The Holy Bible – Knox Translation
The Book of Psalms
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Psalm 104
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1
Praise the Lord, and call upon his name; tell the story of his doings for all the nations to hear;
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greet him with song and psalm, recount his acts of miracle.
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Triumph in that holy name; let every heart that longs for the Lord rejoice.
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On the Lord, on the Lord’s greatness still let your hearts dwell, on the Lord’s presence be your hearts set.
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Remember the marvellous acts he did, his miracles, his sentences of doom;
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are you not the posterity of Abraham, his own servant, sons of that Jacob on whom his choice fell?
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And he, the Lord, is our own God, wide though his writ runs through all the world.
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He keeps in everlasting memory that covenant of his, that promise which a thousand ages might not cancel.
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He gave Abraham a promise, bound himself to Isaac by an oath;
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by that law Jacob should live, his Israel, bound to him with an eternal covenant.
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To thee, he said, I will give the land of Chanaan, a portion allotted to thee and thine.
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So few they were in number, only a handful, living there as strangers!
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And ever they passed on from country to country, the guests of king or people;
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but he suffered none to harm them;✻ to kings themselves the warning came;
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Lay no hand on them, never hurt them, servants anointed and true spokesmen of mine.
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And now he brought famine on the land, cutting off all their supply of bread.
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But he had sent an envoy to prepare the way for them, that very Joseph, who was sold as a slave.
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Fetters held his feet, the yoke galled his neck,
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but he proved a true prophet at last, the Lord’s accomplished word to vindicate him.✻
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Then the king sent to release him; the proud ruler of many peoples set him free,
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and appointed him master of his household, lord of all the possessions that were his.
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Joseph should teach his courtiers to be as Joseph was, should train his aged counsellors in wisdom.
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So it was that Israel came into Egypt, that Jacob dwelt as an alien in the country of Cham.
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Time passed, and he gave his people great increase of numbers, till it outmatched its rivals.
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And in these he wrought a change of heart; they grew weary of his people’s presence, devised ruin for his worshippers.
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And now he sent his servant Moses, and Aaron, the man of his choice,
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to bring about those signs, those miracles of his which the country of Cham would witness.
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Dark night he sent to benight them, and still his warnings went unheeded.✻
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He turned their supply of water into blood, killing all the fish;
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frogs swarmed out of the ground, even in their royal palaces;
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at his word, flies attacked them, and gnats all their land over;
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hail was the rain he gave them, and it brought fire that burned up their countryside;
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he shattered their vines and fig-trees, broke down all the wood that grew in their domains.
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He gave the word, and locusts came, grasshoppers, too, past all numbering,
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eating up all the grass they had, eating up all the crops their land yielded.
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Then, his hand fell upon Egypt’s first-born, on the first-fruits of all they had engendered;
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and so he brought his people out, enriched with silver and gold, no foot that stumbled among all their tribes.
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Glad indeed was Egypt at their going, such fear of them had overtaken it.
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He spread out a cloud to cover them, that turned to fire in the darkness, lighting their journey.
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Quails came, when they asked for food; he satisfied their desire, too, with bread from heaven,
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and pierced the rock so that water flowed down, running streams in the wilderness.
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So well did he remember that holy promise of his, made to his servant Abraham;
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in joy and triumph he led them out, his chosen people,
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and gave them the lands of the heathen for their own.
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There, on soil Gentile hands had tilled, his commandments should be kept sacred, his law should reign. Alleluia.
