PSALM 103
Praise for the Lord’s Mercies.
A Psalm of David.
1Bless the Lord, O my soul,
And all that is within me, bless His holy name.
2Bless the Lord, O my soul,
And forget none of His benefits;
3Who pardons all your iniquities,
Who heals all your diseases;
4Who redeems your life from the pit,
Who crowns you with lovingkindness and compassion;
5Who satisfies your years with good things,
So that your youth is renewed like the eagle.
6The Lord performs righteous deeds
And judgments for all who are oppressed.
7He made known His ways to Moses,
His acts to the sons of Israel.
8The Lord is compassionate and gracious,
Slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness.
9He will not always strive with us,
Nor will He keep His anger forever.
10He has not dealt with us according to our sins,
Nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.
11For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
So great is His lovingkindness toward those who fear Him.
12As far as the east is from the west,
So far has He removed our transgressions from us.
13Just as a father has compassion on his children,
So the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him.
14For He Himself knows our frame;
He is mindful that we are but dust.
15As for man, his days are like grass;
As a flower of the field, so he flourishes.
16When the wind has passed over it, it is no more,
And its place acknowledges it no longer.
17But the lovingkindness of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him,
And His righteousness to children’s children,
18To those who keep His covenant
And remember His precepts to do them.
19The Lord has established His throne in the heavens,
And His sovereignty rules over all.
20Bless the Lord, you His angels,
Mighty in strength, who perform His word,
Obeying the voice of His word!
21Bless the Lord, all you His hosts,
You who serve Him, doing His will.
22Bless the Lord, all you works of His,
In all places of His dominion;
Bless the Lord, O my soul!
PSALM 104
The Lord’s Care over All His Works.
1Bless the Lord, O my soul!
O Lord my God, You are very great;
You are clothed with splendor and majesty,
2Covering Yourself with light as with a cloak,
Stretching out heaven like a tent curtain.
3He lays the beams of His upper chambers in the waters;
He makes the clouds His chariot;
He walks upon the wings of the wind;
4He makes the winds His messengers,
Flaming fire His ministers.
5He established the earth upon its foundations,
So that it will not totter forever and ever.
6You covered it with the deep as with a garment;
The waters were standing above the mountains.
7At Your rebuke they fled,
At the sound of Your thunder they hurried away.
8The mountains rose; the valleys sank down
To the place which You established for them.
9You set a boundary that they may not pass over,
So that they will not return to cover the earth.
10He sends forth springs in the valleys;
They flow between the mountains;
11They give drink to every beast of the field;
The wild donkeys quench their thirst.
12Beside them the birds of the heavens dwell;
They lift up their voices among the branches.
13He waters the mountains from His upper chambers;
The earth is satisfied with the fruit of His works.
14He causes the grass to grow for the cattle,
And vegetation for the labor of man,
So that he may bring forth food from the earth,
15And wine which makes man’s heart glad,
So that he may make his face glisten with oil,
And food which sustains man’s heart.
16The trees of the Lord drink their fill,
The cedars of Lebanon which He planted,
17Where the birds build their nests,
And the stork, whose home is the fir trees.
18The high mountains are for the wild goats;
The cliffs are a refuge for the shephanim.
19He made the moon for the seasons;
The sun knows the place of its setting.
20You appoint darkness and it becomes night,
In which all the beasts of the forest prowl about.
21The young lions roar after their prey
And seek their food from God.
22When the sun rises they withdraw
And lie down in their dens.
23Man goes forth to his work
And to his labor until evening.
24O Lord, how many are Your works!
In wisdom You have made them all;
The earth is full of Your possessions.
25There is the sea, great and broad,
In which are swarms without number,
Animals both small and great.
26There the ships move along,
And Leviathan, which You have formed to sport in it.
27They all wait for You
To give them their food in due season.
28You give to them, they gather it up;
You open Your hand, they are satisfied with good.
29You hide Your face, they are dismayed;
You take away their spirit, they expire
And return to their dust.
30You send forth Your Spirit, they are created;
And You renew the face of the ground.
31Let the glory of the Lord endure forever;
Let the Lord be glad in His works;
32He looks at the earth, and it trembles;
He touches the mountains, and they smoke.
33I will sing to the Lord as long as I live;
I will sing praise to my God while I have my being.
34Let my meditation be pleasing to Him;
As for me, I shall be glad in the Lord.
35Let sinners be consumed from the earth
And let the wicked be no more.
Bless the Lord, O my soul.
Praise the Lord!
PSALM 105
The Lord’s Wonderful Works in Behalf of Israel.
1Oh give thanks to the Lord, call upon His name;
Make known His deeds among the peoples.
2Sing to Him, sing praises to Him;
Speak of all His wonders.
3Glory in His holy name;
Let the heart of those who seek the Lord be glad.
4Seek the Lord and His strength;
Seek His face continually.
5Remember His wonders which He has done,
His marvels and the judgments uttered by His mouth,
6O seed of Abraham, His servant,
O sons of Jacob, His chosen ones!
7He is the Lord our God;
His judgments are in all the earth.
8He has remembered His covenant forever,
The word which He commanded to a thousand generations,
9The covenant which He made with Abraham,
And His oath to Isaac.
10Then He confirmed it to Jacob for a statute,
To Israel as an everlasting covenant,
11Saying, “To you I will give the land of Canaan
As the portion of your inheritance,”
12When they were only a few men in number,
Very few, and strangers in it.
13And they wandered about from nation to nation,
From one kingdom to another people.
14He permitted no man to oppress them,
And He reproved kings for their sakes:
15“Do not touch My anointed ones,
And do My prophets no harm.”
16And He called for a famine upon the land;
He broke the whole staff of bread.
17He sent a man before them,
Joseph, who was sold as a slave.
18They afflicted his feet with fetters,
He himself was laid in irons;
19Until the time that his word came to pass,
The word of the Lord tested him.
20The king sent and released him,
The ruler of peoples, and set him free.
21He made him lord of his house
And ruler over all his possessions,
22To imprison his princes at will,
That he might teach his elders wisdom.
23Israel also came into Egypt;
Thus Jacob sojourned in the land of Ham.
24And He caused His people to be very fruitful,
And made them stronger than their adversaries.
25He turned their heart to hate His people,
To deal craftily with His servants.
26He sent Moses His servant,
And Aaron, whom He had chosen.
27They performed His wondrous acts among them,
And miracles in the land of Ham.
28He sent darkness and made it dark;
And they did not rebel against His words.
29He turned their waters into blood
And caused their fish to die.
30Their land swarmed with frogs
Even in the chambers of their kings.
31He spoke, and there came a swarm of flies
And gnats in all their territory.
32He gave them hail for rain,
And flaming fire in their land.
33He struck down their vines also and their fig trees,
And shattered the trees of their territory.
34He spoke, and locusts came,
And young locusts, even without number,
35And ate up all vegetation in their land,
And ate up the fruit of their ground.
36He also struck down all the firstborn in their land,
The first fruits of all their vigor.
37Then He brought them out with silver and gold,
And among His tribes there was not one who stumbled.
38Egypt was glad when they departed,
For the dread of them had fallen upon them.
39He spread a cloud for a covering,
And fire to illumine by night.
40They asked, and He brought quail,
And satisfied them with the bread of heaven.
41He opened the rock and water flowed out;
It ran in the dry places like a river.
42For He remembered His holy word
With Abraham His servant;
43And He brought forth His people with joy,
His chosen ones with a joyful shout.
44He gave them also the lands of the nations,
That they might take possession of the fruit of the peoples’ labor,
45So that they might keep His statutes
And observe His laws,
Praise the Lord!