107:1
Alleluia! Give thanks to Yahweh for he is good, his faithful love lasts for ever.
107:2
So let them say whom Yahweh redeemed, whom he redeemed from the power of their enemies,
107:3
bringing them back from foreign lands, from east and west, north and south.
107:4
They were wandering in the desert, in the wastelands, could find no way to an inhabited city;
107:5
they were hungry and thirsty, their life was ebbing away.
107:6
They cried out to Yahweh in their distress, he rescued them from their plight,
107:7
he set them on the road, straight to an inhabited city.
107:8
Let them thank Yahweh for his faithful love, for his wonders for the children of Adam!
107:9
He has fed the hungry to their hearts' content, filled the starving with good things.
107:10
Sojourners in gloom and shadow dark as death, fettered in misery and chains,
107:11
for defying the orders of Yahweh, for scorning the plan of the Most High-
107:12
he subdued their spirit by hard labour; if they fell there was no one to help.
107:13
They cried out to Yahweh in their distress, he rescued them from their plight,
107:14
he brought them out from gloom and shadow dark as death, and shattered their chains.
107:15
Let them thank Yahweh for his faithful love, for his wonders for the children of Adam!
107:16
He broke open gates of bronze and smashed iron bars.
107:17
Fools for their rebellious ways, wretched because of their sins,
107:18
finding all food repugnant, brought close to the gates of death-
107:19
they cried out to Yahweh in their distress; he rescued them from their plight,
107:20
he sent out his word and cured them, and rescued their life from the abyss.
107:21
Let them thank Yahweh for his faithful love, for his wonders for the children of Adam!
107:22
Let them offer thanksgiving sacrifices, and recount with shouts of joy what he has done!
107:23
Voyagers on the sea in ships, plying their trade on the great ocean,
107:24
have seen the works of Yahweh, his wonders in the deep.
107:25
By his word he raised a storm-wind, lashing up towering waves.
107:26
Up to the sky then down to the depths! Their stomachs were turned to water;
107:27
they staggered and reeled like drunkards, and all their skill went under.
107:28
They cried out to Yahweh in their distress, he rescued them from their plight,
107:29
he reduced the storm to a calm, and all the waters subsided,
107:30
and he brought them, overjoyed at the stillness, to the port where they were bound.
107:31
Let them thank Yahweh for his faithful love, for his wonders for the children of Adam!
107:32
Let them extol him in the assembly of the people, and praise him in the council of elders.
107:33
He has turned rivers into desert, bubbling springs into arid ground,
107:34
fertile country into salt-flats, because the people living there were evil.
107:35
But he has turned desert into stretches of water, arid ground into bubbling springs,
107:36
and has given the hungry a home, where they have built themselves a city.
107:37
There they sow fields and plant vines, and reap a harvest of their produce.
107:38
He blesses them and their numbers increase, he keeps their cattle at full strength.
107:39
Their numbers had fallen, they had grown weak, under pressure of disaster and hardship;
107:40
he covered princes in contempt, left them to wander in trackless wastes.
107:41
But the needy he raises from their misery, makes their families as numerous as sheep.
107:42
At the sight the honest rejoice, and the wicked have nothing to say.
107:43
Who is wise? Such a one should take this to heart, and come to understand Yahweh's faithful love.
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