BOOK IV

BOOK IV

BOOK IV

Psalms 90—106

A prayer of Moses the man of God.

1Lord, you have been our dwelling place

throughout all generations.

2Before the mountains were born

or you brought forth the whole world,

from everlasting to everlasting you are God.

saying, “Return to dust, you mortals.”

4A thousand years in your sight

are like a day that has just gone by,

or like a watch in the night.

5Yet you sweep people away in the sleep of death—

they are like the new grass of the morning:

6In the morning it springs up new,

but by evening it is dry and withered.

7We are consumed by your anger

and terrified by your indignation.

8You have set our iniquities before you,

our secret sins in the light of your presence.

9All our days pass away under your wrath;

we finish our years with a moan.

or eighty, if our strength endures;

yet the best of them are but trouble and sorrow,

for they quickly pass, and we fly away.

11If only we knew the power of your anger!

Your wrath is as great as the fear that is your due.

12Teach us to number our days,

that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

13Relent, LORD! How long will it be?

Have compassion on your servants.

14Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love,

that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.

15Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us,

for as many years as we have seen trouble.

16May your deeds be shown to your servants,

your splendor to their children.

establish the work of our hands for us—

yes, establish the work of our hands.

will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.

2I will say of the LORD, “He is my refuge and my fortress,

my God, in whom I trust.”

from the fowler’s snare

and from the deadly pestilence.

and under his wings you will find refuge;

his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.

nor the arrow that flies by day,

nor the plague that destroys at midday.

7A thousand may fall at your side,

ten thousand at your right hand,

but it will not come near you.

8You will only observe with your eyes

and see the punishment of the wicked.

9If you say, “The LORD is my refuge,”

and you make the Most High your dwelling,

10no harm will overtake you,

no disaster will come near your tent.

to guard you in all your ways;

12they will lift you up in their hands,

so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.

you will trample the great lion and the serpent.

I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.

15He will call on me, and I will answer him;

I will be with him in trouble,

I will deliver him and honor him.

16With long life I will satisfy him

and show him my salvation.”

A psalm. A song. For the Sabbath day.

and make music to your name, O Most High,

2proclaiming your love in the morning

and your faithfulness at night,

and the melody of the harp.

4For you make me glad by your deeds, LORD;

I sing for joy at what your hands have done.

5How great are your works, LORD,

how profound your thoughts!

6Senseless people do not know,

fools do not understand,

7that though the wicked spring up like grass

and all evildoers flourish,

they will be destroyed forever.

8But you, LORD, are forever exalted.

9For surely your enemies, LORD,

surely your enemies will perish;

all evildoers will be scattered.

fine oils have been poured on me.

11My eyes have seen the defeat of my adversaries;

my ears have heard the rout of my wicked foes.

they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon;

13planted in the house of the LORD,

they will flourish in the courts of our God.

14They will still bear fruit in old age,

they will stay fresh and green,

15proclaiming, “The LORD is upright;

he is my Rock, and there is no wickedness in him.”

the LORD is robed in majesty and armed with strength;

indeed, the world is established, firm and secure.

you are from all eternity.

the seas have lifted up their voice;

the seas have lifted up their pounding waves.

4Mightier than the thunder of the great waters,

mightier than the breakers of the sea—

the LORD on high is mighty.

5Your statutes, LORD, stand firm;

holiness adorns your house

for endless days.

O God who avenges, shine forth.

2Rise up, Judge of the earth;

pay back to the proud what they deserve.

3How long, LORD, will the wicked,

how long will the wicked be jubilant?

4They pour out arrogant words;

all the evildoers are full of boasting.

5They crush your people, LORD;

they oppress your inheritance.

6They slay the widow and the foreigner;

they murder the fatherless.

7They say, “The LORD does not see;

the God of Jacob takes no notice.”

8Take notice, you senseless ones among the people;

you fools, when will you become wise?

9Does he who fashioned the ear not hear?

Does he who formed the eye not see?

10Does he who disciplines nations not punish?

Does he who teaches mankind lack knowledge?

11The LORD knows all human plans;

he knows that they are futile.

12Blessed is the one you discipline, LORD,

the one you teach from your law;

13you grant them relief from days of trouble,

till a pit is dug for the wicked.

14For the LORD will not reject his people;

he will never forsake his inheritance.

15Judgment will again be founded on righteousness,

and all the upright in heart will follow it.

16Who will rise up for me against the wicked?

Who will take a stand for me against evildoers?

17Unless the LORD had given me help,

I would soon have dwelt in the silence of death.

18When I said, “My foot is slipping,”

your unfailing love, LORD, supported me.

19When anxiety was great within me,

your consolation brought me joy.

a throne that brings on misery by its decrees?

21The wicked band together against the righteous

and condemn the innocent to death.

22But the LORD has become my fortress,

and my God the rock in whom I take refuge.

23He will repay them for their sins

and destroy them for their wickedness;

the LORD our God will destroy them.

let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation.

2Let us come before him with thanksgiving

and extol him with music and song.

the great King above all gods.

and the mountain peaks belong to him.

5The sea is his, for he made it,

and his hands formed the dry land.

let us kneel before the LORD our Maker;

and we are the people of his pasture,

the flock under his care.

Today, if only you would hear his voice,

as you did that day at Massah in the wilderness,

9where your ancestors tested me;

they tried me, though they had seen what I did.

10For forty years I was angry with that generation;

I said, ‘They are a people whose hearts go astray,

and they have not known my ways.’

11So I declared on oath in my anger,

‘They shall never enter my rest.’ ”

96:1-13pp —

sing to the LORD, all the earth.

2Sing to the LORD, praise his name;

proclaim his salvation day after day.

3Declare his glory among the nations,

his marvelous deeds among all peoples.

he is to be feared above all gods.

5For all the gods of the nations are idols,

but the LORD made the heavens.

6Splendor and majesty are before him;

strength and glory are in his sanctuary.

7Ascribe to the LORD, all you families of nations,

ascribe to the LORD glory and strength.

8Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name;

bring an offering and come into his courts.

9Worship the LORD in the splendor of his holiness;

tremble before him, all the earth.

The world is firmly established, it cannot be moved;

he will judge the peoples with equity.

11Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad;

let the sea resound, and all that is in it.

12Let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them;

let all the trees of the forest sing for joy.

13Let all creation rejoice before the LORD, for he comes,

he comes to judge the earth.

He will judge the world in righteousness

and the peoples in his faithfulness.

let the distant shores rejoice.

righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne.

3Fire goes before him

and consumes his foes on every side.

4His lightning lights up the world;

the earth sees and trembles.

before the Lord of all the earth.

6The heavens proclaim his righteousness,

and all peoples see his glory.

those who boast in idols—

worship him, all you gods!

8Zion hears and rejoices

and the villages of Judah are glad

because of your judgments, LORD.

9For you, LORD, are the Most High over all the earth;

you are exalted far above all gods.

10Let those who love the LORD hate evil,

for he guards the lives of his faithful ones

and delivers them from the hand of the wicked.

11Light shines^, on the righteous

and joy on the upright in heart.

12Rejoice in the LORD, you who are righteous,

and praise his holy name.

A psalm.

for he has done marvelous things;

his right hand and his holy arm

have worked salvation for him.

2The LORD has made his salvation known

and revealed his righteousness to the nations.

3He has remembered his love

and his faithfulness to Israel;

all the ends of the earth have seen

the salvation of our God.

4Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth,

burst into jubilant song with music;

with the harp and the sound of singing,

shout for joy before the LORD, the King.

7Let the sea resound, and everything in it,

the world, and all who live in it.

let the mountains sing together for joy;

for he comes to judge the earth.

He will judge the world in righteousness

and the peoples with equity.

let the nations tremble;

he sits enthroned between the cherubim,

let the earth shake.

2Great is the LORD in Zion;

he is exalted over all the nations.

3Let them praise your great and awesome name—

he is holy.

4The King is mighty, he loves justice—

you have established equity;

in Jacob you have done

what is just and right.

and worship at his footstool;

he is holy.

6Moses and Aaron were among his priests,

Samuel was among those who called on his name;

they called on the LORD

and he answered them.

7He spoke to them from the pillar of cloud;

they kept his statutes and the decrees he gave them.

8LORD our God,

you answered them;

you were to Israel a forgiving God,

though you punished their misdeeds.

9Exalt the LORD our God

and worship at his holy mountain,

for the LORD our God is holy.

A psalm. For giving grateful praise.

1Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth.

2Worship the LORD with gladness;

come before him with joyful songs.

It is he who made us, and we are his;

we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

and his courts with praise;

give thanks to him and praise his name.

5For the LORD is good and his love endures forever;

his faithfulness continues through all generations.

Of David. A psalm.

to you, LORD, I will sing praise.

2I will be careful to lead a blameless life—

when will you come to me?

I will conduct the affairs of my house

with a blameless heart.

3I will not look with approval

on anything that is vile.

I hate what faithless people do;

I will have no part in it.

4The perverse of heart shall be far from me;

I will have nothing to do with what is evil.

5Whoever slanders their neighbor in secret,

I will put to silence;

whoever has haughty eyes and a proud heart,

I will not tolerate.

that they may dwell with me;

the one whose walk is blameless

will minister to me.

7No one who practices deceit

will dwell in my house;

no one who speaks falsely

will stand in my presence.

8Every morning I will put to silence

all the wicked in the land;

I will cut off every evildoer

from the city of the LORD.

A prayer of an afflicted person who has grown weak and pours out a lament before the LORD.

1Hear my prayer, LORD;

let my cry for help come to you.

when I am in distress.

Turn your ear to me;

when I call, answer me quickly.

my bones burn like glowing embers.

4My heart is blighted and withered like grass;

I forget to eat my food.

and am reduced to skin and bones.

6I am like a desert owl,

like an owl among the ruins.

7I lie awake; I have become

like a bird alone on a roof.

8All day long my enemies taunt me;

those who rail against me use my name as a curse.

9For I eat ashes as my food

and mingle my drink with tears

10because of your great wrath,

for you have taken me up and thrown me aside.

11My days are like the evening shadow;

I wither away like grass.

your renown endures through all generations.

13You will arise and have compassion on Zion,

for it is time to show favor to her;

the appointed time has come.

14For her stones are dear to your servants;

her very dust moves them to pity.

15The nations will fear the name of the LORD,

all the kings of the earth will revere your glory.

16For the LORD will rebuild Zion

and appear in his glory.

17He will respond to the prayer of the destitute;

he will not despise their plea.

18Let this be written for a future generation,

that a people not yet created may praise the LORD:

from heaven he viewed the earth,

20to hear the groans of the prisoners

and release those condemned to death.”

21So the name of the LORD will be declared in Zion

and his praise in Jerusalem

22when the peoples and the kingdoms

assemble to worship the LORD.

23In the course of my life he broke my strength;

he cut short my days.

24So I said:

“Do not take me away, my God, in the midst of my days;

your years go on through all generations.

25In the beginning you laid the foundations of the earth,

and the heavens are the work of your hands.

26They will perish, but you remain;

they will all wear out like a garment.

Like clothing you will change them

and they will be discarded.

27But you remain the same,

and your years will never end.

28The children of your servants will live in your presence;

their descendants will be established before you.”

Of David.

1Praise the LORD, my soul;

all my inmost being, praise his holy name.

2Praise the LORD, my soul,

and forget not all his benefits—

and heals all your diseases,

and crowns you with love and compassion,

so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

6The LORD works righteousness

and justice for all the oppressed.

7He made known his ways to Moses,

his deeds to the people of Israel:

8The LORD is compassionate and gracious,

slow to anger, abounding in love.

9He will not always accuse,

nor will he harbor his anger forever;

10he does not treat us as our sins deserve

or repay us according to our iniquities.

11For as high as the heavens are above the earth,

so great is his love for those who fear him;

so far has he removed our transgressions from us.

13As a father has compassion on his children,

so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him;

he remembers that we are dust.

15The life of mortals is like grass,

they flourish like a flower of the field;

16the wind blows over it and it is gone,

and its place remembers it no more.

17But from everlasting to everlasting

the LORD’s love is with those who fear him,

and his righteousness with their children’s children—

18with those who keep his covenant

and remember to obey his precepts.

19The LORD has established his throne in heaven,

and his kingdom rules over all.

you mighty ones who do his bidding,

who obey his word.

21Praise the LORD, all his heavenly hosts,

you his servants who do his will.

22Praise the LORD, all his works

everywhere in his dominion.

Praise the LORD, my soul.

1Praise the LORD, my soul.

LORD my God, you are very great;

you are clothed with splendor and majesty.

he stretches out the heavens like a tent

He makes the clouds his chariot

and rides on the wings of the wind.

flames of fire his servants.

it can never be moved.

6You covered it with the watery depths as with a garment;

the waters stood above the mountains.

7But at your rebuke the waters fled,

at the sound of your thunder they took to flight;

8they flowed over the mountains,

they went down into the valleys,

to the place you assigned for them.

never again will they cover the earth.

10He makes springs pour water into the ravines;

it flows between the mountains.

11They give water to all the beasts of the field;

the wild donkeys quench their thirst.

12The birds of the sky nest by the waters;

they sing among the branches.

13He waters the mountains from his upper chambers;

the land is satisfied by the fruit of his work.

14He makes grass grow for the cattle,

and plants for people to cultivate—

bringing forth food from the earth:

15wine that gladdens human hearts,

oil to make their faces shine,

and bread that sustains their hearts.

16The trees of the LORD are well watered,

the cedars of Lebanon that he planted.

17There the birds make their nests;

the stork has its home in the junipers.

18The high mountains belong to the wild goats;

the crags are a refuge for the hyrax.

and the sun knows when to go down.

20You bring darkness, it becomes night,

and all the beasts of the forest prowl.

21The lions roar for their prey

and seek their food from God.

22The sun rises, and they steal away;

they return and lie down in their dens.

23Then people go out to their work,

to their labor until evening.

24How many are your works, LORD!

In wisdom you made them all;

the earth is full of your creatures.

25There is the sea, vast and spacious,

teeming with creatures beyond number—

living things both large and small.

and Leviathan, which you formed to frolic there.

27All creatures look to you

to give them their food at the proper time.

they gather it up;

when you open your hand,

they are satisfied with good things.

they are terrified;

when you take away their breath,

they die and return to the dust.

30When you send your Spirit,

they are created,

and you renew the face of the ground.

31May the glory of the LORD endure forever;

may the LORD rejoice in his works—

who touches the mountains, and they smoke.

33I will sing to the LORD all my life;

I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.

34May my meditation be pleasing to him,

as I rejoice in the LORD.

35But may sinners vanish from the earth

and the wicked be no more.

Praise the LORD, my soul.

Praise the LORD.^,

105:1-15pp —

1Give praise to the LORD, proclaim his name;

make known among the nations what he has done.

2Sing to him, sing praise to him;

tell of all his wonderful acts.

3Glory in his holy name;

let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice.

4Look to the LORD and his strength;

seek his face always.

5Remember the wonders he has done,

his miracles, and the judgments he pronounced,

6you his servants, the descendants of Abraham,

his chosen ones, the children of Jacob.

7He is the LORD our God;

his judgments are in all the earth.

8He remembers his covenant forever,

the promise he made, for a thousand generations,

9the covenant he made with Abraham,

the oath he swore to Isaac.

10He confirmed it to Jacob as a decree,

to Israel as an everlasting covenant:

as the portion you will inherit.”

12When they were but few in number,

few indeed, and strangers in it,

13they wandered from nation to nation,

from one kingdom to another.

14He allowed no one to oppress them;

for their sake he rebuked kings:

15“Do not touch my anointed ones;

do my prophets no harm.”

16He called down famine on the land

and destroyed all their supplies of food;

17and he sent a man before them—

Joseph, sold as a slave.

his neck was put in irons,

19till what he foretold came to pass,

till the word of the LORD proved him true.

20The king sent and released him,

the ruler of peoples set him free.

21He made him master of his household,

ruler over all he possessed,

22to instruct his princes as he pleased

and teach his elders wisdom.

Jacob resided as a foreigner in the land of Ham.

24The LORD made his people very fruitful;

he made them too numerous for their foes,

25whose hearts he turned to hate his people,

to conspire against his servants.

26He sent Moses his servant,

and Aaron, whom he had chosen.

27They performed his signs among them,

his wonders in the land of Ham.

for had they not rebelled against his words?

29He turned their waters into blood,

causing their fish to die.

30Their land teemed with frogs,

which went up into the bedrooms of their rulers.

31He spoke, and there came swarms of flies,

and gnats throughout their country.

32He turned their rain into hail,

with lightning throughout their land;

33he struck down their vines and fig trees

and shattered the trees of their country.

34He spoke, and the locusts came,

grasshoppers without number;

35they ate up every green thing in their land,

ate up the produce of their soil.

36Then he struck down all the firstborn in their land,

the firstfruits of all their manhood.

37He brought out Israel, laden with silver and gold,

and from among their tribes no one faltered.

38Egypt was glad when they left,

because dread of Israel had fallen on them.

39He spread out a cloud as a covering,

and a fire to give light at night.

40They asked, and he brought them quail;

he fed them well with the bread of heaven.

41He opened the rock, and water gushed out;

it flowed like a river in the desert.

42For he remembered his holy promise

given to his servant Abraham.

43He brought out his people with rejoicing,

his chosen ones with shouts of joy;

44he gave them the lands of the nations,

and they fell heir to what others had toiled for—

45that they might keep his precepts

and observe his laws.

Praise the LORD.^,

106:1, 47-48pp —

1Praise the LORD.^,

Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good;

his love endures forever.

2Who can proclaim the mighty acts of the LORD

or fully declare his praise?

3Blessed are those who act justly,

who always do what is right.

4Remember me, LORD, when you show favor to your people,

come to my aid when you save them,

5that I may enjoy the prosperity of your chosen ones,

that I may share in the joy of your nation

and join your inheritance in giving praise.

6We have sinned, even as our ancestors did;

we have done wrong and acted wickedly.

they gave no thought to your miracles;

they did not remember your many kindnesses,

and they rebelled by the sea, the Red Sea.

8Yet he saved them for his name’s sake,

to make his mighty power known.

9He rebuked the Red Sea, and it dried up;

he led them through the depths as through a desert.

10He saved them from the hand of the foe;

from the hand of the enemy he redeemed them.

11The waters covered their adversaries;

not one of them survived.

12Then they believed his promises

and sang his praise.

13But they soon forgot what he had done

and did not wait for his plan to unfold.

14In the desert they gave in to their craving;

in the wilderness they put God to the test.

15So he gave them what they asked for,

but sent a wasting disease among them.

16In the camp they grew envious of Moses

and of Aaron, who was consecrated to the LORD.

17The earth opened up and swallowed Dathan;

it buried the company of Abiram.

18Fire blazed among their followers;

a flame consumed the wicked.

and worshiped an idol cast from metal.

for an image of a bull, which eats grass.

21They forgot the God who saved them,

who had done great things in Egypt,

and awesome deeds by the Red Sea.

23So he said he would destroy them—

had not Moses, his chosen one,

stood in the breach before him

to keep his wrath from destroying them.

24Then they despised the pleasant land;

they did not believe his promise.

25They grumbled in their tents

and did not obey the LORD.

26So he swore to them with uplifted hand

that he would make them fall in the wilderness,

27make their descendants fall among the nations

and scatter them throughout the lands.

and ate sacrifices offered to lifeless gods;

29they aroused the LORD’s anger by their wicked deeds,

and a plague broke out among them.

30But Phinehas stood up and intervened,

and the plague was checked.

31This was credited to him as righteousness

for endless generations to come.

and trouble came to Moses because of them;

33for they rebelled against the Spirit of God,

and rash words came from Moses’ lips.^,

34They did not destroy the peoples

as the LORD had commanded them,

35but they mingled with the nations

and adopted their customs.

36They worshiped their idols,

which became a snare to them.

and their daughters to false gods.

38They shed innocent blood,

the blood of their sons and daughters,

whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan,

and the land was desecrated by their blood.

39They defiled themselves by what they did;

by their deeds they prostituted themselves.

40Therefore the LORD was angry with his people

and abhorred his inheritance.

41He gave them into the hands of the nations,

and their foes ruled over them.

42Their enemies oppressed them

and subjected them to their power.

43Many times he delivered them,

but they were bent on rebellion

and they wasted away in their sin.

44Yet he took note of their distress

when he heard their cry;

45for their sake he remembered his covenant

and out of his great love he relented.

46He caused all who held them captive

to show them mercy.

and gather us from the nations,

that we may give thanks to your holy name

and glory in your praise.

48Praise be to the LORD, the God of Israel,

from everlasting to everlasting.

Let all the people say, “Amen!”

Praise the LORD.

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