The Hallel psalms · His love endures forever · Chronicles: Jerusalem delivered

Psalm 118 WEB

¹Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, for his loving kindness endures forever. ²Let Israel now say that his loving kindness endures forever. ³Let the house of Aaron now say that his loving kindness endures forever. ⁴Now let those who fear the LORD say that his loving kindness endures forever. ⁵Out of my distress, I called on the LORD. The LORD answered me with freedom. ⁶The LORD is on my side. I will not be afraid. What can man do to me? ⁷The LORD is on my side among those who help me. Therefore I will look in triumph at those who hate me. ⁸It is better to take refuge in the LORD, than to put confidence in man. ⁹It is better to take refuge in the LORD, than to put confidence in princes. ¹⁰All the nations surrounded me, but in the LORD’s name I cut them off. ¹¹They surrounded me, yes, they surrounded me. In the LORD’s name I indeed cut them off. ¹²They surrounded me like bees. They are quenched like the burning thorns. In the LORD’s name I cut them off. ¹³You pushed me back hard, to make me fall, but the LORD helped me. ¹⁴The LORD is my strength and song. He has become my salvation. ¹⁵The voice of rejoicing and salvation is in the tents of the righteous. “The right hand of the LORD does valiantly. ¹⁶The right hand of the LORD is exalted! The right hand of the LORD does valiantly!” ¹⁷I will not die, but live, and declare the LORD’s works. ¹⁸The LORD has punished me severely, but he has not given me over to death. ¹⁹Open to me the gates of righteousness. I will enter into them. I will give thanks to the LORD. ²⁰This is the gate of the LORD; the righteous will enter into it. ²¹I will give thanks to you, for you have answered me, and have become my salvation. ²²The stone which the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. ²³This is the LORD’s doing. It is marvelous in our eyes. ²⁴This is the day that the LORD has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it! ²⁵Save us now, we beg you, LORD! LORD, we beg you, send prosperity now. ²⁶Blessed is he who comes in the LORD’s name! We have blessed you out of the LORD’s house. ²⁷The LORD is God, and he has given us light. Bind the sacrifice with cords, even to the horns of the altar. ²⁸You are my God, and I will give thanks to you. You are my God, I will exalt you. ²⁹Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, for his loving kindness endures forever.

Psalms 135–136 WEB

^135:1Praise the LORD! Praise the LORD’s name! Praise him, you servants of the LORD, ²you who stand in the LORD’s house, in the courts of our God’s house. ³Praise the LORD, for the LORD is good. Sing praises to his name, for that is pleasant. ⁴For the LORD has chosen Jacob for himself, Israel for his own possession. ⁵For I know that the LORD is great, that our Lord is above all gods. ⁶Whatever the LORD pleased, that he has done, in heaven and in earth, in the seas and in all deeps. ⁷He causes the clouds to rise from the ends of the earth. He makes lightnings with the rain. He brings the wind out of his treasuries. ⁸He struck the firstborn of Egypt, both of man and animal. ⁹He sent signs and wonders into the middle of you, Egypt, on Pharaoh, and on all his servants. ¹⁰He struck many nations, and killed mighty kings— ¹¹Sihon king of the Amorites, Og king of Bashan, and all the kingdoms of Canaan— ¹²and gave their land for a heritage, a heritage to Israel, his people. ¹³Your name, LORD, endures forever; your renown, LORD, throughout all generations. ¹⁴For the LORD will judge his people and have compassion on his servants. ¹⁵The idols of the nations are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands. ¹⁶They have mouths, but they can’t speak. They have eyes, but they can’t see. ¹⁷They have ears, but they can’t hear, neither is there any breath in their mouths. ¹⁸Those who make them will be like them, yes, everyone who trusts in them. ¹⁹House of Israel, praise the LORD! House of Aaron, praise the LORD! ²⁰House of Levi, praise the LORD! You who fear the LORD, praise the LORD! ²¹Blessed be the LORD from Zion, who dwells in Jerusalem. Praise the LORD!

^136:1Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, for his loving kindness endures forever. ²Give thanks to the God of gods, for his loving kindness endures forever. ³Give thanks to the Lord of lords, for his loving kindness endures forever; ⁴to him who alone does great wonders, for his loving kindness endures forever; ⁵to him who by understanding made the heavens, for his loving kindness endures forever; ⁶to him who spread out the earth above the waters, for his loving kindness endures forever; ⁷to him who made the great lights, for his loving kindness endures forever; ⁸the sun to rule by day, for his loving kindness endures forever; ⁹the moon and stars to rule by night, for his loving kindness endures forever; ¹⁰to him who struck down the Egyptian firstborn, for his loving kindness endures forever; ¹¹and brought out Israel from among them, for his loving kindness endures forever; ¹²with a strong hand, and with an outstretched arm, for his loving kindness endures forever; ¹³to him who divided the Red Sea apart, for his loving kindness endures forever; ¹⁴and made Israel to pass through the middle of it, for his loving kindness endures forever; ¹⁵but overthrew Pharaoh and his army in the Red Sea, for his loving kindness endures forever; ¹⁶to him who led his people through the wilderness, for his loving kindness endures forever; ¹⁷to him who struck great kings, for his loving kindness endures forever; ¹⁸and killed mighty kings, for his loving kindness endures forever; ¹⁹Sihon king of the Amorites, for his loving kindness endures forever; ²⁰Og king of Bashan, for his loving kindness endures forever; ²¹and gave their land as an inheritance, for his loving kindness endures forever; ²²even a heritage to Israel his servant, for his loving kindness endures forever; ²³who remembered us in our low estate, for his loving kindness endures forever; ²⁴and has delivered us from our adversaries, for his loving kindness endures forever; ²⁵who gives food to every creature, for his loving kindness endures forever. ²⁶Oh give thanks to the God of heaven, for his loving kindness endures forever.

2 Chronicles 32 WEB

¹After these things and this faithfulness, Sennacherib king of Assyria came, entered into Judah, encamped against the fortified cities, and intended to win them for himself. ²When Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib had come, and that he was planning to fight against Jerusalem, ³he took counsel with his princes and his mighty men to stop the waters of the springs which were outside of the city, and they helped him. ⁴Then many people gathered together and they stopped all the springs and the brook that flowed through the middle of the land, saying, “Why should the kings of Assyria come, and find abundant water?” ⁵He took courage, built up all the wall that was broken down, and raised it up to the towers, with the other wall outside, and strengthened Millo in David’s city, and made weapons and shields in abundance. ⁶He set captains of war over the people, gathered them together to him in the wide place at the gate of the city, and spoke encouragingly to them, saying, ⁷“Be strong and courageous. Don’t be afraid or dismayed because of the king of Assyria, nor for all the multitude who is with him; for there is a greater one with us than with him. ⁸An arm of flesh is with him, but the LORD our God is with us to help us and to fight our battles.” The people rested themselves on the words of Hezekiah king of Judah. ⁹After this, Sennacherib king of Assyria sent his servants to Jerusalem, (now he was attacking Lachish, and all his forces were with him), to Hezekiah king of Judah, and to all Judah who were at Jerusalem, saying, ¹⁰Sennacherib king of Assyria says, “In whom do you trust, that you remain under siege in Jerusalem? ¹¹Doesn’t Hezekiah persuade you to give you over to die by famine and by thirst, saying, ‘The LORD our God will deliver us out of the hand of the king of Assyria’? ¹²Hasn’t the same Hezekiah taken away his high places and his altars, and commanded Judah and Jerusalem, saying, ‘You shall worship before one altar, and you shall burn incense on it’? ¹³Don’t you know what I and my fathers have done to all the peoples of the lands? Were the gods of the nations of those lands in any way able to deliver their land out of my hand? ¹⁴Who was there among all the gods of those nations which my fathers utterly destroyed that could deliver his people out of my hand, that your God should be able to deliver you out of my hand? ¹⁵Now therefore don’t let Hezekiah deceive you nor persuade you in this way. Don’t believe him, for no god of any nation or kingdom was able to deliver his people out of my hand, and out of the hand of my fathers. How much less will your God deliver you out of my hand?” ¹⁶His servants spoke yet more against the LORD God and against his servant Hezekiah. ¹⁷He also wrote letters insulting the LORD, the God of Israel, and speaking against him, saying, “As the gods of the nations of the lands, which have not delivered their people out of my hand, so shall the God of Hezekiah not deliver his people out of my hand.” ¹⁸They called out with a loud voice in the Jews’ language to the people of Jerusalem who were on the wall, to frighten them and to trouble them, that they might take the city. ¹⁹They spoke of the God of Jerusalem as of the gods of the peoples of the earth, which are the work of men’s hands. ²⁰Hezekiah the king and Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, prayed because of this, and cried to heaven. ²¹The LORD sent an angel, who cut off all the mighty men of valor, the leaders, and captains in the camp of the king of Assyria. So he returned with shame of face to his own land. When he had come into the house of his god, those who came out of his own body killed him there with the sword. ²²Thus the LORD saved Hezekiah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem from the hand of Sennacherib the king of Assyria and from the hand of all others, and guided them on every side. ²³Many brought gifts to the LORD to Jerusalem, and precious things to Hezekiah king of Judah, so that he was exalted in the sight of all nations from then on. ²⁴In those days Hezekiah was terminally ill, and he prayed to the LORD; and he spoke to him, and gave him a sign. ²⁵But Hezekiah didn’t reciprocate appropriate to the benefit done for him, because his heart was lifted up. Therefore there was wrath on him, Judah, and Jerusalem. ²⁶However, Hezekiah humbled himself for the pride of his heart, both he and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the LORD’s wrath didn’t come on them in the days of Hezekiah. ²⁷Hezekiah had exceedingly great riches and honor. He provided himself with treasuries for silver, for gold, for precious stones, for spices, for shields, and for all kinds of valuable vessels; ²⁸also storehouses for the increase of grain, new wine, and oil; and stalls for all kinds of animals, and flocks in folds. ²⁹Moreover he provided for himself cities, and possessions of flocks and herds in abundance; for God had given him abundant possessions. ³⁰This same Hezekiah also stopped the upper spring of the waters of Gihon, and brought them straight down on the west side of David’s city. Hezekiah prospered in all his works. ³¹However, concerning the ambassadors of the princes of Babylon, who sent to him to inquire of the wonder that was done in the land, God left him to test him, that he might know all that was in his heart. ³²Now the rest of the acts of Hezekiah and his good deeds, behold, they are written in the vision of Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel. ³³Hezekiah slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the ascent to the tombs of the sons of David. All Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem honored him at his death. Manasseh his son reigned in his place.