The Lord Can Be Trusted

1 Praise the Lord

and pray in his name!

Tell everyone

what he has done.

2Sing praises to the Lord!

Tell about his miracles.

3Celebrate and worship

his holy name

with all your heart.

4Trust the Lord

and his mighty power.

5Remember his miracles

and all his wonders

and his fair decisions.

6You belong to the family

of Abraham, his servant;

you are his chosen ones,

the descendants of Jacob.

7The Lord is our God,

bringing justice

everywhere on earth.

8He will never forget

his agreement or his promises,

not in thousands of years.

* 9 God made an eternal promise

10 to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,

11when he said, “I'll give you

the land of Canaan.”

12At the time there were

only a few of us,

and we were homeless.

13We wandered from nation

to nation, from one country

to another.

14 God did not let anyone

mistreat our people.

Instead he protected us

by punishing rulers

15and telling them,

“Don't touch my chosen leaders

or harm my prophets!”

16 God kept crops from growing

until food was scarce

everywhere in the land.

17 But he had already sent Joseph,

sold as a slave into Egypt,

18 with chains of iron

around his legs and neck.

19Joseph remained a slave

until his own words

had come true,

and the Lord had finished

testing him.

20 Then the king of Egypt

set Joseph free

21 and put him in charge

of everything he owned.

22Joseph was in command

of the officials,

and he taught the leaders

how to use wisdom.

23 Jacob and his family

came and settled in Egypt

as foreigners.

24 They were the Lord's people,

so he let them grow stronger

than their enemies.

25They served the Lord,

and he made the Egyptians plan

hateful things against them.

26 God sent his servant Moses.

He also chose and sent Aaron

27to his people in Egypt,

and they worked miracles

and wonders there.

28 Moses and Aaron obeyed God,

and he sent darkness

to cover Egypt.

29 God turned their rivers

into streams of blood,

and the fish all died.

30 Frogs were everywhere,

even in the royal palace.

31 When God gave the command,

flies and gnats

swarmed all around.

32 In place of rain,

God sent hailstones

and flashes of lightning.

33He destroyed their grapevines

and their fig trees,

and he made splinters

of all the other trees.

34 God gave the command,

and more grasshoppers came

than could be counted.

35They ate every green plant

and all the crops that grew

in the land of Egypt.

36 Then God took the life

of every first-born son.

37 When God led Israel from Egypt,

they took silver and gold,

and no one was left behind.

38The Egyptians were afraid

and gladly let them go.

39 God hid them under a cloud

and guided them by fire

during the night.

40 When they asked for food,

he sent more birds

than they could eat.

41 God even split open a rock,

and streams of water

gushed into the desert.

42God never forgot

his sacred promise

to his servant Abraham.

43When the Lord rescued

his chosen people from Egypt,

they celebrated with songs.

44 The Lord gave them the land

and everything else

the nations had worked for.

45He did this so that his people

would obey all his laws.

Shout praises to the Lord!