O Lord My God, You Are Very Great

104 lBless the Lord, O my soul!

O Lord my God, you are mvery great!

nYou are clothed with splendor and majesty,

2  covering yourself with light as with a garment,

ostretching out the heavens plike a tent.

3  He qlays the beams of his rchambers on the waters;

he makes sthe clouds his chariot;

he rides on tthe wings of the wind;

4  he umakes his messengers winds,

his vministers wa flaming fire.

5  He xset the earth on its foundations,

so that it should never be moved.

6  You ycovered it with the deep as with a garment;

the waters stood above the mountains.

7  At zyour rebuke they fled;

at athe sound of your thunder they btook to flight.

8  The mountains rose, the valleys sank down

to the place that you cappointed for them.

9  You set da boundary that they may not pass,

so that they emight not again cover the earth.

10  You make springs gush forth in the valleys;

they flow between the hills;

11  they fgive drink to every beast of the field;

the wild donkeys quench their thirst.

12  Beside them the birds of the heavens dwell;

they sing among the branches.

13  gFrom your lofty abode you hwater the mountains;

the earth is satisfied with the fruit of your work.

14  You cause ithe grass to grow for the livestock

and jplants for man to cultivate,

that he may bring forth kfood from the earth

15  and lwine to gladden the heart of man,

moil to make his face shine

and bread to nstrengthen man’s heart.

16  The trees of the Lord are watered abundantly,

othe cedars of Lebanon pthat he planted.

17  In them the birds build their nests;

the stork has her home in the fir trees.

18  The high mountains are for qthe wild goats;

the rocks are a refuge for rthe rock badgers.

19  He made the moon to mark the sseasons;1

the sun knows its time for setting.

20  tYou make darkness, and it is night,

when all the beasts of the forest creep about.

21  uThe young lions roar for their prey,

seeking their food from God.

22  When the sun rises, they steal away

and lie down in their vdens.

23  wMan goes out to his work

and to his labor until the evening.

24  O Lord, how manifold are your works!

In xwisdom have you made them all;

the earth is full of your creatures.

25  Here is the sea, great and wide,

ywhich teems with creatures innumerable,

living things both small and great.

26  There go the ships,

and zLeviathan, which you formed to aplay in it.2

27  These ball look to you,

to cgive them their food in due season.

28  When you give it to them, they gather it up;

when you dopen your hand, they are filled with good things.

29  When you ehide your face, they are fdismayed;

when you gtake away their breath, they die

and hreturn to their dust.

30  When you isend forth your Spirit,3 they are created,

and you jrenew the face of the ground.

31  May the glory of the Lord kendure forever;

may the Lord lrejoice in his works,

32  who looks on the earth and it mtrembles,

who ntouches the mountains and they smoke!

33  I will sing to the Lord oas long as I live;

I will sing praise to my God while I have being.

34  May my pmeditation be pleasing to him,

for I rejoice in the Lord.

35  Let qsinners be consumed from the earth,

and let the wicked be no more!

rBless the Lord, O my soul!

sPraise the Lord!

Tell of All His Wondrous Works

105 tOh give thanks to the Lord; ucall upon his name;

vmake known his deeds among the peoples!

2  Sing to him, sing praises to him;

wtell of all his wondrous works!

3  Glory in his holy name;

let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice!

4  Seek the Lord and his xstrength;

yseek his presence continually!

5  Remember the zwondrous works that he has done,

his miracles, and athe judgments he uttered,

6  O offspring of bAbraham, his servant,

children of Jacob, his cchosen ones!

7  He is the Lord our God;

his djudgments are in all the earth.

8  He eremembers his covenant forever,

the word that he commanded, for fa thousand generations,

9  gthe covenant that he made with Abraham,

his hsworn promise to Isaac,

10  which he confirmed to iJacob as a statute,

to Israel as an everlasting covenant,

11  saying, j“To you I will give the land of Canaan

as kyour portion for an inheritance.”

12  When they were lfew in number,

of little account, and msojourners in it,

13  wandering from nation to nation,

from one kingdom to another people,

14  he nallowed no one to oppress them;

he orebuked kings on their account,

15  saying, p“Touch not my anointed ones,

do my prophets no harm!”

16  When he qsummoned a famine on the land

and rbroke all supply1 of bread,

17  he had ssent a man ahead of them,

Joseph, who was tsold as a slave.

18  His ufeet were hurt with fetters;

his neck was put in a collar of iron;

19  until vwhat he had said came to pass,

the word of the Lord wtested him.

20  xThe king sent and yreleased him;

the ruler of the peoples set him free;

21  he zmade him lord of his house

and ruler of all his possessions,

22  to bind2 his princes at his pleasure

and to teach his elders wisdom.

23  Then aIsrael came to Egypt;

Jacob bsojourned in cthe land of Ham.

24  And the Lord dmade his people very fruitful

and made them stronger than their foes.

25  He eturned their hearts to hate his people,

to fdeal craftily with his servants.

26  He gsent Moses, his servant,

and Aaron, hwhom he had chosen.

27  iThey performed his signs among them

and miracles in cthe land of Ham.

28  He jsent darkness, and made the land dark;

they kdid not rebel3 against his words.

29  He turned their waters into blood

and lcaused their fish to die.

30  Their land swarmed with frogs,

even in mthe chambers of their kings.

31  He spoke, and there came nswarms of flies,

oand gnats throughout their country.

32  He gave them hail for rain,

and fiery plightning bolts through their land.

33  He struck down their vines and fig trees,

and qshattered the trees of their country.

34  He spoke, and the rlocusts came,

young locusts without number,

35  which devoured all the vegetation in their land

and ate up the fruit of their ground.

36  He sstruck down all the firstborn in their land,

sthe firstfruits of all their strength.

37  Then he brought out Israel with tsilver and gold,

and there was none among his tribes who stumbled.

38  uEgypt was glad when they departed,

for vdread of them had fallen upon it.

39  He wspread a cloud for a covering,

and fire to give light by night.

40  xThey asked, and he ybrought quail,

and gave them zbread from heaven in abundance.

41  He opened the rock, and awater gushed out;

it flowed through bthe desert like a river.

42  For he cremembered his holy promise,

and dAbraham, his servant.

43  So he brought his people out with joy,

his dchosen ones with esinging.

44  And he fgave them the lands of the nations,

and they took possession of the fruit of the peoples’ toil,

45  that they might gkeep his statutes

and hobserve his laws.

iPraise the Lord!

Give Thanks to the Lord, for He Is Good

106 iPraise the Lord!

jOh give thanks to the Lord, kfor he is good,

lfor his steadfast love endures forever!

2  Who can utter the mighty deeds of the Lord,

or declare all his praise?

3  Blessed are they who observe justice,

who mdo righteousness at all times!

4  nRemember me, O Lord, when you show favor to your people;

help me when you save them,1

5  that I may look upon the prosperity of your ochosen ones,

that I may rejoice in the gladness of your nation,

that I may glory with your inheritance.

6  pBoth we and qour fathers have sinned;

we have committed iniquity; we have done wickedness.

7  Our fathers, when they were in Egypt,

did not consider your wondrous works;

they rdid not remember the abundance of your steadfast love,

but srebelled by the sea, at the Red Sea.

8  Yet he saved them tfor his name’s sake,

uthat he might make known his mighty power.

9  He vrebuked the Red Sea, and it wbecame dry,

and he xled them through the deep as through a desert.

10  So he ysaved them from the hand of the foe

and zredeemed them from the power of the enemy.

11  And athe waters covered their adversaries;

not one of them was left.

12  Then bthey believed his words;

they csang his praise.

13  But they soon dforgot his works;

they did not wait for ehis counsel.

14  But they had fa wanton craving in the wilderness,

and gput God to the test in the desert;

15  he hgave them what they asked,

but sent ia wasting disease among them.

16  When men in the camp jwere jealous of Moses

and Aaron, kthe holy one of the Lord,

17  lthe earth opened and swallowed up Dathan,

and covered the company of Abiram.

18  mFire also broke out in their company;

the flame burned up the wicked.

19  They nmade a calf in Horeb

and worshiped a metal image.

20  They oexchanged the glory of God2

for the image of an ox that eats grass.

21  They pforgot God, their Savior,

who had done great things in Egypt,

22  wondrous works in qthe land of Ham,

and awesome deeds by the Red Sea.

23  Therefore rhe said he would destroy them—

had not Moses, his schosen one,

tstood in the breach before him,

to turn away his wrath from destroying them.

24  Then they udespised vthe pleasant land,

having wno faith in his promise.

25  They xmurmured in their tents,

and did not obey the voice of the Lord.

26  Therefore he yraised his hand and swore to them

that he would make them fall in the wilderness,

27  and would make their offspring fall among the nations,

zscattering them among the lands.

28  Then they ayoked themselves to the aBaal of Peor,

and ate sacrifices offered to bthe dead;

29  they provoked the Lord to anger with their deeds,

and a plague broke out among them.

30  Then cPhinehas stood up and intervened,

and the plague was stayed.

31  And that was dcounted to him as righteousness

from generation to generation forever.

32  They eangered him at the waters of Meribah,

and it went ill with Moses on their account,

33  for they fmade his spirit bitter,3

and he gspoke rashly with his lips.

34  They did not hdestroy the peoples,

ias the Lord commanded them,

35  but they jmixed with the nations

and learned to do as they did.

36  They served their idols,

which became ka snare to them.

37  They lsacrificed their sons

and their …