Praise to Yahweh for His Work on Behalf of Israel

¹ Give thanks to Yahweh; proclaim his name; make known his deeds among the peoples.

² Sing to him; sing praises concerning him; tell of all his wonderful works.

³ Boast about his holy name. Let the heart of those who seek Yahweh rejoice.

⁴ Make supplication to Yahweh and his might; seek his face continually.

⁵ Remember his wonders that he has done, his signs and the judgments of his mouth,

⁶ O offspring of Abraham his servant, you descendants¹ of Jacob, his chosen ones.

1. Or “children,” or “sons”

⁷ He is Yahweh our God; his judgments are in all the earth.

⁸ He remembers his covenant forever, the word that he commanded for a thousand generations,

⁹ that he made with Abraham, and by his oath swore to Isaac.

¹⁰ He then confirmed it to Jacob as a statute, to Israel as an everlasting covenant,

¹¹ saying, “To you I will give the land of Canaan as the allotment that is your¹ inheritance.”

1. Hebrew plural

¹² When they were ⌞few in number⌟¹— a trifle—and were sojourners in it,

1. Literally “men of number,” that is, so few you could count them

¹³ and they wandered about ⌞among the nations⌟,¹ from one kingdom to another people,

1. Literally “from people to people”

¹⁴ he allowed no one to oppress them, and he rebuked kings on account of them,

¹⁵ “Do not touch my anointed ones, nor harm my prophets.”

¹⁶ Then he called for a famine upon the land; he broke every ⌞supply⌟¹ of bread.

1. Literally “staff”

¹⁷ He sent a man on ahead of them; Joseph was sold as a slave.

¹⁸ They clamped¹ his feet in fetters.² His neck³ went into irons.⁴

1. Hebrew “oppressed, hurt”
2. Hebrew “fetter”
3. Hebrew nephesh can designate the life, soul, appetite, desire, or throat/neck.
4. Hebrew “iron”

¹⁹ Until the time his word came about, the word of Yahweh tested¹ him.

1. Or “refined”

²⁰ The king sent and he freed him; the ruler of the peoples sent and let him loose.

²¹ He made him lord of his house and ruler of all his possessions,

²² to obligate¹ his officials ⌞as he saw fit⌟² and teach his elders wisdom.

1. Hebrew “to bind, imprison” The LXX’s “to instruct” presupposes ysr instead of 'sr, and might be correct in light of the parallelism that is fairly tight in this psalm
2. Literally “in his desire soul”

²³ Then Israel came to Egypt, and Jacob was a sojourner in the land of Ham.

²⁴ And he¹ made his people very fruitful. He also made them² stronger than their³ enemies.

1. That is, God
2. Hebrew “him”
3. Hebrew “his”

²⁵ He turned their heart to hate his people, to deal deceitfully against his servants.

²⁶ He sent his servant Moses, together with Aaron whom he had chosen.

²⁷ They set before them the words concerning his signs and portents in the land of Ham.

²⁸ He sent darkness and made it dark, and they did not rebel against his words.

²⁹ He turned their waters into blood and it killed their fish.

³⁰ Their land swarmed with frogs, even in the chambers of their kings.

³¹ He spoke, and there came flies and gnats throughout all their territory.¹

1. Hebrew “borders”

³² He gave hail for their rains and the fire of lightning in their land.

³³ And he struck their vines and fig trees, and shattered the trees of their territory.

³⁴ He spoke and there came locusts and young locusts without number.

³⁵ And they ate up all the vegetation in their land, and they ate up the fruit of their ground.

³⁶ And he struck down all the firstborn in their land, the first of all their virility.

³⁷ Then he brought them out with silver and gold, and there was none among his tribes who stumbled.

³⁸ Egypt was glad when they departed, because the fear of them¹ had fallen upon them.

1. That is, Israel

³⁹ He spread out a cloud for a covering, and fire to give light at night.

⁴⁰ They¹ asked, and he brought quail, and satisfied them with the bread of heaven.

1. Hebrew “He”

⁴¹ He opened the rock and waters flowed; they coursed¹ through the dry places like a river.

1. Or “surged”

⁴² For he remembered his holy ⌞promise⌟;¹ he remembered Abraham his servant.

1. Literally “word”

⁴³ And so he brought out his people with joy, his chosen ones with rejoicing.

⁴⁴ And he gave to them the lands of the nations, and they inherited the labor of the peoples,

⁴⁵ so that they might observe his statutes, and keep his laws. Praise Yah.¹

1. Hebrew hallelujah