Psalm 101–150

A Promise to Act with Integrity

101Of David. A psalm.^a

¹I will sing of loyal love and justice;

I will sing praises to you, O Yahweh.

²I will give attention to the way of integrity.

When will you come to me?

I will walk in the integrity of my heart

in the midst of my house.

³I will not set before my eyes

any wicked thing.

I hate the work of those who fall away;^b

it will not cling to me.

⁴A perverse heart will depart from me;

I will not know evil.

⁵One who slanders his neighbor in secret,

him I will destroy.

One haughty of eyes and arrogant^c of heart,

him I will not endure.

⁶My eyes will be on the faithful of the land,

that they may live with me.

He who walks in the way of integrity,

he shall minister to me.

⁷There will not live in the midst of my house

a worker of deceit.

One who speaks lies

will not remain^d before my eyes.

⁸Each morning,^e

I will destroy all the wicked of the land,

cutting off from the city of Yahweh all evildoers.

A Plea for Personal and National Help

102A prayer of one afflicted, when he grows faint

and pours out his lament before Yahweh.^a

¹O Yahweh, hear my prayer,

and let my cry for help come to you.

²Do not hide your face from me

in the day of my trouble.

Incline your ear to me.

In the day I call, answer me quickly,

³for my days vanish in smoke,

and my bones are charred like a hearth.

⁴My heart is struck like grass and withers.

Indeed, I forget to eat^b my bread.

⁵Because of the sound of my groaning

my bones^c cling to my skin.^d

⁶I am like an owl^e of the wilderness;

I am like a little owl of the ruins.

⁷I lie awake and I am

like a lone bird on a roof.

⁸All the day my enemies reproach me;

those who mock me swear oaths against me.

⁹Indeed, I eat ashes like bread

and mix my drink with tears^f

¹⁰because of your indignation and anger,

for you have picked me up and thrown me away.

¹¹My days are like a lengthened shadow,

and I wither like grass.

¹²But you, O Yahweh, abide^g forever,

and your remembrance^h from generation to generation.ⁱ

¹³You rise up and take pity on Zion,

because it is time to favor it,

for the appointed time has come.

¹⁴Your servants take pleasure in her stones,

and show favor to its dust.

¹⁵Then the nations will fear the name of Yahweh,

and all the kings of the earth your glory.

¹⁶For Yahweh will rebuild Zion;

he will appear in his glory.

¹⁷He will turn his attention to the prayer of the destitute

and will not despise their prayer.

¹⁸Let this be written for the next generation,

so that a people yet to be created may praise Yah,^j

¹⁹that he looked down from his holy height.

Yahweh looked from heaven over the earth

²⁰to hear the groaning of the prisoner,

to liberate those destined to die,^k

²¹so that they^l may make known in Zion the name of Yahweh,

and his praise in Jerusalem,

²²when the peoples assemble,

together with^m kingdoms, to serve Yahweh.

²³He has broken my strength along the way;

he has cut short my days.

²⁴I say, “My God, do not carry me off

from my life in the middle of my days.”

Your years continue throughout all generations.

²⁵Long ago you laid the foundation of the earth,

and the heavens are the work of your hands.

²⁶They will perish, but you will endure.

And like a garment they will all wear out,

you will replace them like clothing, and they will be set aside.

²⁷But you are the same,

and your years do not end.

²⁸The children of your servants will continue,

and their descendantsⁿ will be established before you.

Thanksgiving for Yahweh’s Compassion

103Of David.^a

¹Bless Yahweh, O my soul,

and all within me, bless his holy name.

²Bless Yahweh, O my soul,

and do not forget all his benefits:

³who forgives all your iniquity,

who heals all your diseases,

⁴who redeems your life from the pit,

who crowns you with loyal love and mercies,

⁵who satisfies your life with good

so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

⁶Yahweh does deeds of justice

and judgments for all who are oppressed,

⁷who made known his ways to Moses,

his deeds to the people^b of Israel.

⁸Yahweh is compassionate and gracious,

slow to anger^c and abundant in loyal love.

⁹He does not dispute continually,

nor keep his anger forever.

¹⁰He has not dealt with us according to our sins,

nor repaid us according to our iniquities.

¹¹For as the heavens are high above the earth,

so his loyal love prevails over those who fear him.

¹²As far as east is from west,

so he has removed far from us the guilt of our transgressions.

¹³As a father pities^d his children,

so Yahweh pities^e those who fear him.

¹⁴For he knows our frame.^f

He remembers that we are dust.

¹⁵As for man, his days are like the grass.

As the flower of the field, so he blossoms.

¹⁶When the wind passes over it, it is no more,

and its place knows it no longer.

¹⁷But the loyal love of Yahweh

is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him,

and his righteousness to their children’s children,

¹⁸to those who keep his covenant

and remember to do his precepts.

¹⁹Yahweh has established his throne in the heavens,

and his kingdom rules over all.

²⁰Bless Yahweh, you his angels,

you mighty heroes who do his word

by obeying^g the sound of his word.

²¹Bless Yahweh, all you his hosts,

you his attendants who do his will.

²²Bless Yahweh, all his works,^h

in all the places of his dominion.

Bless Yahweh, O my soul.

Praise to Yahweh for His Creation and Providence

104Bless Yahweh, O my soul.

O Yahweh my God, you are very great.

You clothe yourself with splendor and majesty,

²you who cover yourself with light as with a garment,

who stretch out the heavens like a tent curtain,

³the one who sets beams in the waters for his upper chambers,

who makes clouds his chariot,

who rides^a on the wings of the wind,

⁴who makes his messengers the winds,

his attendants a flame of fire.

⁵He established the earth on her foundations,

so that it will not be moved forever and ever.

⁶You covered it with the deep as with a garment.

The waters stood above the mountains.

⁷At your rebuke they fled;

at the sound of your thunder they ran off.

⁸They ascended the mountains and drained through the valleys

to the place that you established^b for them.

⁹You set a boundary that they may not cross over,

so that they would not return to cover the earth.

¹⁰You are the one who sends forth springs into the valleys;

they flow between the mountains.

¹¹They give drink for every beast of the field.

The wild donkeys quench^c their thirst.

¹²Along them the birds of the heavens abide.

From among the branches they sing.^d

¹³You are the one who waters^e the mountains

from his upper chambers.

The earth is full^f with the fruit of your labors:

¹⁴who causes grass to grow for the cattle

and herbs for the service of humankind,

to bring forth food from the earth,

¹⁵and wine that makes glad the heart of man,

so that their faces shine from oil,

and bread that strengthens the heart of man.

¹⁶The trees of Yahweh drink their fill,

the cedars of Lebanon that he planted,

¹⁷where birds make their nest.

The stork has its home in the fir trees.

¹⁸The high mountains are for the wild goats;

the cliffs are a refuge for the rock badgers.

¹⁹He made the moon for appointed times;

the sun knows its time for setting.

²⁰You make darkness, and it is night,

when^g all the animals of the forest creep about.

²¹The young lions are roaring for the prey

and seeking their food from God.

²²When the sun rises, they gather together

and lie down in their dens.

²³Humankind goes out to its work,

and to its labor until evening.

²⁴How many are your works, O Yahweh;

all of them you have done in wisdom.

The earth is full of your creatures.

²⁵This is the great and wide^h sea,

in which are moving animals without number,

living things small and great.

²⁶There the ships sail.

Leviathan is there that you formed to play with.ⁱ

²⁷They all wait for you

to give them their food at the proper time.^j

²⁸You give to them; they gather it.

You open your hand, they are filled with what is good.

²⁹You hide your face, they are terrified.

You take away their breath, they die

and return to their dust.

³⁰You send forth your Spirit,^k they are created,

and you renew the face of the ground.

³¹May the glory of Yahweh endure forever.

May Yahweh be glad in his works,

³²the one who looks at the earth and it quakes,

and touches the mountains and they smoke.

³³I will sing to Yahweh throughout my life;

I will sing praise to my God while I remain alive.^l

³⁴May my meditation be pleasing to him.

I will be glad in Yahweh.

³⁵Let sinners perish completely from the earth,

and the wicked not remain alive.^m

Bless Yahweh, O my soul.

Praise Yah.ⁿ

Praise to Yahweh for His Work on Behalf of Israel

105Give thanks to Yahweh; proclaim his name;

make known his deeds among the peoples.

²Sing to him; sing praises concerning him;

tell of all his wonderful works.

³Boast about his holy name.

Let the heart of those who seek Yahweh rejoice.

⁴Make supplication to Yahweh and his might;

seek his face continually.

⁵Remember his wonders that he has done,

his signs and the judgments of his mouth,

⁶O offspring of Abraham his servant,

you descendants^a of Jacob, his chosen ones.

⁷He is Yahweh our God;

his judgments are in all the earth.

⁸He remembers his covenant forever,

the word that he commanded

for a thousand generations,

⁹that he made with Abraham,

and by his oath swore to Isaac.

¹⁰He then confirmed it to Jacob as a statute,

to Israel as an everlasting covenant,

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

as the allotment that is your^b inheritance.”

¹²When they were few in number^c—

a trifle—and were sojourners in it,

¹³and they wandered about among the nations,^d

from one kingdom to another people,

¹⁴he allowed no one to oppress them,

and he rebuked kings on account of them,

¹⁵“Do not touch my anointed ones,

nor harm my prophets.”

¹⁶Then he called for a famine upon the land;

he broke every supply^e of bread.

¹⁷He sent a man on ahead of them;

Joseph was sold as a slave.

¹⁸They clamped^f his feet in fetters.^g

His neck^h went into…