Psalm 101-104

New Living Translation

¹ I will sing of your love and justice, Lord.
    I will praise you with songs.
² I will be careful to live a blameless life—
    when will you come to help me?
I will lead a life of integrity
    in my own home.
³ I will refuse to look at
    anything vile and vulgar.
I hate all who deal crookedly;
    I will have nothing to do with them.
⁴ I will reject perverse ideas
    and stay away from every evil.
⁵ I will not tolerate people who slander their neighbors.
    I will not endure conceit and pride.

⁶ I will search for faithful people
    to be my companions.
Only those who are above reproach
    will be allowed to serve me.
⁷ I will not allow deceivers to serve in my house,
    and liars will not stay in my presence.
⁸ My daily task will be to ferret out the wicked
    and free the city of the Lord from their grip.

¹ Lord, hear my prayer!
    Listen to my plea!
² Don’t turn away from me
    in my time of distress.
Bend down to listen,
    and answer me quickly when I call to you.
³ For my days disappear like smoke,
    and my bones burn like red-hot coals.
⁴ My heart is sick, withered like grass,
    and I have lost my appetite.
⁵ Because of my groaning,
    I am reduced to skin and bones.
⁶ I am like an owl in the desert,
    like a little owl in a far-off wilderness.
⁷ I lie awake,
    lonely as a solitary bird on the roof.
⁸ My enemies taunt me day after day.
    They mock and curse me.
⁹ I eat ashes for food.
    My tears run down into my drink
¹⁰ because of your anger and wrath.
    For you have picked me up and thrown me out.
¹¹ My life passes as swiftly as the evening shadows.
    I am withering away like grass.

¹² But you, O Lord, will sit on your throne forever.
    Your fame will endure to every generation.
¹³ You will arise and have mercy on Jerusalem^[a]—
    and now is the time to pity her,
    now is the time you promised to help.
¹⁴ For your people love every stone in her walls
    and cherish even the dust in her streets.
¹⁵ Then the nations will tremble before the Lord.
    The kings of the earth will tremble before his glory.
¹⁶ For the Lord will rebuild Jerusalem.
    He will appear in his glory.
¹⁷ He will listen to the prayers of the destitute.
    He will not reject their pleas.

¹⁸ Let this be recorded for future generations,
    so that a people not yet born will praise the Lord.
¹⁹ Tell them the Lord looked down
    from his heavenly sanctuary.
He looked down to earth from heaven
²⁰     to hear the groans of the prisoners,
    to release those condemned to die.
²¹ And so the Lord’s fame will be celebrated in Zion,
    his praises in Jerusalem,
²² when multitudes gather together
    and kingdoms come to worship the Lord.

²³ He broke my strength in midlife,
    cutting short my days.
²⁴ But I cried to him, “O my God, who lives forever,
    don’t take my life while I am so young!
²⁵ Long ago you laid the foundation of the earth
    and made the heavens with your hands.
²⁶ They will perish, but you remain forever;
    they will wear out like old clothing.
You will change them like a garment
    and discard them.
²⁷ But you are always the same;
    you will live forever.
²⁸ The children of your people
    will live in security.
Their children’s children
    will thrive in your presence.”

¹ Let all that I am praise the Lord;
    with my whole heart, I will praise his holy name.
² Let all that I am praise the Lord;
    may I never forget the good things he does for me.
³ He forgives all my sins
    and heals all my diseases.
⁴ He redeems me from death
    and crowns me with love and tender mercies.
⁵ He fills my life with good things.
    My youth is renewed like the eagle’s!

⁶ The Lord gives righteousness
    and justice to all who are treated unfairly.

⁷ He revealed his character to Moses
    and his deeds to the people of Israel.
⁸ The Lord is compassionate and merciful,
    slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love.
⁹ He will not constantly accuse us,
    nor remain angry forever.
¹⁰ He does not punish us for all our sins;
    he does not deal harshly with us, as we deserve.
¹¹ For his unfailing love toward those who fear him
    is as great as the height of the heavens above the earth.
¹² He has removed our sins as far from us
    as the east is from the west.
¹³ The Lord is like a father to his children,
    tender and compassionate to those who fear him.
¹⁴ For he knows how weak we are;
    he remembers we are only dust.
¹⁵ Our days on earth are like grass;
    like wildflowers, we bloom and die.
¹⁶ The wind blows, and we are gone—
    as though we had never been here.
¹⁷ But the love of the Lord remains forever
    with those who fear him.
His salvation extends to the children’s children
¹⁸     of those who are faithful to his covenant,
    of those who obey his commandments!

¹⁹ The Lord has made the heavens his throne;
    from there he rules over everything.

²⁰ Praise the Lord, you angels,
    you mighty ones who carry out his plans,
    listening for each of his commands.
²¹ Yes, praise the Lord, you armies of angels
    who serve him and do his will!
²² Praise the Lord, everything he has created,
    everything in all his kingdom.

Let all that I am praise the Lord.

O Lord my God, how great you are!
    You are robed with honor and majesty.
²     You are dressed in a robe of light.
You stretch out the starry curtain of the heavens;
³     you lay out the rafters of your home in the rain clouds.
You make the clouds your chariot;
    you ride upon the wings of the wind.
⁴ The winds are your messengers;
    flames of fire are your servants.^[b]

⁵ You placed the world on its foundation
    so it would never be moved.
⁶ You clothed the earth with floods of water,
    water that covered even the mountains.
⁷ At your command, the water fled;
    at the sound of your thunder, it hurried away.
⁸ Mountains rose and valleys sank
    to the levels you decreed.
⁹ Then you set a firm boundary for the seas,
    so they would never again cover the earth.

¹⁰ You make springs pour water into the ravines,
    so streams gush down from the mountains.
¹¹ They provide water for all the animals,
    and the wild donkeys quench their thirst.
¹² The birds nest beside the streams
    and sing among the branches of the trees.
¹³ You send rain on the mountains from your heavenly home,
    and you fill the earth with the fruit of your labor.
¹⁴ You cause grass to grow for the livestock
    and plants for people to use.
You allow them to produce food from the earth—
¹⁵     wine to make them glad,
olive oil to soothe their skin,
    and bread to give them strength.
¹⁶ The trees of the Lord are well cared for—
    the cedars of Lebanon that he planted.
¹⁷ There the birds make their nests,
    and the storks make their homes in the cypresses.
¹⁸ High in the mountains live the wild goats,
    and the rocks form a refuge for the hyraxes.^[c]

¹⁹ You made the moon to mark the seasons,
    and the sun knows when to set.
²⁰ You send the darkness, and it becomes night,
    when all the forest animals prowl about.
²¹ Then the young lions roar for their prey,
    stalking the food provided by God.
²² At dawn they slink back
    into their dens to rest.
²³ Then people go off to their work,
    where they labor until evening.

²⁴ O Lord, what a variety of things you have made!
    In wisdom you have made them all.
    The earth is full of your creatures.
²⁵ Here is the ocean, vast and wide,
    teeming with life of every kind,
    both large and small.
²⁶ See the ships sailing along,
    and Leviathan,^[d] which you made to play in the sea.

²⁷ They all depend on you
    to give them food as they need it.
²⁸ When you supply it, they gather it.
    You open your hand to feed them,
    and they are richly satisfied.
²⁹ But if you turn away from them, they panic.
    When you take away their breath,
    they die and turn again to dust.
³⁰ When you give them your breath,^[e] life is created,
    and you renew the face of the earth.

³¹ May the glory of the Lord continue forever!
    The Lord takes pleasure in all he has made!
³² The earth trembles at his glance;
    the mountains smoke at his touch.

³³ I will sing to the Lord as long as I live.
    I will praise my God to my last breath!
³⁴ May all my thoughts be pleasing to him,
    for I rejoice in the Lord.
³⁵ Let all sinners vanish from the face of the earth;
    let the wicked disappear forever.

Let all that I am praise the Lord.

Praise the Lord!