Psalms 106
The psalmist praises God for his mercy and justice, but also acknowledges the Israelites' history of sin and rebellion against God. Despite God's many miracles and deliverances, the Israelites repeatedly forgot his works and provoked him with their idolatry and disobedience. God's mercy and covenant faithfulness ultimately prevailed, and he delivered them from their enemies, but the psalmist concludes by praying for God to gather his people from the nations and restore them to worship and praise him.
Alleluia. Confess to the Lord, for he is good, for his mercy is with every generationWho will declare the powers of the Lord? Who make a hearing for all his praisesBlessed are those who keep judgment and who do justice at all timesRemember us, O Lord, with good will for your people. Visit us with your salvationso that we may see the goodness of your elect, so that we may rejoice in the joy of your nation, so that you may be praised along with your inheritanceWe have sinned, as have our fathers. We have acted unjustly; we have wrought iniquityOur fathers did not understand your miracles in Egypt. They did not remember the multitude of your mercies. And they provoked you, while going up to the sea, even the Red SeaAnd he saved them for the sake of his name, so that he might make known his powerAnd he rebuked the Red Sea, and it dried up. And he led them into the abyss, as if into a desertAnd he saved them from the hand of those who hated them. And he redeemed them from the hand of the enemyAnd the water covered those who troubled them. Not one of them remainedAnd they believed his words, and they sang his praisesAs soon as they had finished, they forgot his works, and they would not endure his counselAnd they coveted their desire in the desert, and they tempted God in a waterless placeAnd he granted to them their request, and he sent abundance into their soulsAnd they provoked Moses in the camp, and Aaron, the holy one of the LordThe earth opened and swallowed Dathan, and it covered the congregation of AbiramAnd a fire broke out in their congregation. A flame burned up the sinnersAnd they fashioned a calf at Horeb, and they adored a graven imageAnd they exchanged their glory for the likeness of a calf that eats hayThey forgot God, who saved them, who did great things in Egyptmiracles in the land of Ham, terrible things at the Red SeaAnd he said that he would destroy them, yet Moses, his elect, stood firm before him in the breach, in order to avert his wrath, lest he destroy themAnd they held the desirable land to be nothing. They did not trust in his wordAnd they murmured in their tabernacles. They did not heed the voice of the LordAnd he lifted up his hand over them, in order to prostrate them in the desertand in order to cast their offspring among the nations, and to scatter them among the regionsAnd they were initiated into Baal of Peor, and they ate the sacrifices of the deadAnd they provoked him with their inventions, and ruination was multiplied in themThen Phinehas stood up and placated him: and so the violent disturbance ceasedAnd it was reputed to him unto justice, from generation to generation, even foreverAnd they provoked him at the Waters of Contradiction, and Moses was afflicted because of themfor they exasperated his spirit. And so he divided them with his lipsThey did not destroy the nations, about which the Lord had spoken to themAnd they were mixed among the Gentiles. And they learned their worksand they served their graven images, and it became a scandal to themAnd they sacrificed their sons and their daughters to demonsAnd they shed innocent blood: the blood of their sons and of their daughters, which they sacrificed to the graven images of Canaan. And the land was infected with bloodshedand was contaminated with their works. And they fornicated according to their own inventionsAnd the Lord became furiously angry with his people, and he abhorred his inheritanceAnd he delivered them into the hands of the nations. And those who hated them became rulers over themAnd their enemies afflicted them, and they were humbled under their handsMany times, he delivered them. Yet they provoked him with their counsel, and they were brought low by their iniquitiesAnd he saw that they were in tribulation, and he heard their prayerAnd he was mindful of his covenant, and he repented according to the multitude of his merciesAnd he provided for them with mercies, in the sight of all those who had seized themSave us, O Lord our God, and gather us from the nations, so that we may confess your holy name and glory in your praiseBlessed is the Lord God of Israel, from ages past, even to all ages. And let all the people say: Amen. Amen
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