When Thanksgiving Leads to Victory

1. Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good,
   • and his loyal love endures.
2. Let those delivered by the Lord speak out,
   
   • those whom he delivered from the power of the enemy,
3. and gathered from foreign lands,
   
   • from east and west,
   • from north and south.
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4. Some wandered through the wilderness, in a wasteland;
   
   • they found no road to a city in which to live.
5. They were hungry and thirsty;
   
   • they fainted from exhaustion.
6. They cried out to the Lord in their distress;
   
   • he delivered them from their troubles.
7. He led them on a level road,
   
   • that they might find a city in which to live.
8. Let them give thanks to the Lord for his loyal love,
   
   • and for the amazing things he has done for people.
9. For he has satisfied those who thirst,
   
   • and those who hunger he has filled with food.
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10. Some sat in utter darkness,
    
    • bound in painful iron chains,
11. because they had rebelled against God’s commands,
    
    • and rejected the instructions of the Most High.
12. So he used suffering to humble them;
    
    • they stumbled and no one helped them up.
13. They cried out to the Lord in their distress;
    
    • he delivered them from their troubles.
14. He brought them out of the utter darkness,
    
    • and tore off their shackles.
15. Let them give thanks to the Lord for his loyal love,
    
    • and for the amazing things he has done for people.
16. For he shattered the bronze gates,
    
    • and hacked through the iron bars.
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17. Some acted like fools in their rebellious ways,
    
    • and suffered because of their sins.
18. They lost their appetite for all food,
    
    • and they drew near the gates of death.
19. They cried out to the Lord in their distress;
    
    • he delivered them from their troubles.
20. He sent them an assuring word and healed them;
    
    • he rescued them from the pits where they were trapped.
21. Let them give thanks to the Lord for his loyal love,
    
    • and for the amazing things he has done for people.
22. Let them present thank offerings,
    
    • and loudly proclaim what he has done.
    •  
23. Some traveled on the sea in ships,
    
    • and carried cargo over the vast waters.
24. They witnessed the acts of the Lord,
    
    • his amazing feats on the deep water.
25. He gave the order for a windstorm,
    
    • and it stirred up the waves of the sea.
26. They reached up to the sky,
    
    • then dropped into the depths.
    • The sailors’ strength left them because the danger was so great.
27. They swayed and staggered like drunks,
    
    • and all their skill proved ineffective.
28. They cried out to the Lord in their distress;
    
    • he delivered them from their troubles.
29. He calmed the storm,
    
    • and the waves grew silent.
30. The sailors rejoiced because the waves grew quiet,
    
    • and he led them to the harbor they desired.
31. Let them give thanks to the Lord for his loyal love,
    
    • and for the amazing things he has done for people.
32. Let them exalt him in the assembly of the people.
    
    • Let them praise him in the place where the leaders preside.
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33. He turned streams into a desert,
    
    • springs of water into arid land,
34. and a fruitful land into a barren place,
    
    • because of the sin of its inhabitants.
35. As for his people, he turned a desert into a pool of water,
    
    • and a dry land into springs of water.
36. He allowed the hungry to settle there,
    
    • and they established a city in which to live.
37. They cultivated fields,
    
    • and planted vineyards,
    • which yielded a harvest of fruit.
38. He blessed them so that they became very numerous.
    
    • He would not allow their cattle to decrease in number.
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39. As for their enemies, they decreased in number and were beaten down,
    
    • because of painful distress and suffering.
40. He would pour contempt upon princes,
    
    • and he made them wander in a wasteland with no road.
41. Yet he protected the needy from oppression,
    
    • and cared for his families like a flock of sheep.
42. When the godly see this, they rejoice,
    
    • and every sinner shuts his mouth.
43. Whoever is wise, let him take note of these things.
    
    • Let them ponder the loyal loving deeds of the Lord

based on NET Bible with some changes by amf