Psalm 101–150

Psalm 101

A psalm by David. 

¹I will sing about mercy and justice. 

O Lord, I will make music to praise you. 

²I want to understand the path to integrity. 

When will you come to me? 

I will live in my own home with integrity. 

³I will not put anything wicked in front of my eyes. 

I hate what unfaithful people do. 

I want no part of it. 

⁴I will keep far away from devious minds. 

I will have nothing to do with evil. 

⁵I will destroy anyone who secretly slanders his neighbor. 

I will not tolerate anyone with a conceited look or arrogant heart. 

⁶My eyes will be watching the faithful people in the land 

so that they may live with me. 

The person who lives with integrity will serve me. 

⁷The one who does deceitful things will not stay in my home. 

The one who tells lies will not remain in my presence. 

⁸Every morning I will destroy all the wicked people in the land 

to rid the Lord’s city of all troublemakers. 

Psalm 102

A prayer by someone who is suffering, when he is weary and pours out his troubles in the Lord’s presence. 

¹O Lord, hear my prayer, 

and let my cry for help come to you. 

²Do not hide your face from me when I am in trouble. 

Turn your ear toward me. 

Answer me quickly when I call. 

³My days disappear like smoke. 

My bones burn like hot coals. 

⁴My heart is beaten down and withered like grass 

because I have forgotten about eating. 

⁵I am nothing but skin and bones 

because of my loud groans. 

⁶I am like a desert owl, 

like an owl living in the ruins. 

⁷I lie awake. 

I am like a lonely bird on a rooftop. 

⁸All day long my enemies insult me. 

Those who ridicule me use my name as a curse. 

⁹I eat ashes like bread 

and my tears are mixed with my drink 

¹⁰because of your hostility and anger, 

because you have picked me up and thrown me away. 

¹¹My days are like a shadow that is getting longer, 

and I wither away like grass. 

¹²But you, O Lord, remain forever. 

You are remembered throughout every generation. 

¹³You will rise and have compassion on Zion, 

because it is time to grant a favor to it. 

Indeed, the appointed time has come. 

¹⁴Your servants value Zion’s stones, 

and they pity its rubble. 

¹⁵The nations will fear the Lord’s name. 

All the kings of the earth will fear your glory. 

¹⁶When the Lord builds Zion, 

he will appear in his glory. 

¹⁷He will turn his attention to the prayers 

of those who have been abandoned. 

He will not despise their prayers. 

¹⁸This will be written down for a future generation 

so that a people yet to be created may praise the Lord: 

¹⁹“The Lord looked down from his holy place high above. 

From heaven he looked at the earth. 

²⁰He heard the groans of the prisoners 

and set free those who were condemned to death. 

²¹The Lord’s name is announced in Zion 

and his praise in Jerusalem 

²²when nations and kingdoms gather 

to worship the Lord.” 

²³He has weakened my strength along the way. 

He has reduced ⸤the number of⸥ my days. 

²⁴I said, “My God, don’t take me now in the middle of my life. 

Your years ⸤continue on⸥ throughout every generation. 

²⁵Long ago you laid the foundation of the earth. 

Even the heavens are the works of your hands. 

²⁶They will come to an end, but you will still go on. 

They will all wear out like clothing. 

You will change them like clothes, 

and they will be thrown away. 

²⁷But you remain the same, and your life will never end. 

²⁸The children of your servants will go on living ⸤here⸥. 

Their descendants will be secure in your presence.” 

Psalm 103

By David. 

¹Praise the Lord, my soul! 

Praise his holy name, all that is within me. 

²Praise the Lord, my soul, 

and never forget all the good he has done: 

³He is the one who forgives all your sins, 

the one who heals all your diseases, 

⁴the one who rescues your life from the pit, 

the one who crowns you with mercy and compassion, 

⁵the one who fills your life with blessings 

so that you become young again like an eagle. 

⁶The Lord does what is right and fair 

for all who are oppressed. 

⁷He let Moses know his ways. 

He let the Israelites know the things he had done. 

⁸The Lord is compassionate, merciful, patient, 

and always ready to forgive. 

⁹He will not always accuse us of wrong 

or be angry ⸤with us⸥ forever. 

¹⁰He has not treated us as we deserve for our sins 

or paid us back for our wrongs. 

¹¹As high as the heavens are above the earth— 

that is how vast his mercy is toward those who fear him. 

¹²As far as the east is from the west— 

that is how far he has removed our rebellious acts from himself. 

¹³As a father has compassion for his children, 

so the Lord has compassion for those who fear him. 

¹⁴He certainly knows what we are made of. 

He bears in mind that we are dust. 

¹⁵Human life is as short-lived as grass. 

It blossoms like a flower in the field. 

¹⁶When the wind blows over the flower, it disappears, 

and there is no longer any sign of it. 

¹⁷But from everlasting to everlasting, 

the Lord’s mercy is on those who fear him. 

His righteousness belongs 

to their children and grandchildren, 

¹⁸to those who are faithful to his promise,^a

to those who remember to follow his guiding principles. 

¹⁹The Lord has set his throne in heaven. 

His kingdom rules everything. 

²⁰Praise the Lord, all his angels, 

you mighty beings who carry out his orders 

and are ready to obey his spoken orders. 

²¹Praise the Lord, all his armies, 

his servants who carry out his will. 

²²Praise the Lord, all his creatures 

in all the places of his empire. 

Praise the Lord, my soul! 

Psalm 104

¹Praise the Lord, my soul! 

O Lord my God, you are very great. 

You are clothed with splendor and majesty. 

²You cover yourself with light as though it were a robe. 

You stretch out the heavens as though they were curtains. 

³You lay the beams of your home in the water. 

You use the clouds for your chariot. 

You move on the wings of the wind. 

⁴You make your angels winds 

and your servants flames of fire. 

⁵You set the earth on its foundations 

so that it can never be shaken. 

⁶You covered the earth with an ocean as though it were a robe. 

Water stood above the mountains 

⁷and fled because of your threat. 

Water ran away at the sound of your thunder. 

⁸The mountains rose and the valleys sank 

to the place you appointed for them. 

⁹Water cannot cross the boundary you set 

and cannot come back to cover the earth. 

¹⁰You make water gush from springs into valleys. 

It flows between the mountains. 

¹¹Every wild animal drinks ⸤from them⸥. 

Wild donkeys quench their thirst. 

¹²The birds live by the streams. 

They sing among the branches. 

¹³You water the mountains from your home above. 

You fill the earth with the fruits of your labors. 

¹⁴You make grass grow for cattle 

and make vegetables for humans to use 

in order to get food from the ground. 

¹⁵You make wine to cheer human hearts, 

olive oil to make faces shine, 

and bread to strengthen human hearts. 

¹⁶The Lord’s trees, the cedars in Lebanon which he planted, 

drink their fill. 

¹⁷Birds build their nests in them. 

Storks make their homes in fir trees. 

¹⁸The high mountains are for wild goats. 

The rocks are a refuge for badgers. 

¹⁹He created the moon, which marks the seasons, 

and the sun, which knows when to set. 

²⁰He brings darkness, and it is nighttime, 

when all the wild animals in the forest come out. 

²¹The young lions roar for their prey 

and seek their food from God. 

²²When the sun rises, 

they gather and lie down in their dens. 

²³Then people go to do their work, 

to do their tasks until evening. 

²⁴What a large number of things you have made, O Lord! 

You made them all by wisdom. 

The earth is filled with your creatures. 

²⁵The sea is so big and wide with countless creatures, 

living things both large and small. 

²⁶Ships sail on it, 

and Leviathan,which you made, plays in it. 

²⁷All of them look to you to give them their food at the right time. 

²⁸You give it to them, and they gather it up. 

You open your hand, and they are filled with blessings. 

²⁹You hide your face, and they are terrified. 

You take away their breath, and they die and return to dust. 

³⁰You send out your Spirit, and they are created. 

You renew the face of the earth. 

³¹May the glory of the Lord endure forever. 

May the Lord find joy in what he has made. 

³²He looks at the earth, and it trembles. 

He touches the mountains, and they smoke. 

³³I will sing to the Lord throughout my life. 

I will make music to praise my God as long as I live. 

³⁴May my thoughts be pleasing to him. 

I will find joy in the Lord. 

³⁵May sinners vanish from the world. 

May there no longer be any wicked people. 

Praise the Lord, my soul! 

Hallelujah!

Psalm 105

¹Give thanks to the Lord. 

Call on him. 

Make known among the nations what he has done. 

²Sing to him. 

Make music to praise him. 

Meditate on all the miracles he has performed. 

³Brag about his holy name. 

Let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice. 

⁴Search for the Lord and his strength. 

Always seek his presence. 

⁵Remember the miracles he performed, 

the amazing things he did, and the judgments he pronounced, 

⁶you descendants of his servant Abraham, 

you descendants of Jacob, his chosen ones. 

⁷He is the Lord our God. 

His judgments are pronounced throughout the earth. 

⁸He always remembers his promise,^a

the word that he commanded for a thousand generations, 

⁹the promise that he made to Abraham, 

and his sworn oath to Isaac. 

¹⁰He confirmed it as a law for Jacob, 

as an everlasting promise to Israel, 

¹¹by saying, “I will give you the land of Canaan. 

It is your share of the inheritance.” 

¹²While the people of Israel were few in number, 

a small group of foreigners living in that land, 

¹³they wandered from nation to nation, 

from one kingdom to another. 

¹⁴He didn’t permit anyone to oppress them. 

He warned kings about them: 

¹⁵“Do not touch my anointed ones 

or harm my prophets.” 

¹⁶He brought famine to the land. 

He took away their food supply. 

¹⁷He sent a man ahead of them. 

He sent Joseph, who was sold as a slave. 

¹⁸They hurt his feet with shackles, 

and cut into his neck with an iron collar. 

¹⁹The Lord’s promise tested him through fiery trials 

until his prediction came true. 

²⁰The…