1 - Praise the Lord.
2 - Who can proclaim the mighty acts of the Lord or fully declare his praise?
3 - Blessed are those who act justly, who always do what is right.
4 - Remember me, Lord, when you show favor to your people, come to my aid when you save them,
5 - that I may enjoy the prosperity of your chosen ones, that I may share in the joy of your nation and join your inheritance in giving praise.
6 - We have sinned, even as our ancestors did; we have done wrong and acted wickedly.
7 - When our ancestors were in Egypt, they gave no thought to your miracles; they did not remember your many kindnesses, and they rebelled by the sea, the Red Sea.
8 - Yet he saved them for his name's sake, to make his mighty power known.
9 - He rebuked the Red Sea, and it dried up; he led them through the depths as through a desert.
10 - He saved them from the hand of the foe; from the hand of the enemy he redeemed them.
11 - The waters covered their adversaries; not one of them survived.
12 - Then they believed his promises and sang his praise.
13 - But they soon forgot what he had done and did not wait for his plan to unfold.
14 - In the desert they gave in to their craving; in the wilderness they put God to the test.
15 - So he gave them what they asked for, but sent a wasting disease among them.
16 - In the camp they grew envious of Moses and of Aaron, who was consecrated to the Lord.
17 - The earth opened up and swallowed Dathan; it buried the company of Abiram.
18 - Fire blazed among their followers; a flame consumed the wicked.
19 - At Horeb they made a calf and worshiped an idol cast from metal.
20 - They exchanged their glorious God for an image of a bull, which eats grass.
21 - They forgot the God who saved them, who had done great things in Egypt,
22 - miracles in the land of Ham and awesome deeds by the Red Sea.
23 - So he said he would destroy them - had not Moses, his chosen one, stood in the breach before him to keep his wrath from destroying them.
24 - Then they despised the pleasant land; they did not believe his promise.
25 - They grumbled in their tents and did not obey the Lord.
26 - So he swore to them with uplifted hand that he would make them fall in the wilderness,
27 - make their descendants fall among the nations and scatter them throughout the lands.
28 - They yoked themselves to the Baal of Peor and ate sacrifices offered to lifeless gods;
29 - they aroused the Lord's anger by their wicked deeds, and a plague broke out among them.
30 - But Phinehas stood up and intervened, and the plague was checked.
31 - This was credited to him as righteousness for endless generations to come.
32 - By the waters of Meribah they angered the Lord, and trouble came to Moses because of them;
33 - for they rebelled against the Spirit of God, and rash words came from Moses' lips.
34 - They did not destroy the peoples as the Lord had commanded them,
35 - but they mingled with the nations and adopted their customs.
36 - They worshiped their idols, which became a snare to them.
37 - They sacrificed their sons and their daughters to false gods.
38 - They shed innocent blood, the blood of their sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan, and the land was desecrated by their blood.
39 - They defiled themselves by what they did; by their deeds they prostituted themselves.
40 - Therefore the Lord was angry with his people and abhorred his inheritance.
41 - He gave them into the hands of the nations, and their foes ruled over them.
42 - Their enemies oppressed them and subjected them to their power.
43 - Many times he delivered them, but they were bent on rebellion and they wasted away in their sin.
44 - Yet he took note of their distress when he heard their cry;
45 - for their sake he remembered his covenant and out of his great love he relented.
46 - He caused all who held them captive to show them mercy.
47 - Save us, Lord our God, and gather us from the nations, that we may give thanks to your holy name and glory in your praise.
48 - Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting. Let all the people say, "Amen!" Praise the Lord.