106:1 Praise the Lord!
Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good,
and his loyal love endures! 2
106:2 Who can adequately recount the Lord’s mighty acts,
or relate all his praiseworthy deeds? 3
106:3 How blessed are those who promote justice,
and do what is right all the time!
106:4 Remember me, O Lord, when you show favor to your people!
Pay attention to me, when you deliver,
106:5 so I may see the prosperity 4 of your chosen ones,
rejoice along with your nation, 5
and boast along with the people who belong to you. 6
106:6 We have sinned like 7 our ancestors; 8
we have done wrong, we have done evil.
106:7 Our ancestors in Egypt failed to appreciate your miraculous deeds,
they failed to remember your many acts of loyal love,
and they rebelled at the sea, by the Red Sea. 9
106:8 Yet he delivered them for the sake of his reputation, 10
that he might reveal his power.
106:9 He shouted at 11 the Red Sea and it dried up;
he led them through the deep water as if it were a desert.
106:10 He delivered them from the power 12 of the one who hated them,
and rescued 13 them from the power 14 of the enemy.
106:11 The water covered their enemies;
not even one of them survived. 15
106:12 They believed his promises; 16
they sang praises to him.
106:13 They quickly forgot what he had done; 17
they did not wait for his instructions. 18
106:14 In the wilderness they had an insatiable craving 19 for meat; 20
they challenged God 21 in the desert.
106:15 He granted their request,
then struck them with a disease. 22
106:16 In the camp they resented 23 Moses,
and Aaron, the Lord’s holy priest. 24
106:17 The earth opened up and swallowed Dathan;
it engulfed 25 the group led by Abiram. 26
106:18 Fire burned their group;
the flames scorched the wicked. 27
106:19 They made an image of a calf at Horeb,
and worshiped a metal idol.
106:20 They traded their majestic God 28
for the image of an ox that eats grass.
106:21 They rejected 29 the God who delivered them,
the one who performed great deeds in Egypt,
106:22 amazing feats in the land of Ham,
mighty 30 acts by the Red Sea.
106:23 He threatened 31 to destroy them,
but 32 Moses, his chosen one, interceded with him 33
and turned back his destructive anger. 34
106:24 They rejected the fruitful land; 35
they did not believe his promise. 36
106:25 They grumbled in their tents; 37
they did not obey 38 the Lord.
106:26 So he made a solemn vow 39
that he would make them die 40 in the desert,
106:27 make their descendants 41 die 42 among the nations,
and scatter them among foreign lands. 43
106:28 They worshiped 44 Baal of Peor,
and ate sacrifices offered to the dead. 45
106:29 They made the Lord angry 46 by their actions,
and a plague broke out among them.
106:30 Phinehas took a stand and intervened, 47
and the plague subsided.
106:31 This brought him a reward,
an eternal gift. 48
106:32 They made him angry by the waters of Meribah,
and Moses suffered 49 because of them,
106:33 for they aroused 50 his temper, 51
and he spoke rashly. 52
106:34 They did not destroy the nations, 53
as the Lord had commanded them to do.
106:35 They mixed in with the nations
and learned their ways. 54
106:36 They worshiped 55 their idols,
which became a snare to them. 56
106:37 They sacrificed their sons and daughters to demons. 57
106:38 They shed innocent blood –
the blood of their sons and daughters,
whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan.
The land was polluted by bloodshed. 58