Psalms

¹ His love never runs out.

² Tell how he freed you from oppression,

³ from the four winds, from the seven seas.

⁴ looking but not finding a good place to live,

⁵ staggering and stumbling, on the brink of exhaustion.

⁶ He got you out in the nick of time;

⁷ that took you straight to a good place to live.

⁸ for his miracle mercy to the children he loves.

⁹ the starved and hungry got plenty to eat.

¹⁰ cruelly confined behind bars,

¹¹ for turning your back on the High God's counsel—

¹² and not a soul in sight to help.

¹³ he got you out in the nick of time.

¹⁴ broke open the jail and led you out.

¹⁵ for his miracle mercy to the children he loves;

¹⁶ he snapped the prison bars like matchsticks!

¹⁷ your bodies feeling the effects of your sin;

¹⁸ so miserable you thought you'd be better off dead.

¹⁹ he got you out in the nick of time.

²⁰ that pulled you back from the brink of death.

²¹ for his miracle mercy to the children he loves;

²² tell the world what he's done—sing it out!

²³ you put to sea to do business in faraway ports.

²⁴ saw his breathtaking ways with the ocean:

²⁵ an ocean storm, towering waves!

²⁶ your hearts were stuck in your throats.

²⁷ you didn't know which end was up.

²⁸ he got you out in the nick of time.

²⁹ put a muzzle on all the big waves.

³⁰ and he led you safely back to harbor.

³¹ for his miracle mercy to the children he loves.

³² shout Hallelujah when the elders meet!

³³ springs of water into sunbaked mud;

³⁴ because of the evil of the people who lived there.

³⁵ arid earth into springs of water,

³⁶ they moved in—what a great place to live!

³⁷ they reaped a bountiful harvest.

³⁸ their herds of cattle never decreased.

³⁹ But abuse and evil and trouble declined

⁴⁰ He gave the poor a safe place to live,

⁴¹ treated their clans like well-cared-for sheep.

⁴² bad people are speechless, stopped in their tracks.

⁴³ it's time you appreciated God's deep love.