Give Thanks to the LORD, for He Is Good

1Alleluia. Confess to the Lord, for he is good, for his mercy is with every generation.

2Who will declare the powers of the Lord? Who make a hearing for all his praises?

3Blessed are those who keep judgment and who do justice at all times.

4Remember us, O Lord, with good will for your people. Visit us with your salvation,

5so that we may see the goodness of your elect, so that we may rejoice in the joy of your nation, so that you may be praised along with your inheritance.

6We have sinned, as have our fathers. We have acted unjustly; we have wrought iniquity.

7Our fathers did not understand your miracles in Egypt. They did not remember the multitude of your mercies. And they provoked you, while going up to the sea, even the Red Sea.

8And he saved them for the sake of his name, so that he might make known his power.

9And he rebuked the Red Sea, and it dried up. And he led them into the abyss, as if into a desert.

10And he saved them from the hand of those who hated them. And he redeemed them from the hand of the enemy.

11And the water covered those who troubled them. Not one of them remained.

12And they believed his words, and they sang his praises.

13As soon as they had finished, they forgot his works, and they would not endure his counsel.

14And they coveted their desire in the desert, and they tempted God in a waterless place.

15And he granted to them their request, and he sent abundance into their souls.

16And they provoked Moses in the camp, and Aaron, the holy one of the Lord.

17The earth opened and swallowed Dathan, and it covered the congregation of Abiram.

18And a fire broke out in their congregation. A flame burned up the sinners.

19And they fashioned a calf at Horeb, and they adored a graven image.

20And they exchanged their glory for the likeness of a calf that eats hay.

21They forgot God, who saved them, who did great things in Egypt:

22miracles in the land of Ham, terrible things at the Red Sea.

23And he said that he would destroy them, yet Moses, his elect, stood firm before him in the breach, in order to avert his wrath, lest he destroy them.

24And they held the desirable land to be nothing. They did not trust in his word.

25And they murmured in their tabernacles. They did not heed the voice of the Lord.

26And he lifted up his hand over them, in order to prostrate them in the desert,

27and in order to cast their offspring among the nations, and to scatter them among the regions.

28And they were initiated into Baal of Peor, and they ate the sacrifices of the dead.

29And they provoked him with their inventions, and ruination was multiplied in them.

30Then Phinehas stood up and placated him: and so the violent disturbance ceased.

31And it was reputed to him unto justice, from generation to generation, even forever.

32And they provoked him at the Waters of Contradiction, and Moses was afflicted because of them,

33for they exasperated his spirit. And so he divided them with his lips.

34They did not destroy the nations, about which the Lord had spoken to them.

35And they were mixed among the Gentiles. And they learned their works,

36and they served their graven images, and it became a scandal to them.

37And they sacrificed their sons and their daughters to demons.

38And they shed innocent blood: the blood of their sons and of their daughters, which they sacrificed to the graven images of Canaan. And the land was infected with bloodshed,

39and was contaminated with their works. And they fornicated according to their own inventions.

40And the Lord became furiously angry with his people, and he abhorred his inheritance.

41And he delivered them into the hands of the nations. And those who hated them became rulers over them.

42And their enemies afflicted them, and they were humbled under their hands.

43Many times, he delivered them. Yet they provoked him with their counsel, and they were brought low by their iniquities.

44And he saw that they were in tribulation, and he heard their prayer.

45And he was mindful of his covenant, and he repented according to the multitude of his mercies.

46And he provided for them with mercies, in the sight of all those who had seized them.

47Save us, O Lord our God, and gather us from the nations, so that we may confess your holy name and glory in your praise.

48Blessed is the Lord God of Israel, from ages past, even to all ages. And let all the people say: Amen. Amen.