Psalm 100:1–102:28

Shout to the Lord, all the earth.

²Serve the Lord with joy;

come before him with singing.

³Know that the Lordis God.

He made us, and we belong to him;

we are his people, the sheep he tends.

⁴Come into his city with songs of thanksgiving

and into his courtyards with songs of praise.

Thank him and praise his name.

⁵The Lord is good. His love is forever,

and his loyalty goes on and on.

A Promise to Rule Well

A psalm of David.

101I will sing of your love and fairness;

Lord, I will sing praises to you.

²I will be careful to live an innocent life.

When will you come to me?

I will live an innocent life in my house.

³I will not look at anything wicked.

I hate those who turn against you;

they will not be found near me.

⁴Let those who want to do wrong stay away from me;

I will have nothing to do with evil.

⁵If anyone secretly says things against his neighbor,

I will stop him.

I will not allow people

to be proud and look down on others.

⁶I will look for trustworthy people

so I can live with them in the land.

Only those who live innocent lives

will be my servants.

⁷No one who is dishonest will live in my house;

no liars will stay around me.

⁸Every morning I will destroy the wicked in the land.

I will rid the Lord’s city of people who do evil.

A Cry for Help

A prayer of a person who is suffering when he is discouraged and tells the Lord his complaints.

102Lord, listen to my prayer;

let my cry for help come to you.

²Do not hide from me

in my time of trouble.

Pay attention to me.

When I cry for help, answer me quickly.

³My life is passing away like smoke,

and my bones are burned up with fire.

⁴My heart is like grass

that has been cut and dried.

I forget to eat.

⁵Because of my grief,

my skin hangs on my bones.

⁶I am like a desert owl,

like an owl living among the ruins.

⁷I lie awake.

I am like a lonely bird on a housetop.

⁸All day long enemies insult me;

those who make fun of me use my name as a curse.

⁹I eat ashes for food,

and my tears fall into my drinks.

¹⁰Because of your great anger,

you have picked me up and thrown me away.

¹¹My days are like a passing shadow;

I am like dried grass.

¹²But, Lord, you rule forever,

and your fame goes on and on.

¹³You will come and have mercy on Jerusalem,

because the time has now come to be kind to her;

the right time has come.

¹⁴Your servants love even her stones;

they even care about her dust.

¹⁵Nations will fear the name of the Lord,

and all the kings on earth will honor you.

¹⁶The Lord will rebuild Jerusalem;

there his glory will be seen.

¹⁷He will answer the prayers of the needy;

he will not reject their prayers.

¹⁸Write these things for the future

so that people who are not yet born will praise the Lord.

¹⁹The Lord looked down from his holy place above;

from heaven he looked down at the earth.

²⁰He heard the moans of the prisoners,

and he freed those sentenced to die.

²¹The name of the Lord will be heard in Jerusalem;

his praise will be heard there.

²²People will come together,

and kingdoms will serve the Lord.

²³God has made me tired of living;

he has cut short my life.

²⁴So I said, “My God, do not take me in the middle of my life.

Your years go on and on.

²⁵In the beginning you made the earth,

and your hands made the skies.

²⁶They will be destroyed, but you will remain.

They will all wear out like clothes.

And, like clothes, you will change them

and throw them away.

²⁷But you never change,

and your life will never end.

²⁸Our children will live in your presence,

and their children will remain with you.”