Bible in 90 Days

³⁸ But now, Lord, you have become angry with your chosen king,^[a]
    and you have left him all alone.
³⁹ You ended the agreement you made with your servant.
    You threw the king’s crown into the dirt.
⁴⁰ You pulled down the walls of his city.
    You destroyed all his fortresses.
⁴¹ Everyone passing by steals from him.
    His neighbors laugh at him.
⁴² You made all the king’s enemies happy
    and let his enemies win the war.
⁴³ You helped them defend themselves.
    You did not help your king win the battle.
⁴⁴ You did not let him win.
    You threw his throne to the ground.
⁴⁵ You cut his life short.
    You shamed him. Selah

⁴⁶ Lord, how long will this continue?
    Will you ignore us forever?
    Will your anger burn like a fire forever?
⁴⁷ Remember how short my life is.
    You created us to live a short life and then die.
⁴⁸ Is there anyone alive who will never die?
    Will anyone escape the grave? Selah

⁴⁹ Lord, where is the love you showed in the past?
    You promised David that you would be loyal to his family.
^50-51 My Lord, please remember how people insulted your servant.
Lord, I had to listen to all the insults from your enemies.
    They insulted your chosen king wherever he went.

⁵² Praise the Lord forever!
    Amen and Amen!

³ You bring people into this world,
    and you change them into dust again.
⁴ To you, a thousand years is like yesterday,
    like a few hours in the night.
⁵ Our life is like a dream that ends when morning comes.
We are like grass
⁶     that grows and looks so fresh in the morning,
    but in the evening it is dry and dying.
⁷ Your anger could destroy us.
    Your anger frightens us!
⁸ You know about all our sins.
    You see every one of our secret sins.
⁹ Your anger can end our life.
    Our lives fade away like a whisper.
¹⁰ We live about 70 years
    or, if we are strong, 80 years.
But most of them are filled with hard work and pain.
    Then, suddenly, the years are gone, and we fly away.
¹¹ No one really knows the full power of your anger,
    but our fear and respect for you is as great as your anger.
¹² Teach us how short our lives are
    so that we can become wise.
¹³ Lord, come back to us.
    Be kind to your servants.
¹⁴ Fill us with your love every morning.
    Let us be happy and enjoy our lives.
¹⁵ For years you have made life hard for us and have given us many troubles.
    Now make us happy for just as long.
¹⁶ Let your servants see the wonderful things you can do for them.
    And let their children see your glory.
¹⁷ Lord, our God, be kind to us.
    Make everything we do successful.
    Yes, make it all successful.

91 You can go to God Most High to hide.
    You can go to God All-Powerful for protection.
² I say to the Lord, “You are my place of safety, my fortress.
    My God, I trust in you.”
³ God will save you from hidden dangers
    and from deadly diseases.
⁴ You can go to him for protection.
    He will cover you like a bird spreading its wings over its babies.
    You can trust him to surround and protect you like a shield.
⁵ You will have nothing to fear at night
    and no need to be afraid of enemy arrows during the day.
⁶ You will have no fear of diseases that come in the dark
    or terrible suffering that comes at noon.
⁷ A thousand people may fall dead at your side
    or ten thousand right beside you,
    but nothing bad will happen to you!
⁸ All you will have to do is watch,
    and you will see that the wicked are punished.
⁹ You trust in the Lord for protection.
    You have made God Most High your place of safety.
¹⁰ So nothing bad will happen to you.
    No diseases will come near your home.
¹¹ He will command his angels to protect you wherever you go.
¹² Their hands will catch you
    so that you will not hit your foot on a rock.
¹³ You will have power to trample on lions
    and poisonous snakes.
¹⁴ The Lord says, “If someone trusts me, I will save them.
    I will protect my followers who call to me for help.
¹⁵ When my followers call to me, I will answer them.
    I will be with them when they are in trouble.
    I will rescue them and honor them.
¹⁶ I will give my followers a long life
    and show them my power to save.”

⁹ Lord, all your enemies will be destroyed,
    and all who do evil will be scattered.
¹⁰ But you have made me as strong as a wild ox.
    You have given me your blessing.^[b]
11 My eyes will see the defeat of those waiting to attack me.
    My ears will hear the cries of my evil enemies.

¹² Good people are like budding palm trees.
    They grow strong like the cedar trees of Lebanon.
¹³ They are planted in the house^[c] of the Lord.
    They grow strong there in the courtyards of our God.
¹⁴ Even when they are old,
    they will continue producing fruit like young, healthy trees.
¹⁵ They are there to show everyone that the Lord is good.^[d]
    He is my Rock, and he does no wrong.^[e]

93 The Lord is King.
    The Lord wears majesty and strength like clothes.
He is ready, so the whole world is safe.
    It will not be shaken.
² Your kingdom has continued forever.
    You have lived forever!
³ Lord, the ocean roars.
    The mighty ocean sounds like thunder
    as the waves crash on the shore.
⁴ The crashing waves of the sea are loud and powerful,
    but the Lord above is even more powerful.
⁵ Lord, your laws will continue forever.^[f]
    Your holy Temple will stand for a long time.

94 The Lord is a God who punishes people.
    God, come punish them.
² You are the judge of the whole earth.
    Give proud people the punishment they deserve.
³ Lord, how long will the wicked have their fun?
    How much longer?
⁴ How much longer will those criminals
    brag about the evil they did?
⁵ Lord, they hurt your people
    and make them suffer.
⁶ They kill widows and foreigners living in our country.
    They murder orphans.
⁷ And they say the Lord does not see them doing these evil things!
    They say the God of Jacob does not know what is happening.

⁸ You evil people are foolish.
    When will you learn your lesson?
You are so stupid!
    You must try to understand.
⁹ God made our ears,
    so surely he can hear what is happening!
He made our eyes,
    so surely he can see you!
¹⁰ The one who disciplines nations will surely correct you.
    He is the one who teaches us everything.
¹¹ The Lord knows what people are thinking.
    He knows that their thoughts are like a puff of wind.

¹² Lord, great blessings belong to those you discipline,
    to those you teach from your law.
¹³ You help them stay calm when trouble comes.
    You will help them until the wicked are put in their graves.
¹⁴ The Lord will not leave his people.
    He will not leave them without help.
¹⁵ Justice will return and bring fairness.
    And those who want to do right will be there to see it.

¹⁶ No one helped me fight against the wicked.
    No one stood with me against those who do evil.
¹⁷ And if the Lord had not helped me,
    I would have been silenced by death.
¹⁸ I know I was ready to fall,
    but, Lord, your faithful love supported me.
¹⁹ I was very worried and upset,
    but you comforted me and made me happy!

²⁰ You don’t help crooked judges.
    They use the law to make life hard for the people.
²¹ They attack those who do right.
    They say innocent people are guilty and put them to death.
²² But the Lord is my place of safety, high on the mountain.
    God, my Rock, is my safe place!
²³ He will punish those evil judges for the bad things they did.
    He will destroy them because they sinned.
    The Lord our God will destroy them.

95 Come, let us sing praise to the Lord!
    Let us shout praises to the Rock who saves us.
² Come and worship him with songs of thanks.^[g]
    Let us sing happy songs of praise to him.
³ For the Lord is a great God,
    the great King ruling over all the other “gods.”
⁴ The deepest caves and the highest mountains belong to him.
⁵ The ocean is his—he created it.
    He made the dry land with his own hands.
⁶ Come, let us bow down and worship him!
    Let us kneel before the Lord who made us.
⁷ He is our God,
    and we are the people he cares for,
    his sheep that walk by his side.

Listen to his voice today:
⁸     “Don’t be stubborn, as you were at Meribah,
    as you were at Massah^[h] in the desert.
⁹ Your ancestors doubted and tested me,
    even after they saw what I could do!
¹⁰ I was angry with them for 40 years.
    I said, ‘They are not faithful to me.
    They refuse to do what I say.’
¹¹ So in my anger I made this vow:
    ‘They will never enter my land of rest.’”

96 Sing a new song^[i] to the Lord!
    Let the whole world sing to the Lord!
² Sing to the Lord and praise his name!
    Tell the good news every day about how he saves us!
³ Tell all the nations how wonderful he is!
    Tell people everywhere about the amazing things he does.
⁴ The Lord is great and worthy of praise.
    He is more awesome than any of the “gods.”
⁵ All the “gods” in other nations are nothing but statues,
    but the Lord made the heavens.
⁶ He lives in the presence of glory and honor.
    His Temple is a place of power and beauty.
⁷ Praise the Lord, all people of every nation;
    praise the Lord’s glory and power.
⁸ Give the Lord praise worthy of his glory!
    Come, bring your offerings into his courtyard.
⁹     Worship the Lord in all his holy beauty.
Everyone on earth should tremble before him.
¹⁰     Tell the nations that the Lord is King!
The world stands firm and cannot be moved.
    He will judge all people fairly.
¹¹ Let the heavens rejoice and the earth be happy!
    Let the sea and everything in it shout for joy!
¹² Let the fields and everything in them be happy!
    Let the trees in the forest sing for joy
¹³ when they see the Lord coming!
    He is coming to rule^[j] the world.
He will rule all the nations of the world
    with justice and fairness.

97 The Lord rules, and the earth is happy.
    All the faraway lands are happy.
² Thick, dark clouds surround him.
    Goodness and justice make his kingdom strong.
³ Fire goes before him
    and destroys his enemies.
⁴ His lightning flashes in the sky.
    The earth sees it and trembles with fear.
⁵ The mountains melt like wax before the Lord,
    before the Lord of all the earth.
⁶ The skies tell about his goodness,
    and the nations see his glory.

⁷ People worship their idols.
    They brag about their “gods.”
But they will be embarrassed.
    And all their “gods” will bow down before the Lord.
⁸ Zion, listen and be happy!
    Cities of Judah, be glad!
    Rejoice because the Lord’s decisions are fair.
⁹ Lord Most High, you really are the ruler of the earth.
    You are much better than the “gods.”
¹⁰ Hate evil, you who love the Lord.
    He protects his followers and saves them from evil people.
¹¹ Light and happiness shine on those
    who want to do right.
¹² Good people, be happy in the Lord!
    Praise his holy name!

99 The Lord is King,
    so let the nations shake with fear.
He sits as King above the Cherub angels,
    so let the whole earth shake.
² The Lord in Zion is great!
    He is the great leader over all people.
³ Let all the nations praise your name.
    Your name is great and awesome.
    Your name is holy.
⁴ You are the powerful King who loves justice.
    You have made things right.
    You have brought goodness and fairness to Jacob.
⁵ Praise the Lord our God,
    and bow down before his footstool,^[m] for he is holy.
⁶ Moses and Aaron were some of his priests,
    and Samuel was one of the men who called on his name.
They prayed to the Lord,
    and he answered them.
⁷ God spoke from the tall cloud,
    and they obeyed his commands
    and the law he gave them.
⁸ Lord our God, you answered their prayers.
    You showed them that you are a forgiving God
    and that you punish people for the evil they do.
⁹ Praise the Lord our God.
    Bow down toward his holy mountain and worship him.
    The Lord our God is holy!

⁶ I will look throughout the land for those who can be trusted.
    Only such people can live with me.
    Only those who live pure lives can be my servants.
⁷ I will never let a dishonest person live in my house.
    I will not let liars stay near me.
⁸ My goal each day will be to destroy the wicked living in our land.
    I will force all who do evil to leave the city of the Lord.

¹¹ My life is almost finished, like the long shadows at the end of the day.
    I am like dry and dying grass.
¹² But you, Lord, will rule as king forever!
    Your name will continue forever and ever!
¹³ You will rise up and comfort Zion.
    The time has come for you to be kind to Zion.
¹⁴ Your servants love her stones.
    They love even the dust of that city!
¹⁵ The nations will worship the Lord’s name.
    All the kings on earth will honor you.
¹⁶ The Lord will rebuild Zion,
    and people will again see her glory.
¹⁷ He will listen to the prayers of those in poverty.
    He will not ignore them.
¹⁸ Write these things for future generations,
    so that they will praise the Lord.
¹⁹ The Lord will look down from his Holy Place above.
    He will look down at the earth from heaven.
²⁰ And he will hear the prisoner’s prayers.
    He will free those who were condemned to die.
²¹ Then people in Zion will tell about the Lord.
    They will praise his name in Jerusalem
²² when nations gather together
    and kingdoms come to serve the Lord.

²³ My strength failed me.
    My life is cut short.
²⁴ So I said, “Don’t let me die while I am still young.
    God, you will live forever and ever!
²⁵ Long ago, you made the world.
    You made the sky with your own hands!
²⁶ The earth and sky will end,
    but you will live forever!
They will wear out like clothes,
    and like clothes, you will change them.
²⁷ But you never change.
    You will live forever!
²⁸ We are your servants today.
    Our children will live here,
    and their descendants will come here to worship you.”

104 My soul, praise the Lord!
    Lord my God, you are very great!
You are clothed with glory and honor.
²     You wear light like a robe.
You spread out the skies like a curtain.
³     You built your home above them.^[p]
You use the thick clouds like a chariot
    and ride across the sky on the wings of the wind.
⁴ You make the winds your messengers
    and flames of fire your servants.^[q]
5 You built the earth on its foundations,
    so it can never be moved.
⁶ You covered it with water like a blanket.
    The water covered even the mountains.
⁷ But you gave the command, and the water turned back.
    You shouted at the water, and it rushed away.
⁸ The water flowed down from the mountains into the valleys,
    to the places you made for it.
⁹ You set the limits for the seas,
    and the water will never again rise to cover the earth.

¹⁰ Lord, you cause water to flow from springs into the streams
    that flow down between the mountains.
¹¹ The streams provide water for all the wild animals.
    Even the wild donkeys come there to drink.
¹² Wild birds come to live by the pools;
    they sing in the branches of nearby trees.
¹³ You send rain down on the mountains.
    The earth gets everything it needs from what you have made.
¹⁴ You make the grass grow to feed the animals.
    You provide plants for the crops we grow—
    the plants that give us food from the earth.
¹⁵ You give us the wine that makes us happy,
    the oil that makes our skin soft,^[r]
    and the food that makes us strong.

¹⁶ The great cedar trees of Lebanon belong to the Lord.
    He planted them and gives them the water they need.
¹⁷ That’s where the birds make their nests,
    and the storks live in the fir trees.
¹⁸ The high mountains are a home for wild goats.
    The large rocks are hiding places for rock badgers.

¹⁹ Lord, you made the moon to show us when the festivals begin.
    And the sun always knows when to set.
²⁰ You made darkness to be the night—
    the time when wild animals come out and roam around.
²¹ Lions roar as they attack,
    as if they are asking God for the food he gives them.
²² When the sun rises, they leave
    and go back to their dens to rest.
²³ Then people go out to do their work,
    and they work until evening.

²⁴ Lord, you created so many things!
    With your wisdom you made them all.
    The earth is full of the living things you made.
²⁵ Look at the ocean, so big and wide!
    It is filled with all kinds of sea life.
    There are creatures large and small—too many to count!
²⁶ Ships sail over the ocean,
    and playing there is Leviathan,^[s]
    the great sea creature you made.

²⁷ Lord, all living things depend on you.
    You give them food at the right time.
²⁸ You give it, and they eat it.
    They are filled with good food from your open hands.
²⁹ When you turn away from them,
    they become frightened.
When you take away their breath,^[t]
    they die, and their bodies return to the dust.
³⁰ But when you send out your life-giving breath,^[u]
    things come alive, and the world is like new again!

³¹ May the Lord’s glory continue forever!
    May the Lord enjoy what he made.
³² He just looks at the earth, and it trembles.
    He just touches the mountains, and smoke rises from them.

³³ I will sing to the Lord for the rest of my life.
    I will sing praises to my God as long as I live.
³⁴ May my words be pleasing to him.
    The Lord is the one who makes me happy.
³⁵ I wish sinners would disappear from the earth.
    I wish the wicked would be gone forever.

My soul, praise the Lord!
    Praise the Lord!

105 Give thanks to the Lord and call out to him!
    Tell the nations what he has done!
² Sing to him; sing praises to him.
    Tell about the amazing things he has done.
³ Be proud of his holy name.
    You followers of the Lord, be happy!
⁴ Depend on the Lord for strength.
    Always go to him for help.
⁵ Remember the amazing things he has done.
    Remember his miracles and his fair decisions.
⁶ You belong to the family of his servant Abraham.
    You are descendants of Jacob, the people God chose.
⁷ The Lord is our God.
    He rules the whole world.
⁸ He will remember his agreement forever.
    He will always keep the promises he made to his people.
⁹ He will keep the agreement he made with Abraham
    and the promise he made to Isaac.
¹⁰ He gave it as a law to Jacob.
    He gave it to Israel as an agreement that will last forever!
¹¹ He said, “I will give you the land of Canaan.
    It will be your very own.”
¹² At the time God said this, there were only a few of his people,
    and they were strangers there.
¹³ They traveled around from nation to nation,
    from one kingdom to another.
¹⁴ But the Lord did not let anyone mistreat them.
    He warned kings not to harm them.
¹⁵ He said, “Don’t hurt my chosen people.
    Don’t harm my prophets.”
¹⁶ He caused a famine in that country,
    and people did not have enough food.
¹⁷ But he sent a man named Joseph to go ahead of them.
    Joseph was sold like a slave.
¹⁸ They tied a rope around his feet
    and put an iron ring around his neck.
¹⁹ Joseph was a slave until what he said had really happened.
    The Lord’s message proved that Joseph was right.
²⁰ So the king of Egypt set him free.
    That nation’s leader let him out of jail.
²¹ He put Joseph in charge of his house.
    Joseph took care of everything the king owned.
²² Joseph gave instructions to the other leaders.
    He taught the older men.
²³ Then Israel came to Egypt.
    Jacob lived there in Ham’s country.^[v]
24 Jacob’s family became very large
    and more powerful than their enemies.
²⁵ So the Egyptians began to hate his people.
    They made plans against his servants.
²⁶ So the Lord sent Moses, his servant,
    and Aaron, his chosen priest.
²⁷ He used Moses and Aaron
    to do many miracles in Ham’s country.
²⁸ He sent darkness to cover their land,
    but the Egyptians did not listen to him.
²⁹ So he changed the water into blood,
    and all their fish died.
³⁰ Their country was filled with frogs,
    even in the king’s bedroom.
³¹ The Lord gave the command,
    and the flies and gnats came.
    They were everywhere!
³² He made the rain become hail.
    Lightning struck throughout their land.
³³ He destroyed their vines and fig trees.
    He destroyed every tree in their country.
³⁴ He gave the command, and the locusts and grasshoppers came.
    There were too many to count!
³⁵ They ate all the plants in the country,
    including all the crops in their fields.
³⁶ Then the Lord killed every firstborn in their country.
    He killed their oldest sons.
³⁷ He led his people out of Egypt.
    They were carrying gold and silver,
    and none of them stumbled or fell behind.
³⁸ Egypt was happy to see his people go,
    because they were afraid of them.
³⁹ The Lord spread out his cloud like a blanket.
    He used his column of fire to give his people light at night.
⁴⁰ They asked for food, and he sent them quail.
    He also gave them plenty of bread from heaven.
⁴¹ He split the rock, and water came bubbling out.
    A river began flowing in the desert!

⁴² The Lord remembered his holy promise
    that he had made to his servant Abraham.
⁴³ He brought his people out of Egypt.
    They came out rejoicing and singing their happy songs!
⁴⁴ Then he gave his people the lands of other nations.
    His people got what others had worked for.
⁴⁵ He did this so that his people would obey his laws
    and follow his teachings.

Praise the Lord!

106 Praise the Lord!
Give thanks to the Lord because he is good!
    His faithful love will last forever!
² No one can describe how great the Lord really is.
    No one can praise him enough.
³ Those who obey his commands are happy.
    They do good things all the time.

⁴ Lord, remember me when you show kindness to your people.
    Remember to save me too!
⁵ Let me share in the good things
    that you do for your chosen people.
Let me rejoice with your nation.
    Let me join with your people in praise.

⁶ We sinned just as our ancestors did.
    We were wrong; we did bad things!
⁷ Lord, our ancestors learned nothing
    from the miracles you did in Egypt.
They forgot your kindness at the Red Sea
    and rebelled against you.

⁸ But the Lord saved our ancestors for the honor of his name.
    He saved them to show his great power.
⁹ He gave the command, and the Red Sea became dry.
    He led them through the deep sea on land as dry as the desert.
¹⁰ He saved our ancestors
    and rescued them from their enemies.
¹¹ He covered their enemies with the sea.
    Not one of them escaped!

¹² Then our ancestors believed what he had said.
    They sang praises to him.
¹³ But they quickly forgot about what he did.
    They did not listen to his advice.
¹⁴ They became hungry in the desert,
    and they tested him in the wilderness.
¹⁵ He gave them what they asked for,
    but he also gave them a terrible disease.
¹⁶ The people became jealous of Moses.
    They became jealous of Aaron, the Lord’s holy priest.
¹⁷ The ground opened up and swallowed Dathan.
    Then the ground closed up and covered Abiram’s group.
¹⁸ Then a fire burned that mob of people.
    It burned those wicked people.
¹⁹ The people made a golden calf at Mount Horeb.
    They worshiped a statue!
²⁰ They traded their glorious God
    for a statue of a grass-eating bull!
²¹ They forgot all about God, the one who saved them,
    the one who did the miracles in Egypt.
²² He did amazing things there in Ham’s country^[w]!
    He did awesome things at the Red Sea!

²³ God wanted to destroy those people,
    but Moses, the leader he chose, stood in the way.
God was very angry, but Moses begged him to stop,
    so God did not destroy the people.^[x]

²⁴ But then they refused to go into the wonderful land of Canaan.
    They did not believe that God would help them defeat the people there.
²⁵ Our ancestors complained in their tents
    and refused to obey the Lord.
²⁶ So he swore that they would die
    in the desert.
²⁷ He promised to scatter them among the nations
    and to let other people defeat their descendants.

²⁸ At Baal Peor they joined in worshiping Baal
    and ate sacrifices to honor the dead.^[y]
29 The Lord became angry with his people,
    so he made them sick.
³⁰ But Phinehas prayed^[z] to God,
    and God stopped the sickness.
³¹ He considered what Phinehas did a good work,
    and it will be remembered forever and ever.

³² At Meribah the people made the Lord angry
    and created trouble for Moses.
³³ They upset Moses,
    and he spoke without stopping to think.

³⁴ The Lord told the people to destroy the other nations living in Canaan.
    But the Israelites did not obey him.
³⁵ They mixed with the other people
    and did what those people were doing.
³⁶ They began worshiping the false gods those people worshiped.
    And their idols became a trap.
³⁷ They even offered their own children
    as sacrifices to demons.
³⁸ They killed their innocent sons and daughters
    and offered them to the false gods of Canaan.
    So the land was polluted with the sin of murder.
³⁹ They were unfaithful to him,
    and they became dirty with the sins of other nations.
⁴⁰ So the Lord became angry with his people.
    He rejected those who belonged to him.
⁴¹ He gave his people to other nations
    and let their enemies rule over them.
⁴² Their enemies controlled them
    and made life hard for them.
⁴³ He saved his people many times,
    but they turned against him and did what they wanted to do.
    His people did many bad things.
⁴⁴ But whenever they were in trouble,
    he listened to their prayers.
⁴⁵ He always remembered his agreement,
    and because of his faithful love, he comforted them.
⁴⁶ Other nations took them as prisoners,
    but the Lord caused them to be kind to his people.
⁴⁷ Lord our God, save us!
    Bring us back together from those nations.
Then we will give thanks to your holy name
    and joyfully praise you.
⁴⁸ Praise the Lord, the God of Israel!
    He always was and will always be worthy of praise.
Let all the people say, “Amen!”

Praise the Lord!

⁴ Some of them wandered in the dry desert.
    They were looking for a place to live,
    but they could not find a city.
⁵ They were hungry and thirsty
    and growing weak.
⁶ Then they called to the Lord for help,
    and he saved them from their troubles.
⁷ He led them straight to the city where they would live.
⁸ Thank the Lord for his faithful love
    and for the amazing things he does for people.
⁹ He satisfies those who are thirsty.
    He fills those who are hungry with good things.

¹⁰ Some of God’s people were prisoners,
    locked behind bars in dark prisons.
¹¹ That was because they had fought against what God said.
    They refused to listen to the advice of God Most High.
¹² God made life hard for those people
    because of what they did.
They stumbled and fell,
    and there was no one to help them.
¹³ They were in trouble, so they called to the Lord for help,
    and he saved them from their troubles.
¹⁴ He took them out of their dark prisons.
    He broke the ropes that held them.
¹⁵ Thank the Lord for his faithful love
    and for the amazing things he does for people.
¹⁶ He breaks down their bronze gates.
    He shatters their iron bars.

¹⁷ Some people became fools and turned against God,
    and they suffered for the evil they did.
¹⁸ They became so sick that they refused to eat,
    so they almost died.
¹⁹ They were in trouble, so they called to the Lord for help,
    and he saved them from their troubles.
²⁰ He gave the command and healed them,
    so they were saved from the grave.
²¹ Thank the Lord for his faithful love
    and for the amazing things he does for people.
²² Offer sacrifices of thanks to him.
    Sing with joy about all that he has done.

²³ Some sailed the sea in ships.
    Their work carried them across the water.
²⁴ They saw what the Lord can do.
    They saw the amazing things he did at sea.
²⁵ He gave the command, and a strong wind began to blow.
    The waves became higher and higher.
²⁶ The waves lifted them high into the sky
    and dropped them into the deep sea.
    The storm was so dangerous that the men lost their courage.
²⁷ They were stumbling and falling like someone who is drunk.
    Their skill as sailors was useless.
²⁸ They were in trouble, so they called to the Lord for help,
    and he saved them from their troubles.
²⁹ He stopped the storm
    and calmed the waves.
³⁰ The sailors were happy that the sea became calm,
    and he led them safely to where they wanted to go.
³¹ Thank the Lord for his faithful love
    and for the amazing things he does for people.
³² Praise God in the great assembly.
    Praise him when the older leaders meet together.

³³ He changed rivers into a desert.
    He stopped springs from flowing.
³⁴ He made the fertile land become salty,
    because the people living there did such evil things.
³⁵ He changed the desert into a land with pools of water.
    He caused springs to flow from dry ground.
³⁶ He led the hungry to that good land,
    and they built a city to live in.
³⁷ They planted seeds in their fields and grapes in their vineyards,
    and they had a good harvest.
³⁸ God blessed them with many children
    and plenty of animals.
³⁹ But because of disaster and troubles,
    their families became small and weak.
⁴⁰ God shames even great leaders
    and makes them wander through empty deserts.
⁴¹ But he rescues the poor from their misery.
    He makes their families large like flocks of sheep.
⁴² Good people see this and are happy.
    But the wicked see it and don’t know what to say.
⁴³ Whoever is wise will remember these things
    and begin to understand the Lord’s faithful love.

⁷ God has made this promise in his Temple^[ab]:
    “I will win the war and rejoice in victory!
I will divide this land among my people.
    I will give them Shechem.
    I will give them Succoth Valley.
⁸ Gilead and Manasseh will be mine.
    Ephraim will be my helmet.
    Judah will be my royal scepter.
⁹ Moab will be the bowl for washing my feet.
    Edom will be the slave who carries my sandals.
    I will defeat the Philistines and shout in victory!”

^10-11 But, God, it seems that you have left us!
    You do not go out with our army.
So who will lead me into the strong, protected city?
    Who will lead me into battle against Edom?
¹² Help us defeat the enemy!
    No one on earth can rescue us.
¹³ Only God can make us strong.
    Only God can defeat our enemies!