Psalm 90–106

God Is Eternal, and We Are Not

A prayer of Moses, the man of God.

90Lord, you have been our home

since the beginning.

²Before the mountains were born

and before you created the earth and the world,

you are God.

You have always been, and you will always be.

³You turn people back into dust.

You say, “Go back into dust, human beings.”

⁴To you, a thousand years

is like the passing of a day,

or like a few hours in the night.

⁵While people sleep, you take their lives.

They are like grass that grows up in the morning.

⁶In the morning they are fresh and new,

but by evening they dry up and die.

⁷We are destroyed by your anger;

we are terrified by your hot anger.

⁸You have put the evil we have done right in front of you;

you clearly see our secret sins.

⁹All our days pass while you are angry.

Our years end with a moan.

¹⁰Our lifetime is seventy years

or, if we are strong, eighty years.

But the years are full of hard work and pain.

They pass quickly, and then we are gone.

¹¹Who knows the full power of your anger?

Your anger is as great as our fear of you should be.

¹²Teach us how short our lives really are

so that we may be wise.

¹³Lord, how long before you return

and show kindness to your servants?

¹⁴Fill us with your love every morning.

Then we will sing and rejoice all our lives.

¹⁵We have seen years of trouble.

Now give us as much joy as you gave us sorrow.

¹⁶Show your servants the wonderful things you do;

show your greatness to their children.

¹⁷Lord our God, treat us well.

Give us success in what we do;

yes, give us success in what we do.

Safe in the Lord

91Those who go to God Most High for safety

will be protected by the Almighty.

²I will say to the Lord, “You are my place of safety and protection.

You are my God and I trust you.”

³God will save you from hidden traps

and from deadly diseases.

⁴He will cover you with his feathers,

and under his wings you can hide.

His truth will be your shield and protection.

⁵You will not fear any danger by night

or an arrow during the day.

⁶You will not be afraid of diseases that come in the dark

or sickness that strikes at noon.

⁷At your side one thousand people may die,

or even ten thousand right beside you,

but you will not be hurt.

⁸You will only watch

and see the wicked punished.

⁹The Lord is your protection;

you have made God Most High your place of safety.

¹⁰Nothing bad will happen to you;

no disaster will come to your home.

¹¹He has put his angels in charge of you

to watch over you wherever you go.

¹²They will catch you in their hands

so that you will not hit your foot on a rock.

¹³You will walk on lions and cobras;

you will step on strong lions and snakes.

¹⁴The Lord says, “Whoever loves me, I will save.

I will protect those who know me.

¹⁵They will call to me, and I will answer them.

I will be with them in trouble;

I will rescue them and honor them.

¹⁶I will give them a long, full life,

and they will see how I can save.”

Thanksgiving for God’s Goodness

A psalm. A song for the Sabbath day.

92It is good to praise you, Lord,

to sing praises to God Most High.

²It is good to tell of your love in the morning

and of your loyalty at night.

³It is good to praise you with the ten-stringed lyre

and with the soft-sounding harp.

⁴Lord, you have made me happy by what you have done;

I will sing for joy about what your hands have done.

⁵Lord, you have done such great things!

How deep are your thoughts!

⁶Stupid people don’t know these things,

and fools don’t understand.

⁷Wicked people grow like the grass.

Evil people seem to do well,

but they will be destroyed forever.

⁸But, Lord, you will be honored forever.

⁹Lord, surely your enemies,

surely your enemies will be destroyed,

and all who do evil will be scattered.

¹⁰But you have made me as strong as an ox.

You have poured fine oils on me.

¹¹When I looked, I saw my enemies;

I heard the cries of those who are against me.

¹²But good people will grow like palm trees;

they will be tall like the cedars of Lebanon.

¹³Like trees planted in the Temple of the Lord,

they will grow strong in the courtyards of our God.

¹⁴When they are old, they will still produce fruit;

they will be healthy and fresh.

¹⁵They will say that the Lord is good.

He is my Rock, and there is no wrong in him.

The Majesty of the Lord

93The Lord is king. He is clothed in majesty.

The Lord is clothed in majesty

and armed with strength.

The world is set,

and it cannot be moved.

²Lord, your kingdom was set up long ago;

you are everlasting.

³Lord, the seas raise,

the seas raise their voice.

The seas raise up their pounding waves.

⁴The sound of the water is loud;

the ocean waves are powerful,

but the Lord above is much greater.

⁵Lord, your laws will stand forever.

Your Temple will be holy forevermore.

God Will Pay Back His Enemies

94The Lord is a God who punishes.

God, show your greatness and punish!

²Rise up, Judge of the earth,

and give the proud what they deserve.

³How long will the wicked be happy?

How long, Lord?

⁴They are full of proud words;

those who do evil brag about what they have done.

⁵Lord, they crush your people

and make your children suffer.

⁶They kill widows and foreigners

and murder orphans.

⁷They say, “The Lord doesn’t see;

the God of Jacob doesn’t notice.”

⁸You stupid ones among the people, pay attention.

You fools, when will you understand?

⁹Can’t the creator of ears hear?

Can’t the maker of eyes see?

¹⁰Won’t the one who corrects nations punish you?

Doesn’t the teacher of people know everything?

¹¹The Lord knows what people think.

He knows their thoughts are just a puff of wind.

¹²Lord, those you correct are happy;

you teach them from your law.

¹³You give them rest from times of trouble

until a pit is dug for the wicked.

¹⁴The Lord won’t leave his people

nor give up his children.

¹⁵Judgment will again be fair,

and all who are honest will follow it.

¹⁶Who will help me fight against the wicked?

Who will stand with me against those who do evil?

¹⁷If the Lord had not helped me,

I would have died in a minute.

¹⁸I said, “I am about to fall,”

but, Lord, your love kept me safe.

¹⁹I was very worried,

but you comforted me and made me happy.

²⁰Crooked leaders cannot be your friends.

They use the law to cause suffering.

²¹They join forces against people who do right

and sentence to death the innocent.

²²But the Lord is my defender;

my God is the rock of my protection.

²³God will pay them back for their sins

and will destroy them for their evil.

The Lord our God will destroy them.

A Call to Praise and Obedience

95Come, let’s sing for joy to the Lord.

Let’s shout praises to the Rock who saves us.

²Let’s come to him with thanksgiving.

Let’s sing songs to him,

³because the Lord is the great God,

the great King over all gods.

⁴The deepest places on earth are his,

and the highest mountains belong to him.

⁵The sea is his because he made it,

and he created the land with his own hands.

⁶Come, let’s worship him and bow down.

Let’s kneel before the Lord who made us,

⁷because he is our God

and we are the people he takes care of,

the sheep that he tends.

Today listen to what he says:

⁸“Do not be stubborn, as your ancestors were at Meribah,

as they were that day at Massah in the desert.

⁹There your ancestors tested me

and tried me even though they saw what I did.

¹⁰I was angry with those people for forty years.

I said, ‘They are not loyal to me

and have not understood my ways.’

¹¹I was angry and made a promise,

‘They will never enter my rest.’ ”

Praise for the Lord’s Glory

96Sing to the Lord a new song;

sing to the Lord, all the earth.

²Sing to the Lord and praise his name;

every day tell how he saves us.

³Tell the nations of his glory;

tell all peoples the miracles he does,

⁴because the Lord is great; he should be praised at all times.

He should be honored more than all the gods,

⁵because all the gods of the nations are only idols,

but the Lord made the heavens.

⁶The Lord has glory and majesty;

he has power and beauty in his Temple.

⁷Praise the Lord, all nations on earth;

praise the Lord’s glory and power.

⁸Praise the glory of the Lord’s name.

Bring an offering and come into his Temple courtyards.

⁹Worship the Lord because he is holy.

Tremble before him, everyone on earth.

¹⁰Tell the nations, “The Lord is king.”

The earth is set, and it cannot be moved.

He will judge the people fairly.

¹¹Let the skies rejoice and the earth be glad;

let the sea and everything in it shout.

¹²Let the fields and everything in them rejoice.

Then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy

¹³before the Lord, because he is coming.

He is coming to judge the world;

he will judge the world with fairness

and the peoples with truth.

A Hymn About the Lord’s Power

97The Lord is king. Let the earth rejoice;

faraway lands should be glad.

²Thick, dark clouds surround him.

His kingdom is built on what is right and fair.

³A fire goes before him

and burns up his enemies all around.

⁴His lightning lights up the world;

when the people see it, they tremble.

⁵The mountains melt like wax before the Lord,

before the Lord of all the earth.

⁶The heavens tell about his goodness,

and all the people see his glory.

⁷Those who worship idols should be ashamed;

they brag about their gods.

All the gods should worship the Lord.

⁸When Jerusalem hears this, she is glad,

and the towns of Judah rejoice.

They are happy because of your judgments, Lord.

⁹You are the Lord Most High over all the earth;

you are supreme over all gods.

¹⁰People who love the Lord hate evil.

The Lord watches over those who follow him

and frees them from the power of the wicked.

¹¹Light shines on those who do right;

joy belongs to those who are honest.

¹²Rejoice in the Lord, you who do right.

Praise his holy name.

The Lord of Power and Justice

A psalm.

98Sing to the Lord a new song,

because he has done miracles.

By his right hand and holy arm

he has won the victory.

²The Lord has made known his power to save;

he has shown the other nations his victory for his people.

³He has remembered his love

and his loyalty to the people of Israel.

All the ends of the earth have seen

God’s power to save.

⁴Shout with joy to the Lord, all the earth;

burst into songs and make music.

⁵Make music to the Lord with harps,

with harps and the…