146 1-2 Hallelujah!
    O my soul, praise God!
All my life long I’ll praise God,
    singing songs to my God as long as I live.

3-9 Don’t put your life in the hands of experts
    who know nothing of life, of salvation life.
Mere humans don’t have what it takes;
    when they die, their projects die with them.
Instead, get help from the God of Jacob,
    put your hope in God and know real blessing!
God made sky and soil,
    sea and all the fish in it.
He always does what he says—
    he defends the wronged,
    he feeds the hungry.
God frees prisoners—
    he gives sight to the blind,
    he lifts up the fallen.
God loves good people, protects strangers,
    takes the side of orphans and widows,
    but makes short work of the wicked.

10 God’s in charge—always.
    Zion’s God is God for good!
    Hallelujah!

Psalm 146

The God of Compassion

Hallelujah!
My soul, praise the Lord.(A)
I will praise the Lord all my life;
I will sing to my God as long as I live.(B)

Do not trust in nobles,
in man, who cannot save.(C)
When his breath[a] leaves him,
he returns to the ground;
on that day his plans die.(D)

Happy is the one whose help is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in the Lord his God,(E)
the Maker of heaven and earth,
the sea and everything in them.(F)
He remains faithful forever,(G)
executing justice for the exploited
and giving food to the hungry.(H)
The Lord frees prisoners.(I)
The Lord opens the eyes of the blind.(J)
The Lord raises up those who are oppressed.[b](K)
The Lord loves the righteous.(L)
The Lord protects foreigners
and helps the fatherless and the widow,(M)
but He frustrates the ways of the wicked.(N)

10 The Lord reigns forever;
Zion, your God reigns for all generations.(O)
Hallelujah!

Footnotes

  1. Psalm 146:4 Or spirit
  2. Psalm 146:8 Lit bowed down

Psalm 146

Praise the Lord.[a]

Praise the Lord,(A) my soul.

I will praise the Lord all my life;(B)
    I will sing praise(C) to my God as long as I live.(D)
Do not put your trust in princes,(E)
    in human beings,(F) who cannot save.
When their spirit departs, they return to the ground;(G)
    on that very day their plans come to nothing.(H)
Blessed are those(I) whose help(J) is the God of Jacob,
    whose hope is in the Lord their God.

He is the Maker of heaven(K) and earth,
    the sea, and everything in them—
    he remains faithful(L) forever.
He upholds(M) the cause of the oppressed(N)
    and gives food to the hungry.(O)
The Lord sets prisoners free,(P)
    the Lord gives sight(Q) to the blind,(R)
the Lord lifts up those who are bowed down,(S)
    the Lord loves the righteous.(T)
The Lord watches over the foreigner(U)
    and sustains the fatherless(V) and the widow,(W)
    but he frustrates the ways of the wicked.

10 The Lord reigns(X) forever,
    your God, O Zion, for all generations.

Praise the Lord.

Footnotes

  1. Psalm 146:1 Hebrew Hallelu Yah; also in verse 10