Dual PanelBook 5
1IT is good to give thanks to the LORD, for his love endures for ever.
2So let them say who were redeemed by the Lord, redeemed by him from the power of the enemy
3and gathered out of the lands, from east and west, from north and south.
4Some lost their way in desert waste lands; they found no path to a city to live in.
5They were hungry and thirsty, and their spirit was faint within them.
6So they cried to the LORD in their trouble, and he rescued them from their distress;
7he led them by a straight and easy path until they came to a city where they might live.
8Let them give thanks to the LORD for his love and for the marvellous things he has done for mankind;
9he has satisfied the thirsty and filled the hungry with good things.
10Some sat in the dark, in deepest darkness, prisoners bound fast in iron fetters,
11because they had defied God's commands and flouted the purpose of the Most High.
12Their spirit was subdued by hard labour; they stumbled and fell with none to help.
13So they cried to the LORD in their trouble, and he saved them from their distress;
14he brought them out of the dark, the deepest darkness, and burst their chains.
15Let them give thanks to the LORD for his love and for the marvellous things he has done for mankind;
16he has shattered bronze gates, and cut through iron bars.
17Some were fools, who took to rebellious ways, and for their transgression suffered punishment.
18Revulsion seized them at the sight of food; they were at the very gates of death.
19So they cried to the LORD in their trouble, and he saved them from their distress;
20he sent his word to heal them and snatch them out of the pit of death.
21Let them give thanks to the LORD for his love and for the marvellous things he has done for mankind.
22Let them offer sacrifices of thanksgiving and tell of his deeds with joyful shouts.
23Others there are who go to sea in ships, plying their trade on the wide ocean.
24These have seen what the LORD has done, his marvellous actions in the deep.
25At his command the storm-wind rose and lifted the waves high.
26The seamen were carried up to the skies, then plunged down into the depths; they were tossed to and fro in peril,
27they reeled and staggered like drunkards, and all their skill was of no avail.
28So they cried to the LORD in their trouble, and he brought them out of their distress.
29The storm sank to a murmur and the waves of the sea were stilled.
30They rejoiced because it was calm, and he guided them to the harbour they were making for.
31Let them give thanks to the LORD for his enduring love and for the marvellous things he has done for mankind.
32Let them exalt him in the assembly of the people and praise him in the elders' council.
33He turns rivers into desert, springs of water into parched ground;
34he turns fruitful land into salt-marsh, because the people who live there are so wicked.
35Desert he changes to standing pools, arid land into springs of water.
36There he gives the hungry a home and they build themselves a town to live in;
37they sow fields and plant vineyards which yield a good harvest.
38He blesses them and their numbers grow, and he does not let their herds decrease.
39Tyrants lose their strength and are brought low in the grip of misfortune and sorrow;
40he brings princes into contempt and leaves them to wander in a trackless waste.
41But the poor man he lifts clear of his troubles and makes families increase like flocks of sheep.
42The upright see it and are glad, while evildoers are reduced to silence.
43Whoever is wise, let him lay these things to heart, and ponder the loving deeds of the LORD.