1: Hallelujah! Thank GOD! Pray to him by name! Tell everyone you meet what he has done!
2: Sing him songs, belt out hymns, translate his wonders into music!
3: Honor his holy name with Hallelujahs, you who seek GOD. Live a happy life!
4: Keep your eyes open for GOD, watch for his works; be alert for signs of his presence.
5: Remember the world of wonders he has made, his miracles, and the verdicts he's rendered--
6: O seed of Abraham, his servant, O child of Jacob, his chosen.
7: He's GOD, our God, in charge of the whole earth.
8: And he remembers, remembers his Covenant--for a thousand generations he's been as good as his word.
9: It's the Covenant he made with Abraham, the same oath he swore to Isaac,
10: The very statute he established with Jacob, the eternal Covenant with Israel,
11: Namely, "I give you the land. Canaan is your hill-country inheritance."
12: When they didn't count for much, a mere handful, and strangers at that,
13: Wandering from country to country, drifting from pillar to post,
14: He permitted no one to abuse them. He told kings to keep their hands off:
15: "Don't you dare lay a hand on my anointed, don't hurt a hair on the heads of my prophets."
16: Then he called down a famine on the country, he broke every last blade of wheat.
17: But he sent a man on ahead: Joseph, sold as a slave.
18: They put cruel chains on his ankles, an iron collar around his neck,
19: Until God's word came to the Pharaoh, and GOD confirmed his promise.
20: God sent the king to release him. The Pharaoh set Joseph free;
21: He appointed him master of his palace, put him in charge of all his business
22: To personally instruct his princes and train his advisors in wisdom.
23: Then Israel entered Egypt, Jacob immigrated to the Land of Ham.
24: God gave his people lots of babies; soon their numbers alarmed their foes.
25: He turned the Egyptians against his people; they abused and cheated God's servants.
26: Then he sent his servant Moses, and Aaron, whom he also chose.
27: They worked marvels in that spiritual wasteland, miracles in the Land of Ham.
28: He spoke, "Darkness!" and it turned dark--they couldn't see what they were doing.
29: He turned all their water to blood so that all their fish died;
30: He made frogs swarm through the land, even into the king's bedroom;
31: He gave the word and flies swarmed, gnats filled the air.
32: He substituted hail for rain, he stabbed their land with lightning;
33: He wasted their vines and fig trees, smashed their groves of trees to splinters;
34: With a word he brought in locusts, millions of locusts, armies of locusts;
35: They consumed every blade of grass in the country and picked the ground clean of produce;
36: He struck down every firstborn in the land, the first fruits of their virile powers.
37: He led Israel out, their arms filled with loot, and not one among his tribes even stumbled.
38: Egypt was glad to have them go--they were scared to death of them.
39: God spread a cloud to keep them cool through the day and a fire to light their way through the night;
40: They prayed and he brought quail, filled them with the bread of heaven;
41: He opened the rock and water poured out; it flowed like a river through that desert--
42: All because he remembered his Covenant, his promise to Abraham, his servant.
43: Remember this! He led his people out singing for joy; his chosen people marched, singing their hearts out!
44: He made them a gift of the country they entered, helped them seize the wealth of the nations
45: So they could do everything he told them--could follow his instructions to the letter. Hallelujah! al