Psalm 146–147

Praise God Who Helps the Weak

146Praise the Lord!

My whole being, praise the Lord.

²I will praise the Lord all my life;

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

³Do not put your trust in princes

or other people, who cannot save you.

⁴When people die, they are buried.

Then all of their plans come to an end.

⁵Happy are those who are helped by the God of Jacob.

Their hope is in the Lord their God.

⁶He made heaven and earth,

the sea and everything in it.

He remains loyal forever.

⁷He does what is fair for those who have been wronged.

He gives food to the hungry.

The Lord sets the prisoners free.

⁸The Lord gives sight to the blind.

The Lord lifts up people who are in trouble.

The Lord loves those who do right.

⁹The Lord protects the foreigners.

He defends the orphans and widows,

but he blocks the way of the wicked.

¹⁰The Lord will be King forever.

Jerusalem, your God is everlasting.

Praise the Lord!

Praise God Who Helps His People

147Praise the Lord!

It is good to sing praises to our God;

it is good and pleasant to praise him.

²The Lord rebuilds Jerusalem;

he brings back the captured Israelites.

³He heals the brokenhearted

and bandages their wounds.

⁴He counts the stars

and names each one.

⁵Our Lord is great and very powerful.

There is no limit to what he knows.

⁶The Lord defends the humble,

but he throws the wicked to the ground.

⁷Sing praises to the Lord;

praise our God with harps.

⁸He fills the sky with clouds

and sends rain to the earth

and makes grass grow on the hills.

⁹He gives food to cattle

and to the little birds that call.

¹⁰He is not impressed with the strength of a horse

or with human might.

¹¹The Lord is pleased with those who respect him,

with those who trust his love.

¹²Jerusalem, praise the Lord;

Jerusalem, praise your God.

¹³He makes your city gates strong

and blesses your children inside.

¹⁴He brings peace to your country

and fills you with the finest grain.

¹⁵He gives a command to the earth,

and it quickly obeys him.

¹⁶He spreads the snow like wool

and scatters the frost like ashes.

¹⁷He throws down hail like rocks.

No one can stand the cold he sends.

¹⁸Then he gives a command, and it melts.

He sends the breezes, and the waters flow.

¹⁹He gave his word to Jacob,

his laws and demands to Israel.

²⁰He didn’t do this for any other nation.

They don’t know his laws.

Praise the Lord!