with brief introductory comments
Psalm 105
The wonderful history of Israel
Alleluia!
Give thanks to Yahweh, call on his name,
proclaim his deeds to the peoples!
Sing to him, make music for him,
recount all his wonders!
Glory in his holy name,
let the hearts that seek Yahweh rejoice!
Seek Yahweh and his strength,
tirelessly seek his presence!
Remember the marvels he has done,
his wonders, the judgements he has spoken.
Stock of Abraham, his servant,
children of Jacob whom he chose!
He is Yahweh our God,
his judgements touch the whole world.
He remembers his covenant for ever,
the promise he laid down for a thousand generations,
which he concluded with Abraham,
the oath he swore to Isaac.
He established it as a statute for Jacob,
an everlasting covenant with Israel,
saying, 'To you I give a land,
Canaan, your allotted birthright.'
When they were insignificant in numbers,
a handful of strangers in the land,
wandering from country to country,
from one kingdom and nation to another,
he allowed no one to oppress them;
for their sake he instructed kings,
'Do not touch my anointed ones,
to my prophets you may do no harm.'
He called down famine on the land,
he took away their food supply;
he sent a man ahead of them,
Joseph, sold as a slave.
So his feet were weighed down with shackles,
his neck was put in irons.
In due time his prophecy was fulfilled,
the word of Yahweh proved him true.
The king sent orders to release him,
the ruler of nations set him free;
he put him in charge of his household,
the ruler of all he possessed,
to instruct his princes as he saw fit,
to teach his counsellors wisdom.
Then Israel migrated to Egypt,
Jacob settled in the country of Ham.
He made his people increase in numbers,
he gave them more strength than their enemies,
whose heart he turned to hate his own people,
to double-cross his servants.
He sent his servant Moses,
and Aaron, the man of his choice.
They worked there the wonders he commanded,
marvels in the country of Ham.
Darkness he sent, and darkness fell,
but that nation defied his orders.
He turned their rivers to blood,
and killed all the fish in them.
Their country was overrun with frogs,
even in the royal apartments;
at his word came flies,
and mosquitoes throughout the country.
He gave them hail as their rain,
flames of fire in their land;
he blasted their vine and their fig tree,
and shattered the trees of the country.
At his word came locusts,
hoppers beyond all counting;
they devoured every green thing in the land,
devoured all the produce of the soil.
He struck all the first-born in their land,
the flower of all their manhood;
he led Israel out with silver and gold;
in their tribes there was none who stumbled.
Egypt was glad at their leaving,
for terror of Israel had seized them.
He spread out a cloud to cover them,
and fire to light up the night.
They asked and he brought them quails,
food from heaven to their hearts' content;
he opened a rock, the waters gushed out,
and flowed in dry ground as a river.
Faithful to his sacred promise,
given to his servant Abraham,
he led out his people with rejoicing,
his chosen ones with shouts of joy.
He gave them the territories of nations,
they reaped the fruit of other people's labours,
on condition that they kept his statutes,
and remained obedient to his laws.
Psalm 106
National confession of guilt
Alleluia!
Give thanks to Yahweh, for he is good,
his faithful love is everlasting!
Who can recount all Yahweh's triumphs,
who can fully voice his praise?
How blessed are those who keep to what is just,
whose conduct is always upright!
Remember me, Yahweh,
in your love for your people.
Come near to me with your saving power,
let me share the happiness of your chosen ones,
let me share the joy of your people,
the pride of your heritage.
Like our ancestors, we have sinned,
we have acted wickedly, guiltily;
our ancestors in Egypt never grasped
the meaning of your wonders.
They did not bear in mind your countless acts of love,
at the Sea of Reeds they defied the Most High;
but for the sake of his name he saved them,
to make known his mighty power.
At his rebuke the Sea of Reeds dried up,
he let them pass through the deep as though it were desert,
so he saved them from their opponents' clutches,
rescued them from the clutches of their enemies.
The waters enveloped their enemies,
not one of whom was left.
Then they believed what he had said,
and sang his praises.
But they soon forgot his achievements,
they did not even wait for his plans;
they were overwhelmed with greed in the wastelands,
in the solitary wastes they challenged God.
He gave them all they asked for,
but struck them with a deep wasting sickness;
in the camp they grew jealous of Moses,
and of Aaron, Yahweh's holy one.
The earth opened and swallowed up Dathan,
closed in on Abiram's faction;
fire flamed out against their faction,
the renegades were engulfed in flames.
At Horeb they made a calf,
bowed low before cast metal;
they exchanged their glory
for the image of a grass-eating bull.
They forgot the God who was saving them,
who had done great deeds in Egypt,
such wonders in the land of Ham,
such awesome deeds at the Sea of Reeds.
He thought of putting an end to them,
had not Moses, his chosen one,
taken a stand in the breach and confronted him,
to turn his anger away from destroying them.
They counted a desirable land for nothing,
they put no trust in his promise;
they stayed in their tents and grumbled,
they would not listen to Yahweh's voice.
So he lifted his hand against them,
to strike them down in the desert,
to strike down their descendants among the nations,
to scatter them all over the world.
They committed themselves to serve Baal-Peor,
and ate sacrifices made to lifeless gods.
They so provoked him by their actions
that a plague broke out among them.
Then up stood Phinehas to intervene,
and the plague was checked;
for this he is the example of uprightness,
from age to age for ever.
At the waters of Meribah they so angered Yahweh,
that Moses suffered on their account,
for they had embittered his spirit,
and he spoke without due thought.
They did not destroy the nations,
as Yahweh had told them to do,
but intermarried with them,
and adopted their ways.
They worshipped those nations' false gods,
till they found themselves entrapped,
and sacrificed their own sons
and their daughters to demons.
Innocent blood they shed,
the blood of their sons and daughters;
offering them to the idols of Canaan,
they polluted the country with blood.
They defiled themselves by such actions,
their behaviour was that of a harlot.
Yahweh's anger blazed out at his people,
his own heritage filled him with disgust.
He handed them over to the nations,
and their opponents became their masters;
their enemies lorded it over them,
crushing them under their rule.
Time and again he rescued them,
but they still defied him deliberately,
and sank ever deeper in their guilt;
even so he took pity on their distress,
as soon as he heard them cry out.
Bearing his covenant with them in mind,
he relented in his boundless and faithful love;
he ensured that they received compassion,
in their treatment by all their captors.
Save us, Yahweh our God,
gather us from among the nations,
that we may give thanks to your holy name,
and may glory in praising you.
Blessed be Yahweh, the God of Israel,
from all eternity and for ever!
Let all the people say, 'Amen'.
Psalm 107
God, a refuge in every danger
Alleluia!
Give thanks to Yahweh for he is good,
his faithful love lasts for ever.
So let them say whom Yahweh redeemed,
whom he redeemed from the power of their enemies,
bringing them back from foreign lands,
from east and west, north and south.
They were wandering in the desert, in the wastelands,
could find no way to an inhabited city;
they were hungry and thirsty,
their life was ebbing away.
They cried out to Yahweh in their distress,
he rescued them from their plight,
he set them on the road,
straight to an inhabited city.
Let them thank Yahweh for his faithful love,
for his wonders for the children of Adam!
He has fed the hungry to their hearts' content,
filled the starving with good things.
Sojourners in gloom and shadow dark as death,
fettered in misery and chains,
for defying the orders of Yahweh,
for scorning the plan of the Most High --
he subdued their spirit by hard labour;
if they fell there was no one to help.
They cried out to Yahweh in their distress,
he rescued them from their plight,
he brought them out from gloom and shadow dark as death,
and shattered their chains.
Let them thank Yahweh for his faithful love,
for his wonders for the children of Adam!
He broke open gates of bronze
and smashed iron bars.
Fools for their rebellious ways,
wretched because of their sins,
finding all food repugnant,
brought close to the gates of death –
they cried out to Yahweh in their distress;
he rescued them from their plight,
he sent out his word and cured them,
and rescued their life from the abyss.
Let them thank Yahweh for his faithful love,
for his wonders for the children of Adam!
Let them offer thanksgiving sacrifices,
and recount with shouts of joy what he has done!
Voyagers on the sea in ships,
plying their trade on the great ocean,
have seen the works of Yahweh,
his wonders in the deep.
By his word he raised a storm-wind,
lashing up towering waves.
Up to the sky then down to the depths!
Their stomachs were turned to water;
they staggered and reeled like drunkards,
and all their skill went under.
They cried out to Yahweh in their distress,
he rescued them from their plight,
he reduced the storm to a calm,
and all the waters subsided,
and he brought them, overjoyed at the stillness,
to the port where they were bound.
Let them thank Yahweh for his faithful love,
for his wonders for the children of Adam!
Let them extol him in the assembly of the people,
and praise him in the council of elders.
He has turned rivers into desert,
bubbling springs into arid ground,
fertile country into salt-flats,
because the people living there were evil.
But he has turned desert into stretches of water,
arid ground into bubbling springs,
and has given the hungry a home,
where they have built themselves a city.
There they sow fields and plant vines,
and reap a harvest of their produce.
He blesses them and their numbers increase,
he keeps their cattle at full strength.
Their numbers had fallen, they had grown weak,
under pressure of disaster and hardship;
he covered princes in contempt,
left them to wander in trackless wastes.
But the needy he raises from their misery,
makes their families as numerous as sheep.
At the sight the honest rejoice,
and the wicked have nothing to say.
Who is wise? Such a one should take this to heart,
and come to understand Yahweh's faithful love.
Psalm 108
Morning hymn and national prayer
My heart is ready, God,
I will sing and make music;
come, my glory!
Awake, lyre and harp,
I will awake the Dawn!
I will praise you among the peoples, Yahweh,
I will play to you among nations,
for your faithful love towers to heaven,
and your constancy to the clouds.
Be exalted above the heavens, God.
Your glory over the whole earth!
To rescue those you love,
save with your right hand and answer us.
God has spoken from his sanctuary,
'In triumph I will divide up Shechem,
and share out the Valley of Succoth.
'Mine is Gilead, mine Manasseh,
Ephraim the helmet on my head,
Judah my commander's baton,
'Moab a bowl for me to wash in,
on Edom I plant my sandal,
over Philistia I cry victory.'
Who will lead me against a fortified city,
who will guide me into Edom,
if not you, the God who has rejected us?
God, you no longer march with our armies.
Bring us help in our time of crisis,
any human assistance is worthless.
With God we shall do deeds of valour,
he will trample down our enemies.
Psalm 110
The Priest Messiah
Yahweh declared to my Lord, 'Take your seat at my right hand,
till I have made your enemies your footstool.'
Yahweh will stretch out the sceptre of your power;
from Zion you will rule your foes all around you.
Royal dignity has been yours from the day of your birth,
sacred honour from the womb, from the dawn of your youth.
Yahweh has sworn an oath he will never retract,
you are a priest for ever of the order of Melchizedek.
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