselves the obligation to give yearly ua third part of a shekel2 for the service of the house of our God: 33 vfor the showbread, wthe regular grain offering, wthe regular burnt offering, the Sabbaths, the new moons, the appointed feasts, the holy things, and the sin offerings to make atonement for Israel, and for all the work of the house of our God. 34 xWe, the priests, the Levites, and the people, have likewise cast lots yfor the wood offering, to bring it into the house of our God, according to our fathers’ houses, at times appointed, year by year, to burn on the altar of the Lord our God, zas it is written in the Law. 35 We obligate ourselves ato bring the firstfruits of our ground and the firstfruits of all fruit of every tree, year by year, to the house of the Lord; 36 also to bring to the house of our God, to the priests who minister in the house of our God, the firstborn of our sons and of our cattle, bas it is written in the Law, and the firstborn of our herds and of our flocks; 37 cand to bring the first of our dough, and our contributions, the fruit of every tree, the wine and the oil, to the priests, dto the chambers of the house of our God; and to bring to the Levites the tithes from our ground, for it is the Levites who collect the tithes in all our towns where we labor. 38 And the priest, the son of Aaron, shall be with the Levites when the Levites receive the tithes. And the Levites shall bring up the tithe of the tithes to the house of our God, to the chambers of ethe storehouse. 39 For the people of Israel and the sons of Levi fshall bring the contribution of grain, wine, and oil to the chambers, where the vessels of the sanctuary are, as well as the priests who minister, and the gatekeepers and the singers. gWe will not neglect the house of our God.”
