We have done wrong, and we are guilty
1You must praise the Lord,
and thank the Lord because He is good.
His love will never change, and it will go on forever.
2No one can say how strong the Lord is
or tell about all the things that He has done,
and no one can praise Him enough.
3The Lord blesses people
who do what is right and who are fair,
people who are honest and righteous.
4Lord, when You help your people
and show them your love,
please remember me too,
and when you save them, please don't forget me.
5Let me see the good things
that You do for your people,
the ones that You have chosen.
Let me also be happy when your people rejoice,
and let me glorify You with them
and praise your name.
6We have sinned like our forefathers did,
and we have done things
that are wrong. We are guilty.
7Our forefathers did not understand
your miracles when they were in Egypt.
They did not remember the things
that You did and your love
that keeps on and never changes.
They rebelled_against You at the Red Sea.
8And You saved them because You are God,
and because You wanted them
to know how strong You are.
9You told the Red Sea
to become dry and it did.
You let our forefathers walk
through the sea like people
walking through a dry desert.
10You saved them
from the people who hated them,
You made them free from their enemies.
11The water covered their enemies,
and not one of them was left_alive.
12Then our forefathers believed
what the Lord said and they praised Him.
13But they soon forgot the things that He did,
and they did not wait for Him
to tell them what they should do.
14When they became hungry in the desert,
they wanted a lot of the best food
and they tested God.
15Then God gave them what they asked for,
but He sent a disease and made them sick.
16The people in the camp
became angry with Moses and Aaron,
the leaders who
were consecrated to the Lord.
17Then the earth opened its mouth
and swallowed Dathan,
and the sand covered Abiram and his friends.
18A fire burnt those people.
Flames burnt those who did wrong.
19The people made an image
of a bull-calf at Horeb.
They worshipped a metal image.
20They did not worship the glory of God.
No, they worshipped an image
of a bull that eats grass.
21They forgot about God their Saviour
who had done great things in Egypt,
22and who had done miracles in the land of Ham,
and wonderful things at the Red Sea
that made his people fear.
23Then the Lord decided to destroy
all his people and He wanted to do it,
but Moses begged Him not to.
The Lord had chosen Moses to lead his people
and Moses stood before the Lord
and asked Him not to be angry
with them or destroy them.
24And then the people did not want to
go into this beautiful land.
They did not believe that God would do
what He had promised.
25They sat in their tents and complained
and they didn't want to listen to what God said.
26The Lord decided and He promised them
that He would cause them to die in the desert.
27He said their children would be killed
by the other nations and that they
would have to go and live in other lands.
28They started to serve Baal-Peor
and eat meat that had been
sacrificed to dead idols.
29They made the Lord very angry
because of the wrong things that they did,
and He sent a disease to make them sick.
30But Phinehas punished the guilty people
and then the disease stopped.
31People will always remember
that Phinehas did what was right.
32The people made the Lord angry
at the water of Meribah and
that brought Moses a lot of trouble.
33They made the Spirit of God angry
and Moses did not think before he spoke
and he said things that were wrong.
34The Lord told the Israelites
to destroy the Gentile nations,
but they did not do it.
35They married Gentiles and
learned to do the wrong things
that those Gentiles always did.
36They worshipped the idols of
the Gentiles and
that caught them like a trap.
37They sacrificed their sons
and daughters to demons,
38they killed innocent people,
and they sacrificed their own sons
and daughters to the idols of Canaan
and made the land impure with their blood.
39They became impure
from the things they did and they
were unfaithful to God, like a bad wife.
40Then the Lord became angry with his people.
He started to hate the people
who belonged to Him.
41He gave his people
to the Gentile nations,
and the people who hated them
started to rule over them.
42Their enemies oppressed them,
and they had to serve cruel people.
43The Lord saved his people many times,
but they continued to rebel_against Him
and they became even more sinful.
44But then the Lord saw
how much they had suffered
and when they prayed to Him
and begged Him for help,
He helped them.
45The Lord remembered his covenant
with them and He felt sorry for them.
He stopped being angry
because they were his people
and He loved them very much.
46He changed the hearts of their enemies
and the people who had taken them as prisoners
started to feel sorry for them.
47Lord our God, please save us
and bring us back from all the lands
and nations so that we can thank You.
We want to think of your glory
and praise your holy name.
48Praise the Lord,
the God of Israel, forever and ever.
Let all the people say: ‘Amen’.
You must praise the Lord.
