1Hallelujah! Thank God! Pray to him by name! Tell everyone you meet what he has done!
2Sing him songs, belt out hymns, translate his wonders into music!
3Honor his holy name with Hallelujahs, you who seek God. Live a happy life!
4Keep your eyes open for God, watch for his works; be alert for signs of his presence.
5Remember the world of wonders he has made, his miracles, and the verdicts he's rendered—
6O seed of Abraham, his servant, O child of Jacob, his chosen.
7He's God, our God, in charge of the whole earth.
8And he remembers, remembers his Covenant— for a thousand generations he's been as good as his word.
9It's the Covenant he made with Abraham, the same oath he swore to Isaac,
10The very statute he established with Jacob, the eternal Covenant with Israel,
11Namely, "I give you the land. Canaan is your hill-country inheritance."
12When they didn't count for much, a mere handful, and strangers at that,
13Wandering from country to country, drifting from pillar to post,
14He 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."
16Then he called down a famine on the country, he broke every last blade of wheat.
17But he sent a man on ahead: Joseph, sold as a slave.
18They put cruel chains on his ankles, an iron collar around his neck,
19Until God's word came to the Pharaoh, and God confirmed his promise.
20God sent the king to release him. The Pharaoh set Joseph free;
21He appointed him master of his palace, put him in charge of all his business
22To personally instruct his princes and train his advisors in wisdom.
23Then Israel entered Egypt, Jacob immigrated to the Land of Ham.
24God gave his people lots of babies; soon their numbers alarmed their foes.
25He turned the Egyptians against his people; they abused and cheated God's servants.
26Then he sent his servant Moses, and Aaron, whom he also chose.
27They worked marvels in that spiritual wasteland, miracles in the Land of Ham.
28He spoke, "Darkness!" and it turned dark— they couldn't see what they were doing.
29He turned all their water to blood so that all their fish died;
30He made frogs swarm through the land, even into the king's bedroom;
31He gave the word and flies swarmed, gnats filled the air.
32He substituted hail for rain, he stabbed their land with lightning;
33He wasted their vines and fig trees, smashed their groves of trees to splinters;
34With a word he brought in locusts, millions of locusts, armies of locusts;
35They consumed every blade of grass in the country and picked the ground clean of produce;
36He struck down every firstborn in the land, the first fruits of their virile powers.
37He led Israel out, their arms filled with loot, and not one among his tribes even stumbled.
38Egypt was glad to have them go— they were scared to death of them.
39God spread a cloud to keep them cool through the day and a fire to light their way through the night;
40They prayed and he brought quail, filled them with the bread of heaven;
41He opened the rock and water poured out; it flowed like a river through that desert—
42All because he remembered his Covenant, his promise to Abraham, his servant.
43Remember this! He led his people out singing for joy; his chosen people marched, singing their hearts out!
44He made them a gift of the country they entered, helped them seize the wealth of the nations
45So they could do everything he told them— could follow his instructions to the letter. Hallelujah!