107
1 Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good,
and his loyal love endures!
2 Let those delivered by the Lord speak out,
those whom he delivered from the power of the enemy,
3 and gathered from foreign lands,
from east and west,
from north and south.
4 They wandered through the wilderness on a desert road;
they found no city in which to live.
5 They were hungry and thirsty;
they fainted from exhaustion.
6 They cried out to the Lord in their distress;
he delivered them from their troubles.
7 He led them on a level road,
that they might find a city in which to live.
8 Let them give thanks to the Lord for his loyal love,
and for the amazing things he has done for people!
9 For he has satisfied those who thirst,
and those who hunger he has filled with food.
10 They sat in utter darkness,
bound in painful iron chains,
11 because they had rebelled against God’s commands,
and rejected the instructions of the sovereign king.
12 So he used suffering to humble them;
they stumbled and no one helped them up.
13 They cried out to the Lord in their distress;
he delivered them from their troubles.
14 He brought them out of the utter darkness,
and tore off their shackles.
15 Let them give thanks to the Lord for his loyal love,
and for the amazing things he has done for people!
16 For he shattered the bronze gates,
and hacked through the iron bars.
17 They acted like fools in their rebellious ways,
and suffered because of their sins.
18 They lost their appetite for all food,
and they drew near the gates of death.
19 They cried out to the Lord in their distress;
he delivered them from their troubles.
20 He sent them an assuring word and healed them;
he rescued them from the pits where they were trapped.
21 Let them give thanks to the Lord for his loyal love,
and for the amazing things he has done for people!
22 Let them present thank offerings,
and loudly proclaim what he has done!
23
Some traveled on the sea in ships,
and carried cargo over the vast waters.
24 They witnessed the acts of the Lord,
his amazing feats on the deep water.
25 He gave the order for a windstorm,
and it stirred up the waves of the sea.
26 They reached up to the sky,
then dropped into the depths.
The sailors’ strength left them because the danger was so great.
27 They swayed and staggered like a drunk,
and all their skill proved ineffective.
28 They cried out to the Lord in their distress;
he delivered them from their troubles.
29 He calmed the storm,
and the waves grew silent.
30 The sailors rejoiced because the waves grew quiet,
and he led them to the harbor they desired.
31 Let them give thanks to the Lord for his loyal love,
and for the amazing things he has done for people!
32 Let them exalt him in the assembly of the people!
Let them praise him in the place where the leaders preside!
33 He turned streams into a desert,
springs of water into arid land,
34 and a fruitful land into a barren place,
because of the sin of its inhabitants.
35 As for his people, he turned a desert into a pool of water,
and a dry land into springs of water.
36 He allowed the hungry to settle there,
and they established a city in which to live.
37 They cultivated fields,
and planted vineyards,
which yielded a harvest of fruit.
38 He blessed them so that they became very numerous.
He would not allow their cattle to decrease in number.
39 As for their enemies, they decreased in number and were beaten down,
because of painful distress and suffering.
40 He would pour contempt upon princes,
and he made them wander in a wasteland with no road.
41 Yet he protected the needy from oppression,
and cared for his families like a flock of sheep.
42 When the godly see this, they rejoice,
and every sinner shuts his mouth.
43 Whoever is wise, let him take note of these things!
Let them consider the Lord’s acts of loyal love!