Psalm 101–150

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.”

Praise to the Lord of Love

Of David.

103All that I am, praise the Lord;

everything in me, praise his holy name.

²My whole being, praise the Lord

and do not forget all his kindnesses.

³He forgives all my sins

and heals all my diseases.

⁴He saves my life from the grave

and loads me with love and mercy.

⁵He satisfies me with good things

and makes me young again, like the eagle.

⁶The Lord does what is right and fair

for all who are wronged by others.

⁷He showed his ways to Moses

and his deeds to the people of Israel.

⁸The Lord shows mercy and is kind.

He does not become angry quickly, and he has great love.

⁹He will not always accuse us,

and he will not be angry forever.

¹⁰He has not punished us as our sins should be punished;

he has not repaid us for the evil we have done.

¹¹As high as the sky is above the earth,

so great is his love for those who respect him.

¹²He has taken our sins away from us

as far as the east is from west.

¹³The Lord has mercy on those who respect him,

as a father has mercy on his children.

¹⁴He knows how we were made;

he remembers that we are dust.

¹⁵Human life is like grass;

we grow like a flower in the field.

¹⁶After the wind blows, the flower is gone,

and there is no sign of where it was.

¹⁷But the Lord’s love for those who respect him

continues forever and ever,

and his goodness continues to their grandchildren

¹⁸and to those who keep his agreement

and who remember to obey his orders.

¹⁹The Lord has set his throne in heaven,

and his kingdom rules over everything.

²⁰You who are his angels, praise the Lord.

You are the mighty warriors who do what he says

and who obey his voice.

²¹You, his armies, praise the Lord;

you are his servants who do what he wants.

²²Everything the Lord has made

should praise him in all the places he rules.

My whole being, praise the Lord.

Praise to God Who Made the World

104My whole being, praise the Lord.

Lord my God, you are very great.

You are clothed with glory and majesty;

²you wear light like a robe.

You stretch out the skies like a tent.

³You build your room above the clouds.

You make the clouds your chariot,

and you ride on the wings of the wind.

⁴You make the winds your messengers,

and flames of fire are your servants.

⁵You built the earth on its foundations

so it can never be moved.

⁶You covered the earth with oceans;

the water was above the mountains.

⁷But at your command, the water rushed away.

When you thundered your orders, it hurried away.

⁸The mountains rose; the valleys sank.

The water went to the places you made for it.

⁹You set borders for the seas that they cannot cross,

so water will never cover the earth again.

¹⁰You make springs pour into the ravines;

they flow between the mountains.

¹¹They water all the wild animals;

the wild donkeys come there to drink.

¹²Wild birds make nests by the water;

they sing among the tree branches.

¹³You water the mountains from above.

The earth is full of the things you made.

¹⁴You make the grass for cattle

and vegetables for the people.

You make food grow from the earth.

¹⁵You give us wine that makes happy hearts

and olive oil that makes our faces shine.

You give us bread that gives us strength.

¹⁶The Lord’s trees have plenty of water;

they are the cedars of Lebanon, which he planted.

¹⁷The birds make their nests there;

the stork’s home is in the fir trees.

¹⁸The high mountains belong to the wild goats.

The rocks are hiding places for the badgers.

¹⁹You made the moon to mark the seasons,

and the sun always knows when to set.

²⁰You make it dark, and it becomes night.

Then all the wild animals creep around.

²¹The lions roar as they attack.

They look to God for food.

²²When the sun rises, they leave

and go back to their dens to lie down.

²³Then people go to work

and work until evening.

²⁴Lord, you have made many things;

with your wisdom you made them all.

The earth is full of your riches.

²⁵Look at the sea, so big and wide,

with creatures large and small that cannot be counted.

²⁶Ships travel over the ocean,

and there is the sea monster Leviathan,

which you made to play there.

²⁷All these things depend on you

to give them their food at the right time.

²⁸When you give it to them,

they gather it up.

When you open your hand,

they are filled with good food.

²⁹When you turn away from them,

they become frightened.

When you take away their breath,

they die and turn to dust.

³⁰When you breathe on them,

they are created,

and you make the land new again.

³¹May the glory of the Lord be forever.

May the Lord enjoy what he has made.

³²He just looks at the earth, and it shakes.

He touches the mountains, and they smoke.

³³I will sing to the Lord all my life;

I will sing praises to my God as long as I live.

³⁴May my thoughts please him;

I am happy in the Lord.

³⁵Let sinners be destroyed from the earth,

and let the wicked live no longer.

My whole being, praise the Lord.

Praise the Lord.

God’s Love for Israel

105Give thanks to the Lord and pray to him.

Tell the nations what he has done.

²Sing to him; sing praises to him.

Tell about all his miracles.

³Be glad that you are his;

let those who seek the Lord be happy.

⁴Depend on the Lord and his strength;

always go to him for help.

⁵Remember the miracles he has done;

remember his wonders and his decisions.

⁶You are descendants of his servant Abraham,

the children of Jacob, his chosen people.

⁷He is the Lord our God.

His laws are for all the world.

⁸He will keep his agreement forever;

he will keep his promises always.

⁹He will keep the agreement he made with Abraham

and the promise he made to Isaac.

¹⁰He made it a law for the people of Jacob;

he made it an agreement with Israel to last forever.

¹¹The Lord said, “I will give you the land of Canaan,

and it will belong to you.”

¹²Then God’s people were few in number.

They were strangers in the land.

¹³They went from one nation to another,

from one kingdom to another.

¹⁴But the Lord did not let anyone hurt them;

he warned kings not to harm them.

¹⁵He said, “Don’t touch my chosen people,

and don’t harm my prophets.”

¹⁶God ordered a time of hunger in the land,

and he destroyed all the food.

¹⁷Then he sent a man ahead of them—

Joseph, who was sold as a slave.

¹⁸They put chains around his feet

and an iron ring around his neck.

¹⁹Then the time he had spoken of came,

and the Lord’s words proved that Joseph was right.

²⁰The king of Egypt sent for Joseph and freed him;

the ruler of the people set him free.

²¹He made him the master of his house;

Joseph was in charge of his riches.

²²He could order the princes as he wished.

He taught the older men to be wise.

²³Then his father Israel came to Egypt;

Jacob ⁿ lived in Egypt. ⁿ

²⁴The Lord made his people grow in number,

and he made them stronger than their enemies.

²⁵He caused the Egyptians to hate his people

and to make plans against his servants.

²⁶Then he sent his servant Moses,

and Aaron, whom he had chosen.

²⁷They did many signs among the Egyptians

and worked wonders in Egypt.

²⁸The Lord sent darkness and made the land dark,

but the Egyptians turned against what he said.

²⁹So he changed their water…