102

A Prayer of the afflicted, when he is overwhelmed and pours out his complaint before Yahweh.

1Hear my prayer, Yahweh!

Let my cry come to you.

2Don’t hide your face from me in the day of my distress.

Turn your ear to me.

Answer me quickly in the day when I call.

3For my days consume away like smoke.

My bones are burned as a torch.

4My heart is blighted like grass, and withered,

for I forget to eat my bread.

5By reason of the voice of my groaning,

my bones stick to my skin.

6I am like a pelican of the wilderness.

I have become as an owl of the waste places.

7I watch, and have become like a sparrow that is alone on the housetop.

8My enemies reproach me all day.

Those who are mad at me use my name as a curse.

9For I have eaten ashes like bread,

and mixed my drink with tears,

10because of your indignation and your wrath;

for you have taken me up and thrown me away.

11My days are like a long shadow.

I have withered like grass.

12But you, Yahweh, will remain forever;

your renown endures to all generations.

13You will arise and have mercy on Zion,

for it is time to have pity on her.

Yes, the set time has come.

14For your servants take pleasure in her stones,

and have pity on her dust.

15So the nations will fear Yahweh’s name,

all the kings of the earth your glory.

16For Yahweh has built up Zion.

He has appeared in his glory.

17He has responded to the prayer of the destitute,

and has not despised their prayer.

18This will be written for the generation to come.

A people which will be created will praise Yah,

19for he has looked down from the height of his sanctuary.

From heaven, Yahweh saw the earth,

20to hear the groans of the prisoner,

to free those who are condemned to death,

21that men may declare Yahweh’s name in Zion,

and his praise in Jerusalem,

22when the peoples are gathered together,

the kingdoms, to serve Yahweh.

23He weakened my strength along the course.

He shortened my days.

24I said, “My God, don’t take me away in the middle of my days.

Your years are throughout all generations.

25Of old, you laid the foundation of the earth.

The heavens are the work of your hands.

26They will perish, but you will endure.

Yes, all of them will wear out like a garment.

You will change them like a cloak, and they will be changed.

27But you are the same.

Your years will have no end.

28The children of your servants will continue.

Their offspring will be established before you.”

103

By David.

1Praise Yahweh, my soul!

All that is within me, praise his holy name!

2Praise Yahweh, my soul,

and don’t forget all his benefits,

3who forgives all your sins,

who heals all your diseases,

4who redeems your life from destruction,

who crowns you with loving kindness and tender mercies,

5who satisfies your desire with good things,

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

6Yahweh executes righteous acts,

and justice for all who are oppressed.

7He made known his ways to Moses,

his deeds to the children of Israel.

8Yahweh is merciful and gracious,

slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness.

9He will not always accuse;

neither will he stay angry forever.

10He has not dealt with us according to our sins,

nor repaid us for our iniquities.

11For as the heavens are high above the earth,

so great is his loving kindness toward those who fear him.

12As far as the east is from the west,

so far has he removed our transgressions from us.

13Like a father has compassion on his children,

so Yahweh has compassion on those who fear him.

14For he knows how we are made.

He remembers that we are dust.

15As for man, his days are like grass.

As a flower of the field, so he flourishes.

16For the wind passes over it, and it is gone.

Its place remembers it no more.

17But Yahweh’s loving kindness is from everlasting to everlasting with those who fear him,

his righteousness to children’s children,

18to those who keep his covenant,

to those who remember to obey his precepts.

19Yahweh has established his throne in the heavens.

His kingdom rules over all.

20Praise Yahweh, you angels of his,

who are mighty in strength, who fulfill his word,

obeying the voice of his word.

21Praise Yahweh, all you armies of his,

you servants of his, who do his pleasure.

22Praise Yahweh, all you works of his,

in all places of his dominion.

Praise Yahweh, my soul!

104

1Bless Yahweh, my soul.

Yahweh, my God, you are very great.

You are clothed with honor and majesty.

2He covers himself with light as with a garment.

He stretches out the heavens like a curtain.

3He lays the beams of his rooms in the waters.

He makes the clouds his chariot.

He walks on the wings of the wind.

4He makes his messengers winds,

and his servants flames of fire.

5He laid the foundations of the earth,

that it should not be moved forever.

6You covered it with the deep as with a cloak.

The waters stood above the mountains.

7At your rebuke they fled.

At the voice of your thunder they hurried away.

8The mountains rose,

the valleys sank down,

to the place which you had assigned to them.

9You have set a boundary that they may not pass over,

that they don’t turn again to cover the earth.

10He sends springs into the valleys.

They run among the mountains.

11They give drink to every animal of the field.

The wild donkeys quench their thirst.

12The birds of the sky nest by them.

They sing among the branches.

13He waters the mountains from his rooms.

The earth is filled with the fruit of your works.

14He causes the grass to grow for the livestock,

and plants for man to cultivate,

that he may produce food out of the earth:

15wine that makes the heart of man glad,

oil to make his face to shine,

and bread that strengthens man’s heart.

16Yahweh’s trees are well watered,

the cedars of Lebanon, which he has planted,

17where the birds make their nests.

The stork makes its home in the cypress trees.

18The high mountains are for the wild goats.

The rocks are a refuge for the rock badgers.

19He appointed the moon for seasons.

The sun knows when to set.

20You make darkness, and it is night,

in which all the animals of the forest prowl.

21The young lions roar after their prey,

and seek their food from God.

22The sun rises, and they steal away,

and lie down in their dens.

23Man goes out to his work,

to his labor until the evening.

24Yahweh, how many are your works!

In wisdom, you have made them all.

The earth is full of your riches.

25There is the sea, great and wide,

in which are innumerable living things,

both small and large animals.

26There the ships go,

and leviathan, whom you formed to play there.

27These all wait for you,

that you may give them their food in due season.

28You give to them; they gather.

You open your hand; they are satisfied with good.

29You hide your face; they are troubled.

You take away their breath; they die and return to the dust.

30You send out your Spirit and they are created.

You renew the face of the ground.

31Let Yahweh’s glory endure forever.

Let Yahweh rejoice in his works.

32He looks at the earth, and it trembles.

He touches the mountains, and they smoke.

33I will sing to Yahweh as long as I live.

I will sing praise to my God while I have any being.

34Let my meditation be sweet to him.

I will rejoice in Yahweh.

35Let sinners be consumed out of the earth.

Let the wicked be no more.

Bless Yahweh, my soul.

Praise Yah!

105

1Give thanks to Yahweh! Call on his name!

Make his doings known among the peoples.

2Sing to him, sing praises to him!

Tell of all his marvelous works.

3Glory in his holy name.

Let the heart of those who seek Yahweh rejoice.

4Seek Yahweh and his strength.

Seek his face forever more.

5Remember his marvelous works that he has done:

his wonders, and the judgments of his mouth,

6you offspring of Abraham, his servant,

you children of Jacob, his chosen ones.

7He is Yahweh, 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,

his oath to Isaac,

10and confirmed it to Jacob for a statute;

to Israel for an everlasting covenant,

11saying, “To you I will give the land of Canaan,

the lot of your inheritance,”

12when they were but a few men in number,

yes, very few, and foreigners in it.

13They went about from nation to nation,

from one kingdom to another people.

14He allowed no one to do them wrong.

Yes, he reproved kings for their sakes,

15“Don’t touch my anointed ones!

Do my prophets no harm!”

16He called for a famine on the land.

He destroyed the food supplies.

17He sent a man before them.

Joseph was sold for a slave.

18They bruised his feet with shackles.

His neck was locked in irons,

19until the time that his word happened,

and Yahweh’s word proved him true.

20The king sent and freed him,

even the ruler of peoples, and let him go free.

21He made him lord of his house,

and ruler of all of his possessions,

22to discipline his princes at his pleasure,

and to teach his elders wisdom.

23Israel also came into Egypt.

Jacob lived in the land of Ham.

24He increased his people greatly,

and made them stronger than their adversaries.

25He turned their heart to hate his people,

to conspire against his servants.

26He sent Moses, his servant,

and Aaron, whom he had chosen.

27They performed miracles among them,

and wonders in the land of Ham.

28He sent darkness, and made it dark.

They didn’t rebel against his words.

29He turned their waters into blood,

and killed their fish.

30Their land swarmed with frogs,

even in the rooms of their kings.

31He spoke, and swarms of flies came,

and lice in all their borders.

32He gave them hail for rain,

with lightning in their land.

33He struck their vines and also their fig trees,

and shattered the trees of their country.

34He spoke, and the locusts came

with the grasshoppers, without number.

35They ate up every plant in their land,

and ate up the fruit of their ground.

36He struck also all the firstborn in their land,

the first fruits of all their manhood.

37He brought them out with silver and gold.

There was not one feeble person among his tribes.

38Egypt was glad when they departed,

for the fear of them had fallen on them.

39He spread a cloud for a covering,

fire to give light in the night.

40They asked, and he brought quails,

and satisfied them with the bread of the sky.

41He opened the rock, and waters gushed out.

They ran as a river in the dry places.

42For he remembered his holy word,

and Abraham, his servant.

43He brought his people out with joy,

his chosen with singing.

44He gave them the lands of the nations.

They took the labor of the peoples in possession,

45that they might keep his statutes,

and observe his laws.

Praise Yah!