Beginning

¹ Look, how good and how pleasant it is
    when brothers live together in unity!
² It is like the precious oil poured on the head,
    running down on the beard, the beard of Aaron,
    running down on the collar of his robes.
³ It is like the dew from Hermon
    running down on the mountains of Zion.
For there the Lord commands this blessing: life to eternity.

¹ Come, bless the Lord, all you servants of the Lord,
    who stand in the house of the Lord at night.
² Lift up your hands toward the sanctuary
and bless the Lord.

³ May the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth, bless you from Zion.

¹ Praise the Lord.^[a]

⁵ Yes, I know that the Lord is great.
Our Lord is greater than all gods.
⁶ The Lord does whatever he pleases
    in the heavens and on the earth,
    in the seas and in all the depths.
⁷ He makes clouds rise from the end of the earth.
He sends lightning for the rainstorm.
He releases the wind from his storehouses.
⁸ He is the one who struck down
    the firstborn of Egypt, both men and animals.
⁹ Egypt! He sent warning signs into your midst,
    against Pharaoh and against all his officials.
¹⁰ He is the one who struck down many nations.
He killed mighty kings—
¹¹     Sihon king of the Amorites,
    and Og king of Bashan,
    and all the kingdoms of Canaan.
¹² He gave their land as a possession,
a possession to Israel, his people.
¹³ Lord, your name stands forever.
Lord, your reputation remains through all generations.
¹⁴ For the Lord will judge in favor of his people.
He will have pity on his servants.
¹⁵ The idols of the nations are silver and gold, the work of human hands.
¹⁶ They have a mouth, but they cannot speak.
They have eyes, but they cannot see.
¹⁷ They have ears, but cannot hear.
There is not even any breath in their mouths.
¹⁸ Those who make them will be like them.
So will all who trust in them.

¹⁹ House of Israel, bless the Lord.
House of Aaron, bless the Lord.
²⁰ House of Levi, bless the Lord.
You who fear the Lord, bless the Lord.
²¹ The Lord, who dwells in Jerusalem, will be blessed from Zion.
Praise the Lord.

¹ Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good.
    For his mercy endures forever.
² Give thanks to the God of Gods.
    For his mercy endures forever.
³ Give thanks to the Lord of Lords.
    For his mercy endures forever.

⁴ To him who alone does great wonders—^[c]
    For his mercy endures forever.
⁵ To him who by his understanding made the heavens—
    For his mercy endures forever.
⁶ To him who spread out the earth on the waters—
    For his mercy endures forever.
⁷ To him who made the great lights,
    For his mercy endures forever.
⁸ the sun to rule by day,
    For his mercy endures forever.
⁹ the moon and stars to rule by night—
    For his mercy endures forever.

¹⁰ To him who struck Egypt by killing their firstborn,
    For his mercy endures forever.
¹¹ and brought Israel out from their midst,
    For his mercy endures forever.
¹² with a mighty hand and outstretched arm—
    For his mercy endures forever.
¹³ To him who cut the Red Sea in two,
    For his mercy endures forever.
¹⁴ and brought Israel through the middle of it,
    For his mercy endures forever.
¹⁵ but brushed off Pharaoh and his army into the Red Sea—
    For his mercy endures forever.
¹⁶ To him who made his people travel through the wilderness—
    For his mercy endures forever.
¹⁷ To him who struck down great kings,
    For his mercy endures forever.
¹⁸ and killed mighty kings,
    For his mercy endures forever.
¹⁹ Sihon king of the Amorites,
    For his mercy endures forever.
²⁰ and Og king of Bashan,
    For his mercy endures forever.
²¹ and gave their land as a possession,
    For his mercy endures forever.
²² a possession to his servant Israel.
    For his mercy endures forever.

²³ Who remembered us in our low condition,
    For his mercy endures forever.
²⁴ and tore us out of the hands of our oppressors.
    For his mercy endures forever.
²⁵ He gives food to all living creatures.^[d]
    For his mercy endures forever.
²⁶ Give thanks to the God of the heavens.
    For his mercy endures forever.

¹ Beside the rivers^[e] of Babylon,
there we sat, and, yes, we wept as we remembered Zion.
² There we hung up our lyres on the willows,
³ because there our captors asked us for words of a song,
and our tormentors asked for a happy song:
“Sing for us one of the songs of Zion!”

⁴ How can we sing a song of the Lord on foreign soil?
⁵ If I forget you, Jerusalem,
may my right hand forget how to play music.^[f]
6 May my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth
if I do not remember you,
if I do not exalt Jerusalem above my highest joy.

⁷ Remember the day of Jerusalem, O Lord,
against the descendants of Edom^[g] who said,
“Tear it down, tear it down to its foundations!”
⁸ Daughter of Babylon, doomed to be destroyed,
how blessed is the one who repays you
    with the same deeds you did against us.
⁹ How blessed is the one who seizes your children
and dashes them against the cliff.

¹ I will thank you with all my heart.
Before the gods^[h] I will make music for you.
² I will bow down toward your holy temple.
I will give thanks to your name
    because of your mercy and because of your truth.
Yes, you made your word even greater than your name.^[i]
3 By day I called, and you answered me.
You have made my soul strong.
⁴ All the kings of the earth will thank you, Lord,
when they have heard the message from your mouth.
⁵ Then they will sing about the ways of the Lord,
because the glory of the Lord is great.
⁶ Indeed the Lord is exalted, but he sees the lowly,
and he recognizes the proud from a distance.
⁷ If I walk surrounded by danger, you keep me alive
    in spite of the anger of my enemies.
You stretch out your hand.
You save me with your right hand.
⁸ The Lord will fulfill his purpose^[j] for me.
Lord, your mercy endures forever.
Do not let go of the works^[k] of your hands.

¹ Lord, you have investigated me,
and you know.
² You know when I sit down and when I get up.
You understand my thoughts from far off.
³ You keep track of when I travel and when I stay,^[l]
and you are familiar with all my ways.
⁴ Before there is a word on my tongue,
    you, Lord, already know it completely.
⁵ You put a fence behind me and in front of me,
and you have placed your hand on me.
⁶ Such knowledge is too wonderful for me.
It is too high—I cannot grasp it.

⁷ Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your Presence?^[m]
8 If I go up to heaven, you are there.
If I make my bed in hell—there you are!
⁹ I rise on the wings of dawn.
I settle on the far side of the sea.
¹⁰ Even there your hand guides me,
and your right hand holds on to me.
¹¹ And if I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light will become night around me,”
¹² then even the darkness will not be too dark for you.
The night will be as light as the day.
Darkness and light are the same to you.

¹³ For you created my inner organs.^[n]
You wove me together in my mother’s womb.
¹⁴ I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Your works are wonderful,
and my soul knows that very well.
¹⁵ My bones were not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place,
when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
¹⁶ Your eyes saw my unfinished body.
In your book all of them were written.
Days were determined, before any of them existed.
¹⁷ Your thoughts to me are so precious, O God!
How great is the sum of them!
¹⁸ If I would count them,
    they would outnumber the grains of sand.
I awake, and I am still with you.

¹⁹ If only you would slay the wicked, O God,
so that bloody men would depart from me,
²⁰ men who speak against you maliciously.
Your adversaries misuse your name.
²¹ Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord,
and detest those who rise up against you?
²² I absolutely hate them. To me they are enemies.
²³ Investigate me, God, and know my heart.
Test me and know my troubled thoughts.
²⁴ See if there is any way in me that causes pain,
and lead me in the way everlasting.