"Oh give thanks unto Jehovah; for He is good;
        For His loving-kindness endureth forever.
      Let the redeemed of Jehovah say so,
        Whom He hath redeemed from the hand of the adversary,
      And gathered out of the lands,
      From the east and from the west,
      From the north and from the south.

                            I

     "They wandered in the wilderness in a desert way;
      They found no city of habitation.
      Hungry and thirsty,
      Their soul fainted in them.
             Then they cried unto Jehovah in their trouble,
             And He delivered them out of their distresses,
             He led them also by a straight way,
             That they might go to a city of habitation.
      Oh that men would praise Jehovah for His loving-kindness
      And for His wonderful works to the children of men!
      For He satisfieth the longing soul,
      And the hungry soul He filleth with good.

     "Such as sat in darkness and in the shadow of death,
      Being bound in affliction and iron,
     Because they rebelled against the words of God,
     And contemned the counsel of the Most High:
     Therefore He brought down their heart with labor;
     They fell down, and there was none to help.
          Then they cried unto Jehovah in their trouble,
          And He saved them out of their distresses.
          He brought them out of darkness and the shadow
               of death,
          And brake their bonds in sunder.
     Oh that men would praise Jehovah for His loving-kindness,
     And for His wonderful works to the children of men!
     For He hath broken the gates of brass,
     And cut the bars of iron in sunder. . . .

                                II

          "He turneth rivers into a wilderness,
          And water springs into a thirsty ground;
          A fruitful land into a salt desert,
          For the wickedness of them that dwell therein.
     He turneth a wilderness into a pool of water,
     And a dry land into water springs.
     And there He maketh the hungry to dwell,
     That they may prepare a city of habitation,
     And sow fields, and plant vineyards,
     And get them fruits of increase.
     He blesseth them also, so that they are multiplied greatly;
     And He suffereth not their cattle to decrease.

          "Again, they are diminished and bowed down
          Through oppression, trouble, and sorrow.
          He poureth contempt upon princes,
          And causeth them to wander in the waste, where there
               is no way.
     Yet setteth He the needy on high from affliction,
     And maketh him families like a flock.
     The upright shall see it, and be glad;
     And all iniquity shall stop her mouth.

     "Whoso is wise will give heed to these things;
     And they will consider the loving-kindnesses of Jehovah."
                                           Psalm 107, A. R. V.
 

35   "Call to Remembrance the Former Days"

     Why did ancient Israel so easily forget God's dealings? The people did not retain in their memory His works of greatness and power or His words of warning. Had they remembered His wondrous dealings with them they would not have received the reproof:

     "Who art thou, that thou art afraid of man that shall die,
     And of the son of man that shall be made as grass;
     And hast forgotten Jehovah thy Maker,
     That stretched forth the heavens,
     And laid the foundations of the earth;
     And fearest continually all the day
     Because of the fury of the oppressor,
     When he maketh ready to destroy?
     And where is the fury of the oppressor?"
                                     Isaiah 51:12, 13, A. R. V.
 
 
     But the children of Israel forgot God, whose they were by creation and by redemption. After seeing all His wondrous works, they tempted Him.
 

To the Israelites were committed the sacred oracles. But God's revealed word was misinterpreted and misapplied. The people despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.

     "The vineyard of Jehovah of hosts is the house of Israel,
     And the men of Judah His pleasant plant:
     And He looked for justice, but, behold, oppression;
     For righteousness, but, behold, a cry."

     "Woe unto them
          That . . . regard not the work of Jehovah,
            Neither have they considered the operation of His
                  hands.
          Therefore My people are gone into captivity
            For lack of knowledge."

     "Woe unto them
          That call evil good,
            And good evil;
          That put darkness for light,
            And light for darkness;
          That put bitter for sweet,
            And sweet for bitter!

     "Woe unto them
          That are wise in their own eyes,
          And prudent in their own sight!"
     "Therefore as the tongue of fire devoureth the stubble,
     And as the dry grass sinketh down in the flame,
     So their root shall be as rottenness,
     And their blossom shall go up as dust;
     Because they have rejected the law of Jehovah of hosts,
     And despised the word of the Holy One of Israel."
                          Isaiah 5:7, 11-13, 20, 21, 24, A. R. V.