Psalm 90–106

God’s Eternity and Human Frailty

90A prayer of Moses, the man of God.^a

¹O Lord, you have been our help^b in all generations.^c

²Before the mountains were born

and you brought forth the earth and the world,

even from everlasting to everlasting, you are God.

³You return man to the dust,

saying,^d “Return, O sons of man.”

⁴For a thousand years in your eyes

are like yesterday when it passes,

or like a watch in the night.

⁵You sweep them away like a flood.

They fall asleep.^e

In the morning they are like grass that sprouts anew.

⁶In the morning it blossoms and sprouts anew;

by evening it withers and dries up.

⁷For we are brought to an end by your anger,

and we hasten off^f by your wrath.

⁸You have put our iniquities before you,

our hidden sins into the light of your countenance.

⁹For all of our days dwindle away in your rage;

we complete our years like a sigh.

¹⁰As for the days of our years, within them are seventy years

or if by strength eighty years, and their pride^g is trouble and disaster,

for it passes quickly and we fly away.

¹¹Who knows the strength of your anger,

and your rage consistent with^h the fear due you?

¹²So teach us to number our days

that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

¹³Return,ⁱ O Yahweh. How long?

And have compassion on^j your servants.

¹⁴Satisfy us in the morning with your loyal love,

that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.

¹⁵Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us,

for as many years as we have seen calamity.

¹⁶Let your work be visible to your servants,

and your majesty to their children.

¹⁷And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us,

and establish for us the work of our hands,

yes, the work of our hands, establish it.

God’s Protection in Times of Crisis

91One who lives in the secret place^a of the Most High

will lodge in the shadow of Shaddai.^b

²I will say to Yahweh, “You are my refuge and my fortress,

my God in whom I trust.”

³For he will deliver^c you from the snare of the fowler,

from the plague of destruction.

⁴With his feathers he will cover you,

and under his wings you can take refuge.

His faithfulness will be a shield and a buckler.^d

⁵You need not fear the terror of the night,

or the arrow that flies by day,

⁶or the plague that spreads in the darkness,

or the destruction that devastates at noon.

⁷A thousand may fall at your side,

and ten thousand at your right hand,

but it will not come near you.

⁸You will only look with your eyes,

and see the punishment of the wicked.

⁹For you, O Yahweh, are my refuge.

You have made the Most High your dwelling place.^e

¹⁰No harm will befall you,

and no plague will come near your tent.

¹¹For he will command his angels concerning you,

to watch over you in all your ways.

¹²In their hands they will bear you up,

lest you strike your foot against a stone.

¹³You will tread on lion and viper;

you will trample young lion and serpent.

¹⁴Because he loves me, therefore I will deliver him;

I will protect^f him because he knows my name.

¹⁵He will call upon me and I will answer him;

I will be with him in trouble;

I will rescue and honor him.

¹⁶With long life^g I will satisfy him,

and show him my salvation.

Thanksgiving to Yahweh for Victory

92A psalm. A song. For the Sabbath day.^a

¹It is good to give thanks to Yahweh,

and to sing praise concerning your name, O Most High;

²to declare in the morning your loyal love

and your faithfulness in the night,

³on the ten string, and on the harp,

with a melody on the lyre.

⁴For you, O Yahweh, have made me glad by your work;

by the deeds of your hands I sing for joy.

⁵How great are your deeds, O Yahweh;

how very deep are your thoughts.

⁶The brutish man does not know,

and the fool cannot understand this.

⁷When the wicked flourish like grass

and all the workers of evil blossom,

it is so they can be destroyed forever.

⁸But you are on high forever, O Yahweh.

⁹For behold, your enemies, O Yahweh,

for behold, your enemies will perish.

All the workers of evil will be scattered.

¹⁰But you have exalted my horn like that of a wild ox;

you have anointed me^b with fresh oil.

¹¹And so my eye looks on my enemies.^c

My ears hear those evildoers who rise up against me.

¹²The righteous^d will flourish like the date palm.

They will grow like a cedar in Lebanon.

¹³Planted in the house^e of Yahweh,

they will flourish in the courts of our God.

¹⁴They will still prosper in old age.

They will be fat and luxuriant,^f

¹⁵to declare that Yahweh is upright.

He is my rock, and there is no injustice^g in him.

Yahweh Is King Over All the Earth

93Yahweh is king; he clothes himself with majesty.

Yahweh clothes himself; he girds himself with might.

Yes, the world is established so that it will not be moved.

²Your throne is established from of old;

you are from everlasting.

³The rivers have lifted up, O Yahweh;

the rivers have lifted up their rumbling;^a

the rivers have lifted up their pounding.

⁴Mightier than the rumblings of many waters,

mightier than the mighty breakers of the sea,

Yahweh on high is mighty.

⁵Your testimonies are fully reliable.

Holiness is fitting for your house,^b

O Yahweh, forever.^c

A Prayer for Retribution against Oppressors

94O Yahweh, God of vengeance,

God of vengeance, shine forth.

²Rise up, O Judge of the earth.

Repay upon the proud what is their rightful due.

³How long will the wicked, O Yahweh,

how long will the wicked exult?

⁴They gush words^a unrestrained.

All the evildoers boast.

⁵They crush your people, O Yahweh;

they oppress your inheritance.

⁶They kill widow and stranger,

and they murder orphans,

⁷while^b they say, “Yah^c does not see,”

and “The God of Jacob does not pay attention.”

⁸You pay attention, O brutes among the people.

And you fools, when will you show insight?

⁹Will the one who planted the ear not hear?

Will the one who formed the eye not see?

¹⁰Will the one who instructs nations not rebuke,

the one who teaches humankind knowledge?

¹¹Yahweh knows the thoughts of humankind,

that they are to no purpose.^d

¹²Blessed is the man, O Yah, whom you instruct

and teach from your law,

¹³to give him rest from days of trouble,

until a pit is dug for the wicked.

¹⁴For Yahweh will not abandon his people,

nor forsake his inheritance.

¹⁵For judgment will return to righteousness,^e

and all the upright in heart will follow after it.

¹⁶Who rose up for me against the wicked?

Who stood up for me against the workers of iniquity?

¹⁷If Yahweh had not been my help,

my soul would soon have dwelt in silence.

¹⁸When I thought,^f “My foot is slipping,”

your loyal love, O Yahweh, supported me.

¹⁹When my troubled thoughts were many within me,^g

your consolations cheered my soul.

²⁰Can there be allied with you a throne of destruction,

one that forms trouble based on statute?

²¹They band together against the life of the righteous,

and declare the blameless guilty of blood.^h

²²But Yahweh has become my high stronghold,

and my God has become my rock of refuge.

²³And he will repay on them their iniquity,

and byⁱ their evil he will destroy them.

Yahweh our God will destroy them.

A Call to Worship and Obey

95Come, let us sing for joy to Yahweh;

let us shout joyfully to the rock of our salvation.

²Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving;

with songs let us shout joyfully to him.

³For Yahweh is the^a great God,

and the great king over all gods,

⁴in whose hand are the unexplored places^b of the earth,

and the heights of the mountains are his,

⁵to whom belongs the sea that he made, ^c

and the dry land that his hands formed.

⁶Come in, let us worship and bow down;

let us kneel before Yahweh, our maker.

⁷For he is our God,

and we are the people of his pasture

and the sheep of his hand.

Today^d if you will hear his voice:^e

⁸“Do not harden your heart as at Meribah,

as in the day of Massah in the wilderness,

⁹when your ancestors^f tried me.

They put me to the test,

even though they had seen my work.

¹⁰For forty years I loathed that generation,

and said, ‘They are a people whose heart wanders.

And my ways they do not know.’

¹¹Therefore I swore in my anger,

‘They shall surely not enter into my rest.’ ”

Yahweh the King Comes in Judgment

96Sing to^a Yahweh a new song;

sing to^b Yahweh, all the earth.

²Sing to^c Yahweh; bless his name.

Announce^d his salvation from day to day.

³Tell his glory among the nations,

his marvelous works among all the peoples.

⁴For Yahweh is great and very worthy of praise;

he is to be feared above all gods.

⁵For all the gods of the peoples are idols,^e

but Yahweh made the heavens.

⁶Splendor and majesty are before him;

strength and beauty are in his sanctuary.

⁷Ascribe to Yahweh, you families of the peoples,

ascribe to Yahweh glory and strength.

⁸Ascribe to Yahweh the glory due his name;

bring an offering and come into his courts.

⁹Worship Yahweh in holy array;

tremble before him, all the earth.

¹⁰Say among the nations, “Yahweh is king!

Yes, the world is established so that it will not be moved.

He will judge the peoples fairly.”

¹¹Let the heavens be glad and the earth rejoice.

Let the sea with^f its fullness roar.

¹²Let the field with^g all that is in it exult.

Then all the trees of the forests will sing for joy

¹³before Yahweh, for he is coming;

for he is coming to judge the earth.

He will judge the world with righteousness,

and the peoples with his faithfulness.

Yahweh’s Glorious Reign

97Yahweh is king! Let the earth rejoice;

let many coastlands be glad.

²Cloud and thick darkness are surrounding him;

righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne.

³Fire goes before him,

and devours his enemies round about.

⁴His lightnings light the world;

the earth sees and trembles.

⁵The mountains melt like wax at the presence of Yahweh,

at the presence of the Lord of all the earth.

⁶The heavens declare his righteousness,

and all the peoples see his glory.

⁷Let all who serve an image be ashamed,

those who boast about idols.^a

Worship him, all you gods.

⁸Zion hears and is glad,

and the daughters of Judah rejoice

because of your judgments, O…