"Praise ye Jehovah.
"Oh give
thanks unto Jehovah; for He is good;
For His loving-kindness endureth forever.
Who can utter
the mighty acts of Jehovah,
Or show forth all His praise?
Blessed are
they that keep justice,
And he that doeth righteousness at all times.
Remember me,
O Jehovah, with the favor that Thou bearest
unto Thy people;
Oh visit me
with Thy salvation,
That I may
see the prosperity of Thy chosen,
That I may
rejoice in the gladness of Thy nation,
That I may
glory with Thine inheritance.
I
"We have sinned with our fathers,
We have committed iniquity, we have done wickedly.
Our fathers understood not Thy wonders in Egypt;
They remembered not the multitude of Thy
loving-kindnesses.
But were rebellious at the sea, even at the Red Sea.
"Nevertheless
He saved them for His name's sake,
That He might
make His mighty power to be known.
He rebuked
the Red Sea also, and it was dried up:
So He led them
through the depths, as through a wilderness.
And He saved
them from the hand of him that hated them,
And redeemed
them from the hand of the enemy.
And the waters
covered their adversaries;
There was not
one of them left.
Then believed
they His words;
They sang His
praise.
II
"They soon forgat His works;
They waited not for His counsel,
But lusted exceedingly in the wilderness,
And tempted God in the desert.
And He gave them their request,
But sent leanness into their soul.
They envied Moses also in the camp,
And Aaron the saint of Jehovah.
The earth opened and swallowed up Dathan,
And covered the company of Abiram.
And a fire was kindled in their company
The flame burned up the wicked.
They made a calf in Horeb,
And worshiped a molten image.
Thus they changed their glory
For the likeness of an ox that eateth grass.
"They forgot
God their Saviour,
Who had done
great things in Egypt,
Wondrous works
in the land of Ham,
And terrible
things by the Red Sea.
Therefore He
said that He would destroy them,
Had not
Moses His chosen stood before Him in the breach,
To turn away
His wrath, lest He should destroy them.
III
"Yea, they despised the pleasant land,
They believed not His word,
But murmured in their tents,
And hearkened not unto the voice of Jehovah.
Therefore He sware unto them,
That He would overthrow them in the wilderness,
And that He would overthrow their seed among the
nations,
And scatter them in the lands.
They joined themselves also unto Baalpeor,
And ate the sacrifices of the dead.
Thus they provoked Him to anger with their doings;
And the plague brake in upon them.
"Then stood
up Phinehas, and executed judgment;
And so the
plague was stayed.
And that was
reckoned unto him for righteousness,
Unto all generations
for evermore.
IV
"They angered Him also at the waters of Meribah,
So that it went ill with Moses for their sakes;
Because they were rebellious against his spirit,
And he spake unadvisedly with his lips.
They did not destroy the peoples,
As Jehovah commanded them,
But mingled themselves with the nations,
And learned their works,
And served their idols,
Which became a snare unto them.
Yea, they sacrificed their sons and their daughters
unto demons,
And shed innocent blood,
Even the blood of their sons and of their daughters,
Whom they sacrificed unto the idols of Canaan;
And the land was polluted with blood.
Thus were they defiled with their works,
And played the harlot in their doings.
"Therefore
was the wrath of Jehovah kindled against His
people,
And He abhorred
His inheritance.
And He gave
them into the hand of the nations;
And they that
hated them ruled over them.
Their enemies
also oppressed them,
And they were
brought into subjection under their hand.
Many times
did He deliver them;
But they were
rebellious in their counsel,
And were brought
low in their iniquity.
"Nevertheless He regarded
their distress,
When He heard
their cry:
And He remembered
for them His covenant,
And repented
according to the multitude of His
loving-kindnesses.
He made them
also to be pitied
Of all those
that carried them captive.
"Save us,
O Jehovah our God,
And gather us from among the nations,
To give thanks
unto Thy holy name,
And to triumph in Thy praise.
"Blessed
be Jehovah, the God of Israel,
From everlasting
even to everlasting.
And let all
the people say, Amen.
"Praise ye Jehovah." Psalm 106, A. R. V.