Psalm 104–105

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 irons.ⁱ

¹⁹Until the time his word came about,

the word of Yahweh tested^j him.

²⁰The king sent and he freed him;

the ruler of the peoples sent and let him loose.

²¹He made him lord of his house

and ruler of all his possessions,

²²to obligate^k his officials as he saw fit^l

and teach his elders wisdom.

²³Then Israel came to Egypt,

and Jacob was a sojourner in the land of Ham.

²⁴And he^m made his people very fruitful.

He also made themⁿ stronger than their^o enemies.

²⁵He turned their heart to hate his people,

to deal deceitfully against his servants.

²⁶He sent his servant Moses,

together with Aaron whom he had chosen.

²⁷They set before them the words concerning his signs

and portents in the land of Ham.

²⁸He sent darkness and made it dark,

and they did not rebel against his words.

²⁹He turned their waters into blood

and it killed their fish.

³⁰Their land swarmed with frogs,

even in the chambers of their kings.

³¹He spoke, and there came flies

and gnats throughout all their territory.^p

³²He gave hail for their rains

and the fire of lightning in their land.

³³And he struck their vines and fig trees,

and shattered the trees of their territory.

³⁴He spoke and there came locusts

and young locusts without number.

³⁵And they ate up all the vegetation in their land,

and they ate up the fruit of their ground.

³⁶And he struck down all the firstborn in their land,

the first of all their virility.

³⁷Then he brought them out with silver and gold,

and there was none among his tribes who stumbled.

³⁸Egypt was glad when they departed,

because the fear of them^q had fallen upon them.

³⁹He spread out a cloud for a covering,

and fire to give light at night.

⁴⁰They^r asked, and he brought quail,

and satisfied them with the bread of heaven.

⁴¹He opened the rock and waters flowed;

they coursed^s through the dry places like a river.

⁴²For he remembered his holy promise;^t

he remembered Abraham his servant.

⁴³And so he brought out his people with joy,

his chosen ones with rejoicing.

⁴⁴And he gave to them the lands of the nations,

and they inherited the labor of the peoples,

⁴⁵so that they might observe his statutes,

and keep his laws.

Praise Yah.^u