Beginning
Psalm 103
[A Psalm] of David.
1 Bless (affectionately, gratefully praise) the Lord, O my soul; and all that is [deepest] within me, bless His holy name!
2 Bless (affectionately, gratefully praise) the Lord, O my soul, and forget not [one of] all His benefits—
3 Who forgives [every one of] all your iniquities, Who heals [each one of] all your diseases,
4 Who redeems your life from the pit and corruption, Who beautifies, dignifies, and crowns you with loving-kindness and tender mercy;
5 Who satisfies your mouth [your necessity and desire at your personal age and situation] with good so that your youth, renewed, is like the eagle’s [strong, overcoming, soaring]!(A)
6 The Lord executes righteousness and justice [not for me only, but] for all who are oppressed.
7 He made known His ways [of righteousness and justice] to Moses, His acts to the children of Israel.
8 The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and plenteous in mercy and loving-kindness.(B)
9 He will not always chide or be contending, neither will He keep His anger forever or hold a grudge.
10 He has not dealt with us after our sins nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.
11 For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great are His mercy and loving-kindness toward those who reverently and worshipfully fear Him.
12 As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.
13 As a father loves and pities his children, so the Lord loves and pities those who fear Him [with reverence, worship, and awe].
14 For He knows our frame, He [earnestly] remembers and imprints [on His heart] that we are dust.
15 As for man, his days are as grass; as a flower of the field, so he flourishes.
16 For the wind passes over it and it is gone, and its place shall know it no more.
17 But the mercy and loving-kindness of the Lord are from everlasting to everlasting upon those who reverently and worshipfully fear Him, and His righteousness is to children’s children—(C)
18 To such as keep His covenant [hearing, receiving, loving, and obeying it] and to those who [earnestly] remember His commandments to do them [imprinting them on their hearts].
19 The Lord has established His throne in the heavens, and His kingdom rules over all.
20 Bless (affectionately, gratefully praise) the Lord, you His angels, you mighty ones who do His commandments, hearkening to the voice of His word.
21 Bless (affectionately, gratefully praise) the Lord, all you His hosts, you His ministers who do His pleasure.
22 Bless the Lord, all His works in all places of His dominion; bless (affectionately, gratefully praise) the Lord, O my soul!
Psalm 104
1 Bless (affectionately, gratefully praise) the Lord, O my soul! O Lord my God, You are very great! You are clothed with honor and majesty—
2 [You are the One] Who covers Yourself with light as with a garment, Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain or a tent,
3 Who lays the beams of the upper room of His abode in the waters [above the firmament], Who makes the clouds His chariot, Who walks on the wings of the wind,
4 Who makes winds His messengers, flames of fire His ministers.(D)
5 You laid the foundations of the earth, that it should not be moved forever.(E)
6 You covered it with the deep as with a garment; the waters stood above the mountains.(F)
7 At Your rebuke they fled; at the voice of Your thunder they hastened away.
8 The mountains rose, the valleys sank down to the place which You appointed for them.
9 You have set a boundary [for the waters] which they may not pass over, that they turn not again to deluge the earth.
10 He sends forth springs into the valleys; their waters run among the mountains.
11 They give drink to every [wild] beast of the field; the wild asses quench their thirst there.
12 Beside them the birds of the heavens have their nests; they sing among the branches.(G)
13 He waters the mountains from His upper rooms; the earth is satisfied and abounds with the fruit of His works.
14 He causes vegetation to grow for the cattle, and all that the earth produces for man to cultivate, that he may bring forth food out of the earth—
15 And wine that gladdens the heart of man, to make his face shine more than oil, and bread to support, refresh, and strengthen man’s heart.
16 The trees of the Lord are watered abundantly and are filled with sap, the cedars of Lebanon which He has planted,
17 Where the birds make their nests; as for the stork, the fir trees are her house.
18 The high mountains are for the wild goats; the rocks are a refuge for the conies and badgers.
19 [The Lord] appointed the moon for the seasons; the sun knows [the exact time of] its setting.
20 You [O Lord] make darkness and it becomes night, in which creeps forth every wild beast of the forest.
21 The young lions roar after their prey and seek their food from God.
22 When the sun arises, they withdraw themselves and lie down in their dens.
23 Man goes forth to his work and remains at his task until evening.
24 O Lord, how many and varied are Your works! In wisdom have You made them all; the earth is full of Your riches and Your creatures.
25 Yonder is the sea, great and wide, in which are swarms of innumerable creeping things, creatures both small and great.
26 There go the ships of the sea, and Leviathan (the sea monster), which You have formed to sport in it.
27 These all wait and are dependent upon You, that You may give them their food in due season.
28 When You give it to them, they gather it up; You open Your hand, and they are filled with good things.
29 When You hide Your face, they are troubled and dismayed; when You take away their breath, they die and return to their dust.
30 When You send forth Your Spirit and give them breath, they are created, and You replenish the face of the ground.
31 May the glory of the Lord endure forever; may the Lord rejoice in His works—
32 Who looks on the earth, and it quakes and trembles, Who touches the mountains, and they smoke!
33 I will sing to the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praise to my God while I have any being.
34 May my meditation be sweet to Him; as for me, I will rejoice in the Lord.
35 Let sinners be consumed from the earth, and let the wicked be no more. Bless (affectionately, gratefully praise) the Lord, O my soul! Praise the Lord! (Hallelujah!)
Psalm 105
1 O give thanks unto the Lord, call upon His name, make known His doings among the peoples!
2 Sing to Him, sing praises to Him; meditate on and talk of all His marvelous deeds and devoutly praise them.
3 Glory in His holy name; let the hearts of those rejoice who seek and require the Lord [as their indispensable necessity].
4 Seek, inquire of and for the Lord, and crave Him and His strength (His might and inflexibility to temptation); seek and require His face and His presence [continually] evermore.
5 [Earnestly] remember the marvelous deeds that He has done, His miracles and wonders, the judgments and sentences which He pronounced [upon His enemies, as in Egypt].(H)
6 O you offspring of Abraham His servant, you children of Jacob, His chosen ones,
7 He is the Lord our God; His judgments are in all the earth.
8 He is [earnestly] mindful of His covenant and forever it is imprinted on His heart, the word which He commanded and established to a thousand generations,
9 The covenant which He made with Abraham, and His sworn promise to Isaac,(I)
10 Which He confirmed to Jacob as a statute, to Israel as an everlasting covenant,
11 Saying, Unto you will I give the land of Canaan as your measured portion, possession, and inheritance.
12 When they were but a few men in number, in fact, very few, and were temporary residents and strangers in it,
13 When they went from one nation to another, from one kingdom to another people,
14 He allowed no man to do them wrong; in fact, He reproved kings for their sakes,(J)
15 Saying, Touch not My anointed, and do My prophets no harm.(K)
16 Moreover, He called for a famine upon the land [of Egypt]; He cut off every source of bread.(L)
17 He sent a man before them, even Joseph, who was sold as a servant.(M)
18 His feet they hurt with fetters; he was laid in chains of iron and his soul entered into the iron,
19 Until his word [to his cruel brothers] came true, until the word of the Lord tried and tested him.
20 The king sent and loosed him, even the ruler of the peoples, and let him go free.
21 He made Joseph lord of his house and ruler of all his substance,(N)
22 To bind his princes at his pleasure and teach his elders wisdom.
23 Israel also came into Egypt; and Jacob sojourned in the land of Ham.(O)
24 There [the Lord] greatly increased His people and made them stronger than their oppressors.
25 He turned the hearts [of the Egyptians] to hate His people, to deal craftily with His servants.
26 He sent Moses His servant, and Aaron, whom He had chosen.
27 They showed His signs among them, wonders and miracles in the land of Ham (Egypt).
28 He sent [thick] darkness and made the land dark, and they [God’s two servants] rebelled not against His word.(P)
29 He turned [Egypt’s] waters into blood and caused their fish to die.(Q)
30 Their land brought forth frogs in abundance, even in the chambers of their kings.(R)
31 He spoke, and there came swarms of beetles and flies and mosquitoes and lice in all their borders.(S)
32 He gave them hail for rain, with lightning like flaming fire in their land.(T)
33 He smote their vines also and their fig trees and broke the [ice-laden] trees of their borders.(U)
34 He spoke, and the locusts came, and the grasshoppers, and that without number,(V)
35 And ate up all the vegetation in their land and devoured the fruit of their ground.
36 He smote also all the firstborn in their land, the beginning and chief substance of all their strength.(W)
37 He brought [Israel] forth also with silver and gold, and there was not one feeble person among their tribes.(X)
38 Egypt was glad when they departed, for the fear of them had fallen upon the people.(Y)
39 The Lord spread a cloud for a covering [by day], and a fire to give light in the night.(Z)
40 [The Israelites] asked, and He brought quails and satisfied them with the bread of heaven.(AA)
41 He opened the rock, and water gushed out; it ran in the dry places like a river.(AB)
42 For He [earnestly] remembered His holy word and promise to Abraham His servant.(AC)
43 And He brought forth His people with joy, and His chosen ones with gladness and singing,
44 And gave them the lands of the nations [of Canaan], and they reaped the fruits of those peoples’ labor,(AD)
45 That they might observe His statutes and keep His laws [hearing, receiving, loving, and obeying them]. Praise the Lord! (Hallelujah!)
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