Psalm 106
Israel’s Confession of Sin and God’s Mercy
1 Alleluia.
Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
his kindness endures forever.
2 Who can possibly recount the mighty acts of the Lord
and fully proclaim his praise?
3 Blessed are those who do what is right
and practice justice constantly.
4 Remember me, O Lord, out of the love you have for your people;
come to me with your salvation.
5 Let me delight in the success of your chosen ones,
share in the joy of your nation,
and glory in your heritage.
6 Like our ancestors, we have sinned;
we have gone astray and done evil.
7 When our ancestors were in Egypt,
they failed to be mindful of your wonders;
they did not remember your many kindnesses
and rebelled against the Most High at the Red Sea.
8 Yet he saved them for his name’s sake
so that he might make known his mighty power.
9 He rebuked the Red Sea, and it dried up;
he led them through the depths as through a wilderness.
10 He saved them from those who hated them;
from the hand of the enemy he delivered them.
11 The waters closed over their adversaries;
not a single one of them survived.
12 Then they believed his words
and sang his praises.
13 But they soon forgot what he had done
and had no confidence in his plan.
14 In the wilderness they yielded to their cravings;
in the wasteland they put God to the test.
15 He gave them everything they wanted
but struck them with a consuming disease.
16 In the camp they grew envious of Moses
and of Aaron, who was consecrated to the Lord.
17 The earth parted and swallowed Dathan
and closed over the company of Abiram.
18 Fire blazed all through them,
and the wicked were consumed in flames.
19 They constructed a calf at Horeb
and worshiped this molten image.
20 They exchanged their Glory
for an image of a bull that eats grass.
21 They forgot the God who had saved them,
who had done great things in Egypt,
22 wonders in the land of Ham,
and awesome deeds at the Red Sea.
23 He was contemplating their destruction,
but Moses, his chosen one,
stood in the breach before him
to keep his wrath from destroying them.
24 Then they derided the land of delights,
for they had no faith in his word.
25 They grumbled in their tents
and refused to obey the voice of the Lord.
26 Therefore, he swore with uplifted hand
to strike them down in the wilderness
27 and disperse their descendants among the nations,
scattering them in foreign lands.
28 They joined in worshiping Baal of Peor
and ate food sacrificed to lifeless gods.
29 They provoked the Lord to anger by their evil deeds,
and a plague broke out among them.
30 Then Phinehas stood up and executed judgment,
and the plague came to an end.
31 This was credited to him as righteousness
for all the generations to come.
32 At the waters of Meribah they angered the Lord,
and Moses endured difficulties because of them.
33 For they rebelled against the Spirit of God,
and rash words issued from Moses’ lips.
34 They did not exterminate the peoples
as the Lord had commanded them to do.
35 Rather, they mingled with the nations
and adopted their practices.
36 They worshiped their idols,
which became a snare to them.
37 They sacrificed to false gods
their sons and their daughters.
38 They shed innocent blood,
the blood of their sons and daughters,
whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan,
polluting the land with their blood.
39 Thus, they defiled themselves by their actions
and prostituted themselves by their conduct.
40 Then the anger of the Lord flared up against his people,
and he abhorred his own heritage.
41 He handed them over to the nations,
and their foes became their rulers.
42 Their enemies oppressed them
and kept them in subjection to their power.
43 Time and again he came to their rescue,
but they rebelled against his counsel
and sank low because of their sin.
44 Even so, he took pity on their distress
when he heard their cries.
45 He called to mind his covenant with them,
and he relented because of his great mercy.
46 He aroused compassion for them
on the part of all their captors.
47 Save us, O Lord, our God,
and gather us from among the nations,
so that we may give thanks to your holy name
and glory in praising you.
48 Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel,
from everlasting to everlasting.
Let all the people say, “Amen.”
Alleluia.
Footnotes
- Psalm 106:1
- Psalm 106:1
- Psalm 106:2
- Psalm 106:3
- Psalm 106:4
- Psalm 106:6
- Psalm 106:6
- Psalm 106:8
- Psalm 106:12
- Psalm 106:13
- Psalm 106:16
- Psalm 106:19
- Psalm 106:20
- Psalm 106:22
- Psalm 106:23
- Psalm 106:24
- Psalm 106:24
- Psalm 106:28
- Psalm 106:31
- Psalm 106:32
- Psalm 106:32
- Psalm 106:33
- Psalm 106:34
- Psalm 106:37
- Psalm 106:39
- Psalm 106:40
- Psalm 106:45
- Psalm 106:47
- Psalm 106:48
- Psalm 106:48
