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God takes care of his people[a]

105 Thank the Lord!
    Make his name famous!
Tell people in all the nations
    what he has done.
Sing songs and make music
    to praise him!
Tell people about the miracles that he has done.
Boast about his holy name.[b]
Everybody who wants to worship the Lord
    should be very happy!
Ask the Lord to help you.
    Ask him to give you strength.
Always try to be near him
    and worship him.
Remember the great things that he has done.
Remember his miracles,
    and the commands that he has spoken.[c]
Remember that you are descendants of God's servant, Abraham.
You are Jacob's descendants,
    and God has chosen you to be his people.

He is the Lord, our God.
    He rules the whole earth with justice.
He will always remember the covenant
    that he made with us.
He made that promise to continue for ever.
That is the promise that he made to Abraham,
    and that he also made to Isaac.
10 He repeated it to Jacob as a law.
It was a covenant with Israel's people
    that would continue for ever.[d]
11 He promised Jacob,
    ‘I will give to you the land of Canaan.
It will belong to you,
    and to your descendants.’
12 At one time, God's people were only a few.
    They lived in Canaan as strangers.
13 They travelled among different nations
    and different kingdoms.
14 But the Lord did not let anyone hurt them.
    He punished kings to keep his people safe.
15 He said, ‘Do not even touch the people that I have chosen to be mine.
    Do not hurt my prophets.’
16 The Lord sent a famine to the land of Canaan,
    so that his people had no food left to eat.
17 But he sent Joseph to Egypt
    before they went there to get food.[e]
Joseph's brothers sold him as a slave.
18 In Egypt the chains on his feet hurt him.
    He had a heavy piece of iron round his neck.
19 He remained a slave
    until what he said would happen really happened.
Then the Lord showed that Joseph was right.
20 The powerful king of Egypt sent someone
    to let Joseph go free out of prison.
21 The king made Joseph master of his palace.
Joseph took care of everything that belonged to the king.
22 The king gave him authority over his officers.
He could teach the king's leaders,
    so that they would know what to do.

23 Then Jacob's family came into Egypt.
    They lived as strangers in the land of Ham's descendants.[f]
24 The Lord gave to his people many children.
    They became more powerful than their enemies.
25 So the Egyptians began to hate God's people.
They did cruel things to the Lord's people.

26 The Lord sent his servant Moses
    to help his people in Egypt.
He also chose Aaron to help them.
27 Moses and Aaron did many miracles in Egypt,
    where Ham's descendants lived.
They showed the Lord's great power to the Egyptians.
28 God made all the land become dark.
    But the Egyptians did not obey God's command.
29 God caused their rivers to become blood,
    and he killed their fish.
30 Frogs covered all their land.
    They even went into the bedrooms of the palace!
31 The Lord commanded flies and gnats
    to cover the whole country.
32 He sent hail with the rain,
    and there was lightning everywhere.
33 He destroyed their vines and fig trees.
    He knocked down the trees everywhere in their country.
34 He commanded many locusts to come.
    There were too many locusts to count!
35 They ate all the plants in their land,
    and all the crops in their fields.
36 Then the Lord killed all the firstborn sons in Egypt.
    He killed the oldest son in each family.

37 So the Lord led his people out from Egypt.
    They took with them valuable silver and gold things.
Nobody among the Israelite people was too weak to go.
38 The Egyptians were happy when they went,
    because they were afraid of the Israelites.[g]
39 The Lord made a cloud to cover them
    and a fire to give them light at night.
40 When they asked him for food,
    he gave them quails to eat.
He fed them with bread from the sky.
41 He broke a rock,
    so that water poured out from it.
It ran as a river through the dry places.

42 Yes, the Lord remembered the holy promise
    that he had made to his servant, Abraham.
43 So he led his people out from Egypt,
    and they were very happy!
They were the people that he had chosen for himself,
    and they shouted with joy!
44 The Lord gave to them
    the land of other nations.
They enjoyed the good things
    that other people had worked to get.
45 Then God's people could obey his commands
    and his laws.
Hallelujah! Praise the Lord!

Footnotes

  1. 105:1 The writer of this psalm tells God's people to thank God because he does what he has promised to do. The writer remembers that God promised to give Abraham many descendants. God also promised to use Abraham's descendants to bless the whole world.
  2. 105:3 We can boast about God's name because he is completely good.
  3. 105:5 The miracles in this psalm are the things that God did in Egypt, and later in the wilderness, to rescue his people.
  4. 105:10 See Genesis 28:13-14 (Isaac's son, Jacob). Israel is another name for Jacob. Israel's people, the Israelites, are Jacob's family.
  5. 105:17 See Genesis 42:1-5.
  6. 105:23 See Genesis 46:1-27. The Egyptian people were descendants of Noah's son, Ham.
  7. 105:38 The Egyptian people were so happy when the Israelites went that they gave them gifts. These gifts were valuable things made from silver and gold. The Egyptians were afraid of the Israelites because the Lord had made them very many. The Egyptians also saw God's power in the miracles that Moses and Aaron did.

Psalm 105(A)

Give praise to the Lord,(B) proclaim his name;(C)
    make known among the nations what he has done.
Sing to him,(D) sing praise to him;(E)
    tell of all his wonderful acts.(F)
Glory in his holy name;(G)
    let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice.
Look to the Lord and his strength;
    seek his face(H) always.

Remember the wonders(I) he has done,
    his miracles, and the judgments he pronounced,(J)
you his servants, the descendants of Abraham,(K)
    his chosen(L) ones, the children of Jacob.
He is the Lord our God;
    his judgments are in all the earth.

He remembers his covenant(M) forever,
    the promise he made, for a thousand generations,
the covenant he made with Abraham,(N)
    the oath he swore to Isaac.
10 He confirmed it(O) to Jacob as a decree,
    to Israel as an everlasting covenant:(P)
11 “To you I will give the land of Canaan(Q)
    as the portion you will inherit.”(R)

12 When they were but few in number,(S)
    few indeed, and strangers in it,(T)
13 they wandered from nation to nation,(U)
    from one kingdom to another.
14 He allowed no one to oppress(V) them;
    for their sake he rebuked kings:(W)
15 “Do not touch(X) my anointed ones;
    do my prophets(Y) no harm.”

16 He called down famine(Z) on the land
    and destroyed all their supplies of food;
17 and he sent a man before them—
    Joseph, sold as a slave.(AA)
18 They bruised his feet with shackles,(AB)
    his neck was put in irons,
19 till what he foretold(AC) came to pass,
    till the word(AD) of the Lord proved him true.
20 The king sent and released him,
    the ruler of peoples set him free.(AE)
21 He made him master of his household,
    ruler over all he possessed,
22 to instruct his princes(AF) as he pleased
    and teach his elders wisdom.(AG)

23 Then Israel entered Egypt;(AH)
    Jacob resided(AI) as a foreigner in the land of Ham.(AJ)
24 The Lord made his people very fruitful;
    he made them too numerous(AK) for their foes,
25 whose hearts he turned(AL) to hate his people,
    to conspire(AM) against his servants.
26 He sent Moses(AN) his servant,
    and Aaron,(AO) whom he had chosen.(AP)
27 They performed(AQ) his signs(AR) among them,
    his wonders(AS) in the land of Ham.
28 He sent darkness(AT) and made the land dark—
    for had they not rebelled against(AU) his words?
29 He turned their waters into blood,(AV)
    causing their fish to die.(AW)
30 Their land teemed with frogs,(AX)
    which went up into the bedrooms of their rulers.
31 He spoke,(AY) and there came swarms of flies,(AZ)
    and gnats(BA) throughout their country.
32 He turned their rain into hail,(BB)
    with lightning throughout their land;
33 he struck down their vines(BC) and fig trees(BD)
    and shattered the trees of their country.
34 He spoke,(BE) and the locusts came,(BF)
    grasshoppers(BG) without number;(BH)
35 they ate up every green thing in their land,
    ate up the produce of their soil.
36 Then he struck down all the firstborn(BI) in their land,
    the firstfruits of all their manhood.
37 He brought out Israel, laden with silver and gold,(BJ)
    and from among their tribes no one faltered.
38 Egypt was glad when they left,
    because dread of Israel(BK) had fallen on them.

39 He spread out a cloud(BL) as a covering,
    and a fire to give light at night.(BM)
40 They asked,(BN) and he brought them quail;(BO)
    he fed them well with the bread of heaven.(BP)
41 He opened the rock,(BQ) and water gushed out;
    it flowed like a river in the desert.

42 For he remembered his holy promise(BR)
    given to his servant Abraham.
43 He brought out his people with rejoicing,(BS)
    his chosen ones with shouts of joy;
44 he gave them the lands of the nations,(BT)
    and they fell heir to what others had toiled(BU) for—
45 that they might keep his precepts
    and observe his laws.(BV)

Praise the Lord.[a](BW)

Footnotes

  1. Psalm 105:45 Hebrew Hallelu Yah