Chronological

¹ O Lord, hear my prayer,
and let my cry for help come to you.
² Do not hide your face from me on the day when I am distressed.
Turn your ear to me on the day I call.
Hurry! Answer me!

³ For my days go up in smoke,
and my bones are burned like hot coals.
⁴ My heart is cut down and withered like grass,
so I forget to eat my food.
⁵ Because of the sound of my groaning, my bones stick out of my flesh.
⁶ I am like an owl in the wilderness,
like a screech owl^[a] among the ruins.
⁷ I lie awake.
I have become like a lonely bird on a roof.
⁸ All day long my enemies taunt me.
Those who ridicule me use my name as a curse,
⁹ because I eat ashes like bread,
and I mix tears with my drinks.
¹⁰ Because of your rage and your wrath,
    you have picked me up and thrown me away.
¹¹ My days are being stretched out like a shadow,
and I am dried up like grass.

¹² But you, Lord, sit on your throne forever,
and you will be remembered through all generations.
¹³ You will rise and have compassion on Zion.
Yes, it is time to be gracious to her,
because the appointed time has come.
¹⁴ Yes, your servants will show favor to her stones,
and they will have compassion on her dust.
¹⁵ Then the nations will fear the name of the Lord,
and all the kings of the earth will fear your glory.
¹⁶ For the Lord will rebuild Zion.
He will appear in his glory.
¹⁷ He will respond to the prayer of the naked.
He will not despise their prayer.
¹⁸ Let this be written till the last generation,
so that a people not yet created may praise the Lord.^[b]
19 For the Lord looked down from his high, holy place.
From heaven he viewed the earth
²⁰     to hear the groans of the prisoner,
    to release those condemned to death.
²¹ So the name of the Lord will be recorded in Zion
and his praise in Jerusalem,
²² when the peoples and the kingdoms are gathered together
    to serve the Lord.

²³ He took away my strength during my lifetime.
He cut short my days.
²⁴ I said, “My God, do not take me away in the middle of my days.”

Your years go on through all generations.
²⁵ Long ago you laid a foundation for the earth,
and the heavens are the work of your hands.
²⁶ They will perish, but you remain.
All of them wear out like a garment.
Like clothing you will change them,
and they will be changed.
²⁷ But you are the same,
and your years will never end.
²⁸ The children of your servants will dwell with you,
and their descendants will be established before you.

¹ Bless the Lord,^[c] O my soul.
All that is within me, bless his holy name.

² Bless the Lord, O my soul,
and do not forget all his benefits—
³ who pardons all your guilt,
who heals all your diseases,
⁴ who redeems your life from the pit,
who crowns you with mercy and compassion,
⁵ who satisfies your life^[d] with goodness,
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle.

⁶ The Lord performs righteousness and justice for all the oppressed.
⁷ He made known his ways to Moses,
his deeds to the people of Israel.

⁸ The Lord is compassionate and gracious,
slow to anger, abounding in mercy.
⁹ He will not always accuse.
He will not keep his anger forever.
¹⁰ He does not treat us as our sins deserve.
He does not repay us according to our guilty deeds.

¹¹ Yes, as high as the heavens are above the earth,
    so powerful is his mercy toward those who fear him.
¹² As distant as the east is from the west,
    so far has he removed our rebellious acts from us.
¹³ As a father has compassion on his children,
    so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him.
¹⁴ For he knows how we were formed.
He remembers that we are dust.

¹⁵ As for man, his days are like grass.
Like a wildflower he blossoms.
¹⁶ Then the wind blows over it, and it is gone,
and its place recognizes it no more.

¹⁷ But the Lord’s mercy is from eternity to eternity
    over those who fear him,
and his righteousness is with their children’s children,
¹⁸     with those who keep his covenant,
    with those who remember his precepts in order to obey them.

¹⁹ The Lord has established his throne in the heavens,
and his royal power rules over all.
²⁰ Bless the Lord, you his angels,
you strong warriors who obey his word
    by listening to what he says.
²¹ Bless the Lord, all his armies,
you who minister to him,
you who do whatever pleases him.
²² Bless the Lord, everything he has made
    in all places where he rules.
Bless the Lord, O my soul.

¹ Bless the Lord, O my soul.

² He wears light like a robe.

He stretches out the heavens like a canopy.
³ He lays beams on the waters to support his upper chambers.
He makes clouds his chariot.
He travels on the wings of the wind.
⁴ He makes his messengers^[e] winds.
His ministers are blazing fire.

⁵ He placed the earth firmly on its foundations.
It cannot be moved forever and ever.
⁶ You covered it with the deep as a garment.
The waters stood above the mountains.
⁷ At your rebuke they fled.
At the sound of your thunder they hurried away.
⁸ The waters surged up the mountains.
They went down into the valleys,^[f]
to the place that you prepared for them.
⁹ You set a boundary that they cannot cross.
They will not return to cover the earth.
¹⁰ He makes springs flow into streams
    that run between the mountains.
¹¹ They give water to every wild animal.
The wild donkeys quench their thirst.
¹² The birds of the sky live by the streams.
From among the branches they send out their song.
¹³ He waters the mountains from his upper chambers.
The earth is filled with the fruit he produces.
¹⁴ He makes grass grow for the cattle,
and plants that people use^[g] to produce food from the earth.
¹⁵ Also wine that makes people’s hearts glad,
olive oil to make their face shine,
and bread that sustains their lives.^[h]
16 The trees of the Lord have everything they need.
He planted the cedars of Lebanon,
¹⁷     where birds make their nests.
The stork has its home in the fir trees.
¹⁸ The high mountains are for the wild goats.
The crags are a refuge for the rock badgers.

¹⁹ The moon marks off the months and seasons.
The sun knows when to go down.
²⁰ You bring darkness, and it becomes night.
During it all the animals in the forest move about.
²¹ The young lions roar for their prey.
They are seeking their food from God.
²² The sun rises, and they gather together.
They return to their dens and lie down.
²³ Man goes out to his work.
He continues his labor until evening.

²⁴ How many are your works, O Lord!
In wisdom you made them all.
The earth is full of your creatures.
²⁵ Here is the sea, great and very wide.
In it creatures swarm beyond number—
living things, the small with the large.
²⁶ There the ships go back and forth,
and the leviathan^[i] that you formed to play in it.
²⁷ All of them wait hopefully for you to give them their food in its time.
²⁸ You give it to them. They gather it up.
You open your hand. They are satisfied with good things.
²⁹ You hide your face. They are terrified.
You take away their breath.
They breathe their last and return to their dust.
³⁰ You send your Spirit—they are created.
You renew the face of the earth.

³¹ May the glory of the Lord endure forever.
May the Lord rejoice in his works.
³² He looks at the earth and it trembles.
He touches the mountains and they smoke.
³³ I will sing to the Lord throughout my life.
I will make music to my God as long as I last.
³⁴ May my meditation be pleasing to him.
I will rejoice in the Lord.
³⁵ May sinners come to an end on the earth,
and the wicked—may they be no more.
Bless the Lord, O my soul.
Praise the Lord!^[j]