Psalm 113–118

In Praise of the ’s Goodness

113Praise the Lord!

You servants of the Lord,

praise his name!

²May his name be praised,

now and for ever.

³From the east to the west

praise the name of the Lord!

⁴The Lord rules over all nations;

his glory is above the heavens.

⁵There is no one like the Lord our God.

He lives in the heights above,

⁶but he bends down

to see the heavens and the earth.

⁷He raises the poor from the dust;

he lifts the needy from their misery

⁸and makes them companions of princes,

the princes of his people.

⁹He honours the childless wife in her home;

he makes her happy by giving her children.

Praise the Lord!

A Passover Song

114^*When the people of Israel left Egypt,

when Jacob’s descendants left that foreign land,

²Judah became the Lord’s holy people,

Israel became his own possession.

^3*The Red Sea looked and ran away;

the River Jordan stopped flowing.

⁴The mountains skipped like goats;

the hills jumped about like lambs.

⁵What happened, Sea, to make you run away?

And you, O Jordan, why did you stop flowing?

⁶You mountains, why did you skip like goats?

You hills, why did you jump about like lambs?

⁷Tremble, earth, at the Lord’s coming,

at the presence of the God of Jacob,

^8*who changes rocks into pools of water

and solid cliffs into flowing springs.

The One True God

115To you alone, O Lord, to you alone,

and not to us, must glory be given

because of your constant love and faithfulness.

²Why should the nations ask us,

“Where is your God?”

³Our God is in heaven;

he does whatever he wishes.

^4*Their gods are made of silver and gold,

formed by human hands.

^5*They have mouths, but cannot speak,

and eyes, but cannot see.

^6*They have ears, but cannot hear,

and noses, but cannot smell.

^7*They have hands, but cannot feel,

and feet, but cannot walk;

they cannot make a sound.

^8*May all who made them and who trust in them

become^y like the idols they have made.

⁹Trust in the Lord, you people of Israel.

He helps you and protects you.

¹⁰Trust in the Lord, you priests of God.

He helps you and protects you.

¹¹Trust in the Lord, all you that worship him.

He helps you and protects you.

¹²The Lord remembers us and will bless us;

he will bless the people of Israel

and all the priests of God.

^13*He will bless everyone who honours him,

the great and the small alike.

¹⁴May the Lord give you children—

you and your descendants!

¹⁵May you be blessed by the Lord,

who made heaven and earth!

¹⁶Heaven belongs to the Lord alone,

but he gave the earth to the human race.

¹⁷The Lord is not praised by the dead,

by any who go down to the land of silence.^z

¹⁸But we, the living, will give thanks to him

now and for ever.

Praise the Lord!

A Man Saved from Death Praises God

116I love the Lord, because he hears me;

he listens to my prayers.

²He listens to me

every time I call to him.

³The danger of death was all round me;

the horrors of the grave closed in on me;

I was filled with fear and anxiety.

⁴Then I called to the Lord,

“I beg you, Lord, save me!”

⁵The Lord is merciful and good;

our God is compassionate.

⁶The Lord protects the helpless;

when I was in danger, he saved me.

⁷Be confident, my heart,

because the Lord has been good to me.

⁸The Lord saved me from death;

he stopped my tears

and kept me from defeat.

⁹And so I walk in the presence of the Lord

in the world of the living.

^10*I kept on believing, even when I said,

“I am completely crushed,”

¹¹even when I was afraid and said,

“No one can be trusted.”

¹²What can I offer the Lord

for all his goodness to me?

¹³I will bring a wine offering to the Lord,

to thank him for saving me.

¹⁴In the assembly of all his people

I will give him what I have promised.

¹⁵How painful it is to the Lord

when one of his people dies!

¹⁶I am your servant, Lord;

I serve you, just as my mother did.

You have saved me from death.

¹⁷I will give you a sacrifice of thanksgiving

and offer my prayer to you.

^18–19In the assembly of all your people,

in the sanctuary of your Temple in Jerusalem,

I will give you what I have promised.

Praise the Lord!

In Praise of the

117^*Praise the Lord, all nations!

Praise him, all peoples!

²His love for us is strong

and his faithfulness is eternal.

Praise the Lord!

A Prayer of Thanks for Victory

118^*Give thanks to the Lord,

because he is good,

and his love is eternal.

²Let the people of Israel say,

“His love is eternal.”

³Let the priests of God say,

“His love is eternal.”

⁴Let all who worship him say,

“His love is eternal.”

⁵In my distress I called to the Lord;

he answered me and set me free.

^6*The Lord is with me, I will not be afraid;

what can anyone do to me?

⁷It is the Lord who helps me,

and I will see my enemies defeated.

⁸It is better to trust in the Lord

than to depend on human beings.

⁹It is better to trust in the Lord

than to depend on human leaders.

¹⁰Many enemies were round me;

but I destroyed them by the power of the Lord!

¹¹They were round me on every side;

but I destroyed them by the power of the Lord!

¹²They swarmed round me like bees,

but they burnt out as quickly as a fire among thorns;

by the power of the Lord I destroyed them.

¹³I was fiercely attacked and was being defeated,

but the Lord helped me.

^14*The Lord makes me powerful and strong;

he has saved me.

¹⁵Listen to the glad shouts of victory in the tents of God’s people:

“The Lord’s mighty power has done it!

¹⁶His power has brought us victory—

his mighty power in battle!”

¹⁷I will not die; instead, I will live

and proclaim what the Lord has done.

¹⁸He has punished me severely,

but he has not let me die.

¹⁹Open to me the gates of the Temple;

I will go in and give thanks to the Lord!

²⁰This is the gate of the Lord;

only the righteous can come in.

²¹I praise you, Lord,

because you heard me, because you have given me victory.

^22*The stone which the builders rejected as worthless

turned out to be the most important of all.

^23*This was done by the Lord;

what a wonderful sight it is!

²⁴This is the day of the Lord’s victory;

let us be happy, let us celebrate!

^25*Save us, Lord, save us!

Give us success, O Lord!

^26*May God bless the one who comes in the name of the Lord!

From the Temple of the Lord we bless you.

²⁷The Lord is God; he has been good to us.

With branches in your hands, start the festival

and march round the altar.

²⁸You are my God, and I give you thanks;

I will proclaim your greatness.

²⁹Give thanks to the Lord, because he is good,

and his love is eternal.