Psalm 113–115

Psalm 113

¹Praise the Lord.

Praise him, you who serve the Lord.

Praise the name of the Lord.

²Let us praise the name of the Lord,

both now and forever.

³From the sunrise in the east to the sunset in the west,

may the name of the Lord be praised.

⁴The Lord is honored over all of the nations.

His glory reaches to the highest heavens.

⁵Who is like the Lord our God?

He sits on his throne in heaven.

⁶He bends down to look

at the heavens and the earth.

⁷He raises poor people up from the trash pile.

He lifts needy people out of the ashes.

⁸He lets them sit with princes.

He lets them sit with the princes of their own people.

⁹He gives children to the woman who doesn’t have any children.

He makes her a happy mother in her own home.

Praise the Lord.

Psalm 114

¹The people of Israel came out of Egypt.

The people of Jacob left a land where a different language was spoken.

²Then Judah became the holy place where God lived.

Israel became the land he ruled over.

³The Red Sea saw him and parted.

The Jordan River stopped flowing.

⁴The mountains leaped like rams.

The hills skipped like lambs.

⁵Red Sea, why did you part?

Jordan River, why did you stop flowing?

⁶Why did you mountains leap like rams?

Why did you hills skip like lambs?

⁷Earth, tremble with fear when the Lord comes.

Tremble when the God of Jacob is near.

⁸He turned the rock into a pool.

He turned the hard rock into springs of water.

Psalm 115

¹Lord, may glory be given to you, not to us.

You are loving and faithful.

²Why do the nations ask,

“Where is their God?”

³Our God is in heaven.

He does anything he wants to do.

⁴But the statues of their gods are made out of silver and gold.

They are made by the hands of men.

⁵They have mouths, but they can’t speak.

They have eyes, but they can’t see.

⁶They have ears, but they can’t hear.

They have noses, but they can’t smell.

⁷They have hands, but they can’t feel.

They have feet, but they can’t walk.

They have throats, but they can’t say anything.

⁸Those who make statues of gods will be like them.

So will all those who trust in them.

⁹People of Israel, trust in the Lord.

He helps you. He is like a shield that keeps you safe.

¹⁰Priests of Aaron, trust in the Lord.

He helps you. He is like a shield that keeps you safe.

¹¹You who have respect for the Lord, trust in him.

He helps you. He is like a shield that keeps you safe.

¹²The Lord remembers us and will bless us.

He will bless the people of Israel.

He will bless the priests of Aaron.

¹³The Lord will bless those who have respect for him.

He will bless important and unimportant people alike.

¹⁴May the Lord give you many children.

May he give them to you and to your children after you.

¹⁵May the Lord bless you.

He is the Maker of heaven and earth.

¹⁶The highest heavens belong to the Lord.

But he has given the earth to human beings.

¹⁷Dead people don’t praise the Lord.

Those who lie quietly in the grave don’t praise him.

¹⁸But we who are alive praise the Lord,

both now and forever.

Praise the Lord.