Psalm 106 – The Nation’s Sin against the Lord

106 Hallelujah!

Give thanks to the Lord for his goodness,

for his kindness endures forever.

2 Who can describe his heroic deeds,

or publish all his praise?

3 Happy they who act justly,

and do righteousness evermore.

4 Remember me, Lord, as you remember your people,

and visit me with your gracious help.

5 May I see the good fortune of your elect,

may I share in the joy of your nation,

and in the pride of your heritage.

6 We, like our fathers, have sinned,

we have done perversely and wickedly

7 In the land of Egypt our fathers,

all heedless of your wonders,

and unmindful of your great kindness,

at the Red Sea defied the Most High.

8 But true to his name he saved them,

in order to show his might.

9 He rebuked the Red Sea, and it dried;

they marched through the depths as through desert,

10 saved from the hand of the hostile,

redeemed from the hand of the foe.

11 The waters covered their enemies:

not one of them was left.

12 So then they believed in his words,

and began to sing his praise.

13 But soon they forgot his deeds:

they did not wait for his counsel.

14 Their greed was ravenous in the desert;

they put God to the test in the wilderness.

15 He gave them the thing they had asked for,

but sent wasting disease among them.

16 The camp grew jealous of Moses

and of Aaron, holy one of the Lord.

17 The earth opened and swallowed up Dathan,

and covered Abiram’s company.

18 Fire broke out on their company,

flame kindled upon the wicked.

19 They made a calf in Horeb,

and bowed to the molten image.

20 They exchanged their glorious God

for the image of ox that eats grass.

21 They forgot the God who had saved them

by mighty deeds in Egypt

22 Wonders in the land of Ham,

terrors by the Red Sea.

23 So he vowed, and would have destroyed them,

but for Moses his elect,

who stepped into the breach before him,

to divert his deadly wrath.

24 They spurned the delightsome land,

they refused to believe in his word.

25 They grumbled in their tents,

would not listen to the voice of the Lord.

26 So he swore with uplifted hand

to lay them low in the wilderness;

27 to disperse their seed among heathen,

to scatter them over the world.

28 Then they joined them to Baal of Peor,

and ate what was offered the dead.

29 They provoked him to wrath by their deeds,

and plague broke out among them.

30 Then Phinehas stood between,

and so the plague was stayed;

31 and it was counted to him for righteousness

unto all generations forever.

32 They angered him at the waters of Meribah,

through them it went ill with Moses.

33 They rebelled against his spirit,

and he uttered speech that was rash.

34 They did not destroy the nations,

as the Lord had commanded them;

35 but they mingled with the heathen,

and learned to do as they did.

36 Their idol gods they worshipped,

and they were ensnared by them.

37 They sacrificed their sons

and their daughters to the demons.

38 They poured out innocent blood

the blood of their sons and daughters

whom they offered to Canaan’s idols,

and the land was polluted with blood.

39 They became unclean by their works,

and adulterous in their deeds.

40 Then the Lord’s fury was on his people,

filled with horror at his inheritance.

41 He delivered them to the heathen,

to the sway of those who hated them.

42 Their enemies oppressed them,

and subdued them under their hand.

43 Many a time he saved them,

but they rebelled at his counsel,

and were brought low by their wrongdoing.

44 Yet he looked upon their distress,

when he heard their cry.

45 He remembered his covenant,

and, in his great kindness, relented.

46 He caused them to be pitied

by all who carried them captive.

47 Save us, O Lord our God,

and gather us out of the nations,

to give thanks to your holy name,

and to make our boast of your praise.

48 Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel,

from everlasting to everlasting.

And let all the people say ‘Amen.’

Praise the Lord.