Psalms 105

God takes care of his people #105:1 The writer of this psalm tells God's people to thank God because he does what he has promised to do. God promised to give Abraham many descendants. God also promised to use Abraham's descendants to bless the whole world.

1Thank the Lord! Make his name famous! Tell people in all the nations what he has done.

2Sing songs and make music to praise him! Tell people about the miracles that he has done.

3Boast about his holy name. Everybody who wants to worship the Lord should be very happy!

4Ask the Lord to help you. Ask him to give you strength. Always try to be near him and worship him.

5Remember the great things that he has done. Remember his miracles, and the commands that he has spoken.

6Remember that you are descendants of God's servant, Abraham. You are Jacob's descendants, and God has chosen you to be his people.

7He is the Lord, our God. He rules the whole earth with justice.

8He will always remember the covenant that he made with us. He made that promise to continue for ever.

9That is the promise that he made to Abraham, and that he also made to Isaac.

10He repeated it to Jacob as a law. It was a covenant with Israel's people that would continue for ever.

11He promised Jacob, ‘I will give to you the land of Canaan. It will belong to you, and to your descendants.’

12At one time, God's people were only a few. They lived in Canaan as strangers.

13They travelled among different nations and different kingdoms.

14But the Lord did not let anyone hurt them. He punished kings to keep his people safe.

15He said, ‘Do not even touch the people that I have chosen to be mine. Do not hurt my prophets.’

16The Lord sent a famine to the land of Canaan, so that his people had no food left to eat.

17But he sent Joseph to Egypt before they went there to get food. Joseph's brothers sold him as a slave.

18In Egypt the chains on his feet hurt him. He had a heavy piece of iron round his neck.

19He remained a slave until what he said would happen really happened. Then the Lord showed that Joseph was right.

20The powerful king of Egypt sent someone to let Joseph go free out of prison.

21The king made Joseph master of his palace. Joseph took care of everything that belonged to the king.

22The king gave him authority over his officers. He could teach the king's leaders, so that they would know what to do.

23Then Jacob's family came into Egypt. They lived as strangers in the land of Ham's descendants.

24The Lord gave to his people many children. They became more powerful than their enemies.

25So the Egyptians began to hate God's people. They did cruel things to the Lord's people.

26The Lord sent his servant Moses to help his people in Egypt. He also chose Aaron to help them.

27Moses and Aaron did many miracles in Egypt, where Ham's descendants lived. They showed the Lord's great power to the Egyptians.

28God made all the land become dark. But the Egyptians did not obey God's command.

29God caused their rivers to become blood, and he killed their fish.

30Frogs covered all their land. They even went into the bedrooms of the palace!

31The Lord commanded flies and gnats to cover the whole country.

32He sent hail with the rain, and there was lightning everywhere.

33He destroyed their vines and fig trees. He knocked down the trees everywhere in their country.

34He commanded many locusts to come. There were too many locusts to count!

35They ate all the plants in their land, and all the crops in their fields.

36Then the Lord killed all the firstborn sons in Egypt. He killed the oldest son in each family.

37So the Lord led his people out from Egypt. They took with them valuable silver and gold things. Nobody among the Israelite people was too weak to go.

38The Egyptians were happy when they went, because they were afraid of the Israelites.

39The Lord made a cloud to cover them and a fire to give them light at night.

40When they asked him for food, he gave them quails to eat. He fed them with bread from the sky.

41He broke a rock, so that water poured out from it. It ran as a river through the dry places.

42Yes, the Lord remembered the holy promise that he had made to his servant, Abraham.

43So he led his people out from Egypt, and they were very happy! They were the people that he had chosen for himself, and they shouted with joy!

44The Lord gave to them the land of other nations. They enjoyed the good things that other people had worked to get.

45Then God's people could obey his commands and his laws. Hallelujah! Praise the Lord!