Chapter 104

Praise the Lord, and call upon his name; tell the story of his doings for all the nations to hear;

greet him with song and psalm, recount his acts of miracle.

Triumph in that holy name; let every heart that longs for the Lord rejoice.

On the Lord, on the Lord’s greatness still let your hearts dwell, on the Lord’s presence be your hearts set.

Remember the marvellous acts he did, his miracles, his sentences of doom;

are you not the posterity of Abraham, his own servant, sons of that Jacob on whom his choice fell?

And he, the Lord, is our own God, wide though his writ runs through all the world.

He keeps in everlasting memory that covenant of his, that promise which a thousand ages might not cancel.

He gave Abraham a promise, bound himself to Isaac by an oath;

by that law Jacob should live, his Israel, bound to him with an eternal covenant.

To thee, he said, I will give the land of Chanaan, a portion allotted to thee and thine.

So few they were in number, only a handful, living there as strangers!

And ever they passed on from country to country, the guests of king or people;

but he suffered none to harm them;1 to kings themselves the warning came;

Lay no hand on them, never hurt them, servants anointed and true spokesmen of mine.

And now he brought famine on the land, cutting off all their supply of bread.

But he had sent an envoy to prepare the way for them, that very Joseph, who was sold as a slave.

Fetters held his feet, the yoke galled his neck,

but he proved a true prophet at last, the Lord’s accomplished word to vindicate him.

Then the king sent to release him; the proud ruler of many peoples set him free,

and appointed him master of his household, lord of all the possessions that were his.

Joseph should teach his courtiers to be as Joseph was, should train his aged counsellors in wisdom.

So it was that Israel came into Egypt, that Jacob dwelt as an alien in the country of Cham.

Time passed, and he gave his people great increase of numbers, till it outmatched its rivals.

And in these he wrought a change of heart; they grew weary of his people’s presence, devised ruin for his worshippers.

And now he sent his servant Moses, and Aaron, the man of his choice,

to bring about those signs, those miracles of his which the country of Cham would witness.

Dark night he sent to benight them, and still his warnings went unheeded.

He turned their supply of water into blood, killing all the fish;

frogs swarmed out of the ground, even in their royal palaces;

at his word, flies attacked them, and gnats all their land over;

hail was the rain he gave them, and it brought fire that burned up their countryside;

he shattered their vines and fig-trees, broke down all the wood that grew in their domains.

He gave the word, and locusts came, grasshoppers, too, past all numbering,

eating up all the grass they had, eating up all the crops their land yielded.

Then, his hand fell upon Egypt’s first-born, on the first-fruits of all they had engendered;

and so he brought his people out, enriched with silver and gold, no foot that stumbled among all their tribes.

Glad indeed was Egypt at their going, such fear of them had overtaken it.

He spread out a cloud to cover them, that turned to fire in the darkness, lighting their journey.

Quails came, when they asked for food; he satisfied their desire, too, with bread from heaven,

and pierced the rock so that water flowed down, running streams in the wilderness.

So well did he remember that holy promise of his, made to his servant Abraham;

in joy and triumph he led them out, his chosen people,

and gave them the lands of the heathen for their own.

There, on soil Gentile hands had tilled, his commandments should be kept sacred, his law should reign. Alleluia.