The Living Bible (194 page)
Authors: Inc. Tyndale House Publishers
Tags: #BIBLES / Other Translations / Text
Hallelujah! Thank you, Lord! How good you are! Your love for us continues on forever.
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Who can ever list the glorious miracles of God? Who can ever praise him half enough?
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Happiness comes to those who are fair to others and are always just and good.
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Remember me too, O Lord, while you are blessing and saving your people.
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Let me share in your chosen ones’ prosperity and rejoice in all their joys, and receive the glory you give to them.
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Both we and our fathers have sinned so much.
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They weren’t impressed by the wonder of your miracles in Egypt and soon forgot your many acts of kindness to them. Instead they rebelled against you at the Red Sea.
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Even so you saved them—to defend the honor of your name and demonstrate your power to all the world.
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You commanded the Red Sea to divide, forming a dry road across its bottom. Yes, as dry as any desert!
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Thus you rescued them from their enemies.
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Then the water returned and covered the road and drowned their foes; not one survived.
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Then at last his people believed him. Then they finally sang his praise.
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Yet how quickly they forgot again! They wouldn’t wait for him to act
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but demanded better food,
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testing God’s patience to the breaking point.
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So he gave them their demands but sent them leanness in their souls.
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They were envious of Moses, yes, and Aaron too, the man anointed
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by God as his priest.
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Because of this, the earth opened and swallowed Dathan, Abiram, and his friends;
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and fire fell from heaven to consume these wicked men.
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For they preferred a statue of an ox that eats grass to the glorious presence of God himself.
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Thus they despised their Savior who had done such mighty miracles in Egypt and at the Red Sea.
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So the Lord declared he would destroy them. But Moses, his chosen one, stepped into the breach between the people and their God and begged him to turn from his wrath and not destroy them.
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They refused to enter the Promised Land, for they wouldn’t believe his solemn oath to care for them.
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Instead, they pouted in their tents and mourned and despised his command.
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Therefore he swore that he would kill them in the wilderness
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and send their children away to distant lands as exiles.
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Then our fathers joined the worshipers of Baal at Peor and even offered sacrifices to the dead!
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With all these things they angered him—and so a plague broke out upon them
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and continued until Phinehas executed those whose sins had caused the plague to start.
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(For this good deed Phinehas will be remembered forever.)
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At Meribah, too, Israel angered God, causing Moses serious trouble,
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for he became angry and spoke foolishly.
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Nor did Israel destroy the nations in the land as God had told them to,
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but mingled in among the heathen and learned their evil ways,
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sacrificing to their idols, and were led away from God.
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They even sacrificed their little children to the demons—the idols of Canaan—shedding innocent blood and polluting the land with murder.
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Their evil deeds defiled them, for their love of idols was adultery in the sight of God.
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That is why Jehovah’s anger burned against his people, and he abhorred them.
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That is why he let the heathen nations crush them. They were ruled by those who hated them and oppressed by their enemies.
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Again and again he delivered them from their slavery, but they continued to rebel against him and were finally destroyed by their sin.
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Yet, even so, he listened to their cries and heeded their distress;
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he remembered his promises to them and relented because of his great love,
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and caused even their enemies who captured them to pity them.
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O Lord God, save us! Regather us from the nations so we can thank your holy name and rejoice and praise you.
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Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting. Let all the people say, “Amen!” Hallelujah!
Say thank you to the Lord for being so good, for always being so loving and kind.
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Has the Lord redeemed you? Then speak out! Tell others he has saved you from your enemies.
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He brought the exiles back from the farthest corners of the earth.
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They were wandering homeless in the desert,
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hungry and thirsty and faint.
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“Lord, help!” they cried, and he did!
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He led them straight to safety and a place to live.
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Oh, that these men would praise the Lord for his loving-kindness, and for all of his wonderful deeds!
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For he satisfies the thirsty soul and fills the hungry soul with good.
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Who are these who sit in darkness, in the shadow of death, crushed by misery and slavery?
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They rebelled against the Lord, scorning him who is the God above all gods.
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That is why he broke them with hard labor; they fell and none could help them rise again.
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Then they cried to the Lord in their troubles, and he rescued them!
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He led them from the darkness and shadow of death and snapped their chains.
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Oh, that these men would praise the Lord for his loving-kindness and for all of his wonderful deeds!
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For he broke down their prison gates of brass and cut apart their iron bars.
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Others, the fools, were ill because of their sinful ways.
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Their appetites were gone, and death was near.
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Then they cried to the Lord in their troubles, and he helped them and delivered them.
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He spoke, and they were healed—snatched from the door of death.
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Oh, that these men would praise the Lord for his loving-kindness and for all of his wonderful deeds!
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Let them tell him thank you as their sacrifice and sing about his glorious deeds.
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And then there are the sailors sailing the seven seas, plying the trade routes of the world.
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They, too, observe the power of God in action.
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He calls to the storm winds; the waves rise high.
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Their ships are tossed to the heavens and sink again to the depths; the sailors cringe in terror.
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They reel and stagger like drunkards and are at their wit’s end.
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Then they cry to the Lord in their trouble, and he saves them.
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He calms the storm and stills the waves.
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What a blessing is that stillness as he brings them safely into harbor!
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Oh, that these men would praise the Lord for his loving-kindness and for all of his wonderful deeds!
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Let them praise him publicly before the congregation and before the leaders of the nation.
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He dries up rivers
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and turns the good land of the wicked into deserts of salt.
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Again, he turns deserts into fertile, watered valleys.
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He brings the hungry to settle there and build their cities,
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to sow their fields and plant their vineyards, and reap their bumper crops!
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How he blesses them! They raise big families there and many cattle.
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But others become poor through oppression, trouble, and sorrow.
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For God pours contempt upon the haughty and causes princes to wander among ruins;
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but he rescues the poor who are godly and gives them many children and much prosperity.
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Good men everywhere will see it and be glad, while evil men are stricken silent.
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Listen, if you are wise, to what I am saying. Think about the loving-kindness of the Lord!
O God, my heart is ready to praise you! I will sing and rejoice before you.
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Wake up, O harp and lyre! We will meet the dawn with song.
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I will praise you everywhere around the world, in every nation.
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For your loving-kindness is great beyond measure, high as the heavens. Your faithfulness reaches the skies.
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His glory is far more vast than the heavens. It towers above the earth.
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Hear the cry of your beloved child—come with mighty power and rescue me.
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God has given sacred promises; no wonder I exult! He has promised to give us all the land of Shechem and also Succoth Valley.
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“Gilead is mine to give to you,” he says, “and Manasseh as well; the land of Ephraim is the helmet on my head. Judah is my scepter.
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But Moab and Edom are despised;
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and I will shout in triumph over the Philistines.”
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Who but God can give me strength to conquer these fortified cities? Who else can lead me into Edom?
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Lord, have you thrown us away? Have you deserted our army?
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Oh, help us fight against our enemies, for men are useless allies.
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But with the help of God we shall do mighty acts of valor. For he treads down our foes.