Bible Reading Plan – Day 118

₁Give thanks to the LORD, proclaim his greatness;

tell the nations what he has done.

₂Sing praise to the LORD;

tell of the wonderful things he has done.

₃Be glad that we belong to him;

let all who worship him rejoice.

₄Go to the LORD for help;

and worship him continually.

_5-6You descendants of Abraham, his servant;

you descendants of Jacob, the man he chose:

remember the miracles that God performed

and the judgements that he gave.

₇The LORD is our God;

his commands are for all the world.

₈He will keep his covenant for ever,

his promises for a thousand generations.

₉He will keep the agreement he made with Abraham

and his promise to Isaac.

₁₀The LORD made a covenant with Jacob,

one that will last for ever.

₁₁“I will give you the land of Canaan,” he said.

“It will be your own possession.”

₁₂God's people were few in number,

strangers in the land of Canaan.

₁₃They wandered from country to country,

from one kingdom to another.

₁₄But God let no one oppress them;

to protect them, he warned the kings:

₁₅“Don't harm my chosen servants;

do not touch my prophets.”

₁₆The LORD sent famine to their country

and took away all their food.

₁₇But he sent a man ahead of them,

Joseph, who had been sold as a slave.

₁₈His feet were kept in chains,

and an iron collar was round his neck,

₁₉until what he had predicted came true.

The word of the LORD proved him right.

₂₀Then the king of Egypt had him released;

the ruler of nations set him free.

₂₁He put him in charge of his government

and made him ruler over all the land,

₂₂with power over the king's officials

and authority to instruct his advisers.

₂₃Then Jacob went to Egypt

and settled in that country.

₂₄The LORD gave many children to his people

and made them stronger than their enemies.

₂₅He made the Egyptians hate his people

and treat his servants with deceit.

₂₆Then he sent his servant Moses,

and Aaron, whom he had chosen.

₂₇They did God's mighty acts

and performed miracles in Egypt.

₂₈God sent darkness on the country,

but the Egyptians did not obey his command.

₂₉He turned their rivers into blood

and killed all their fish.

₃₀Their country was overrun with frogs,

even the palace was filled with them.

₃₁God commanded, and flies and gnats

swarmed throughout the whole country.

₃₂He sent hail and lightning on their land

instead of rain;

₃₃he destroyed their grapevines and fig trees

and broke down all the trees.

₃₄He commanded, and the locusts came,

countless millions of them;

₃₅they ate all the plants in the land;

they ate all the crops.

₃₆He killed the firstborn sons

of all the families of Egypt.

₃₇Then he led the Israelites out;

they carried silver and gold,

and all of them were healthy and strong.

₃₈The Egyptians were afraid of them

and were glad when they left.

₃₉God put a cloud over his people

and a fire at night to give them light.

₄₀They asked, and he sent quails;

he gave them food from heaven to satisfy them.

₄₁He opened a rock, and water gushed out,

flowing through the desert like a river.

₄₂He remembered his sacred promise

to Abraham his servant.

₄₃So he led his chosen people out,

and they sang and shouted for joy.

₄₄He gave them the lands of other peoples

and let them take over their fields,

₄₅so that his people would obey his laws

and keep all his commands.

Praise the LORD!

₁Praise the LORD!

Give thanks to the LORD, because he is good;

his love is eternal.

₂Who can tell all the great things he has done?

Who can praise him enough?

₃Happy are those who obey his commands,

who always do what is right.

₄Remember me, LORD, when you help your people;

include me when you save them.

₅Let me see the prosperity of your people

and share in the happiness of your nation,

in the glad pride of those who belong to you.

₆We have sinned as our ancestors did;

we have been wicked and evil.

₇Our ancestors in Egypt did not understand God's wonderful acts;

they forgot the many times he showed them his love,

and they rebelled against the Almighty at the Red Sea.

₈But he saved them, as he had promised,

in order to show his great power.

₉He gave a command to the Red Sea,

and it dried up;

he led his people across on dry land.

₁₀He saved them from those who hated them;

he rescued them from their enemies.

₁₁But the water drowned their enemies;

not one of them was left.

₁₂Then his people believed his promises

and sang praises to him.

₁₃But they quickly forgot what he had done

and acted without waiting for his advice.

₁₄They were filled with craving in the desert

and put God to the test;

₁₅so he gave them what they asked for,

but also sent a terrible disease among them.

₁₆There in the desert they were jealous of Moses

and of Aaron, the LORD's holy servant.

₁₇Then the earth opened up and swallowed Dathan

and buried Abiram and his family;

₁₈fire came down on their followers

and burnt up those wicked people.

₁₉They made a gold bull calf at Sinai

and worshipped that idol;

₂₀they exchanged the glory of God

for the image of an animal that eats grass.

₂₁They forgot the God who had saved them

by his mighty acts in Egypt.

₂₂What wonderful things he did there!

What amazing things at the Red Sea!

₂₃When God said that he would destroy his people,

his chosen servant, Moses, stood up against God

and prevented his anger from destroying them.

₂₄Then they rejected the pleasant land,

because they did not believe God's promise.

₂₅They stayed in their tents and grumbled

and would not listen to the LORD.

₂₆So he gave them a solemn warning

that he would make them die in the desert

₂₇and scatter their descendants among the heathen,

letting them die in foreign countries.

₂₈Then at Peor, God's people joined in the worship of Baal,

and ate sacrifices offered to dead gods.

₂₉They stirred up the LORD's anger by their actions,

and a terrible disease broke out among them.

₃₀But Phinehas stood up and punished the guilty,

and the plague was stopped.

₃₁This has been remembered in his favour ever since

and will be for all time to come.

₃₂At the springs of Meribah the people made the LORD angry,

and Moses was in trouble on their account.

₃₃They made him so bitter

that he spoke without stopping to think.

₃₄They did not kill the heathen,

as the LORD had commanded them to do,

₃₅but they intermarried with them

and adopted their pagan ways.

₃₆God's people worshipped idols,

and this caused their destruction.

₃₇They offered their own sons and daughters

as sacrifices to the idols of Canaan.

₃₈They killed those innocent children,

and the land was defiled by those murders.

₃₉They made themselves impure by their actions

and were unfaithful to God.

₄₀So the LORD was angry with his people;

he was disgusted with them.

₄₁He abandoned them to the power of the heathen,

and their enemies ruled over them.

₄₂They were oppressed by their enemies

and were in complete subjection to them.

₄₃Many times the LORD rescued his people,

but they chose to rebel against him

and sank deeper into sin.

₄₄Yet the LORD heard them when they cried out,

and he took notice of their distress.

₄₅For their sake he remembered his covenant,

and because of his great love he relented.

₄₆He made all their oppressors

feel sorry for them.

₄₇Save us, O LORD our God,

and bring us back from among the nations,

so that we may be thankful

and praise your holy name.

₄₈Praise the LORD, the God of Israel;

praise him now and for ever!

Let everyone say, “Amen!”

Praise the LORD!