[1] Praise the Lord! Thank the Lord because he is good! God’s love is forever!
[2] No person can describe how great the Lord really is. No person can praise God enough.
[3] People who obey God’s commands are happy. Those people do good things all the time.
[4] Lord, remember me when you are kind to your people. Remember to save me, too!
[5] Lord, let me share in the good things you do for your chosen people. Let me rejoice with your nation. Let me join with your people in praise.
[6] We sinned just like our ancestors sinned. We were wrong, we did bad things!
[7] Lord, our ancestors learned nothing from the miracles you did in Egypt. Our ancestors forgot your kindness at the Red Sea, and they turned against you.
[8] But God saved our ancestors for his own name’s sake. God saved them to show his great power.
[9] God gave the command, and the Red Sea became dry. God led our ancestors through the deep sea, on land as dry as the desert.
[10] God saved our ancestors from their enemies! God rescued them from their enemies.
[11] God covered their enemies with the sea. Not one of their enemies escaped!
[12] Then our ancestors believed God. They sang praises to him.
[13] But our ancestors quickly forgot about the things God did. They did not listen to God’s advice.
[14] Our ancestors became hungry in the desert. And they tested God in the wilderness.
[15] But God gave our ancestors the things they asked for. But God also gave them a terrible disease.
[16] The people became jealous of Moses. They became jealous of Aaron, the Lord’s holy priest.
[17] So God punished those jealous people. 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. That fire burned those wicked people.
[19] Those people made a golden calf at Mount Horeb. They worshiped a statue!
[20] Those people traded their glorious God, for a statue of a grass-eating bull!
[21] God saved our ancestors. But they forgot all about him. They forgot about the God who did the miracles in Egypt.
[22] God did amazing things in Ham’s country. God did awesome things near the Red Sea!
[23] God wanted to destroy those people. But Moses, the man he chose, stopped him. God was very angry, but Moses blocked the way, so God did not destroy the people.
[24] But then those people refused to go into the wonderful land of Canaan. They did not believe God would help them defeat the people living in that land.
[25] Our ancestors complained in their tents and refused to obey God!
[26] So God swore that they would die in the desert.
[27] God promised that he would let other people defeat their descendants. God promised he would scatter our ancestors among the nations.
[28] Then at Baal Peor, God’s people joined in worshiping Baal. God’s people ˻joined in the wild parties and˼ ate sacrifices to honor dead people.
[29] God became very angry at his people, and God made them become very sick.
[30] But Phinehas prayed to God, and God stopped the sickness.
[31] God knew Phinehas did a very good thing. God will remember this forever and ever.
[32] At Meribah, the people became angry. And they made Moses do something bad.
[33] Those people made Moses very upset, so Moses spoke without stopping to think.
[34] The Lord told the people to destroy the other nations living in Canaan. But the people of Israel did not obey God.
[35] They mixed with the other people, and did what those people were doing.
[36] Those people became a trap to God’s people. God’s people began worshiping the gods those other people worshiped.
[37] God’s people killed their own children, and offered them to those false gods. So the land was polluted with the sin of murder.
[38] God’s people killed innocent people. They killed their own children and offered them to those false gods.
[39] So God’s people became dirty with the sins of those other people. God’s people were unfaithful to their God and did the things those other people did.
[40] God became angry at his people. God was fed up with them!
[41] God gave his people to other nations. God let their enemies rule over them.
[42] The enemies of God’s people controlled them and made life hard for them.
[43] God saved his people many times. But they turned against God and did what they wanted to do. God’s people did many, many bad things.
[44] But whenever God’s people were in trouble, ˻they always called to God for help˼. And God listened to their prayers every time.
[45] God always remembered his Agreement and comforted them with his great love.
[46] Other nations took them as prisoners. But God made them be kind to his people.
[47] The Lord our God saved us! God brought us back from those nations so we could praise his holy name, so we could sing praises to him.
[48] Bless the Lord God of Israel. God has always lived, and he will live forever. And all the people said, ”Amen! Praise the Lord!”