Psalm 113–115

Praise for the Lord’s Kindness

113Praise the Lord!

Praise him, you servants of the Lord;

praise the name of the Lord.

²The Lord’s name should be praised

now and forever.

³The Lord’s name should be praised

from where the sun rises to where it sets.

⁴The Lord is supreme over all the nations;

his glory reaches to the skies.

⁵No one is like the Lord our God,

who rules from heaven,

⁶who bends down to look

at the skies and the earth.

⁷The Lord lifts the poor from the dirt

and takes the helpless from the ashes.

⁸He seats them with princes,

the princes of his people.

⁹He gives children to the woman who has none

and makes her a happy mother.

Praise the Lord!

God Brought Israel from Egypt

114When the Israelites went out of Egypt,

the people of Jacob left that foreign country.

²Then Judah became God’s holy place;

Israel became the land he ruled.

³The Red Sea looked and ran away;

the Jordan River turned back.

⁴The mountains danced like sheep

and the hills like little lambs.

⁵Sea, why did you run away?

Jordan, why did you turn back?

⁶Mountains, why did you dance like sheep?

Hills, why did you dance like little lambs?

⁷Earth, shake with fear before the Lord,

before the God of Jacob.

⁸He turned a rock into a pool of water,

a hard rock into a spring of water.

The One True God

115It does not belong to us, Lord.

The glory belongs to you

because of your love and loyalty.

²Why do the nations ask,

“Where is their God?”

³Our God is in heaven.

He does what he pleases.

⁴Their idols are made of silver and gold,

the work of human hands.

⁵They have mouths, but they cannot speak.

They have eyes, but they cannot see.

⁶They have ears, but they cannot hear.

They have noses, but they cannot smell.

⁷They have hands, but they cannot feel.

They have feet, but they cannot walk.

No sounds come from their throats.

⁸People who make idols will be like them,

and so will those who trust them.

⁹Family of Israel, trust the Lord;

he is your helper and your protection.

¹⁰Family of Aaron, trust the Lord;

he is your helper and your protection.

¹¹You who respect the Lord should trust him;

he is your helper and your protection.

¹²The Lord remembers us and will bless us.

He will bless the family of Israel;

he will bless the family of Aaron.

¹³The Lord will bless those who respect him,

from the smallest to the greatest.

¹⁴May the Lord give you success,

and may he give you and your children success.

¹⁵May you be blessed by the Lord,

who made heaven and earth.

¹⁶Heaven belongs to the Lord,

but he gave the earth to people.

¹⁷Dead people do not praise the Lord;

those in the grave are silent.

¹⁸But we will praise the Lord

now and forever.

Praise the Lord!