Psalm 101–150

Psalm 101

A psalm of David.

¹I will sing of your love and justice, Lord.

I will praise you with songs.

²I will be careful to live a blameless life—

when will you come to help me?

I will lead a life of integrity

in my own home.

³I will refuse to look at

anything vile and vulgar.

I hate all who deal crookedly;

I will have nothing to do with them.

⁴I will reject perverse ideas

and stay away from every evil.

⁵I will not tolerate people who slander their neighbors.

I will not endure conceit and pride.

⁶I will search for faithful people

to be my companions.

Only those who are above reproach

will be allowed to serve me.

⁷I will not allow deceivers to serve in my house,

and liars will not stay in my presence.

⁸My daily task will be to ferret out the wicked

and free the city of the Lord from their grip.

Psalm 102

A prayer of one overwhelmed with trouble, pouring out problems before the Lord.

¹Lord, hear my prayer!

Listen to my plea!

²Don’t turn away from me

in my time of distress.

Bend down to listen,

and answer me quickly when I call to you.

³For my days disappear like smoke,

and my bones burn like red-hot coals.

⁴My heart is sick, withered like grass,

and I have lost my appetite.

⁵Because of my groaning,

I am reduced to skin and bones.

⁶I am like an owl in the desert,

like a little owl in a far-off wilderness.

⁷I lie awake,

lonely as a solitary bird on the roof.

⁸My enemies taunt me day after day.

They mock and curse me.

⁹I eat ashes for food.

My tears run down into my drink

¹⁰because of your anger and wrath.

For you have picked me up and thrown me out.

¹¹My life passes as swiftly as the evening shadows.

I am withering away like grass.

¹²But you, O Lord, will sit on your throne forever.

Your fame will endure to every generation.

¹³You will arise and have mercy on Jerusalem—

and now is the time to pity her,

now is the time you promised to help.

¹⁴For your people love every stone in her walls

and cherish even the dust in her streets.

¹⁵Then the nations will tremble before the Lord.

The kings of the earth will tremble before his glory.

¹⁶For the Lord will rebuild Jerusalem.

He will appear in his glory.

¹⁷He will listen to the prayers of the destitute.

He will not reject their pleas.

¹⁸Let this be recorded for future generations,

so that a people not yet born will praise the Lord.

¹⁹Tell them the Lord looked down

from his heavenly sanctuary.

He looked down to earth from heaven

²⁰to hear the groans of the prisoners,

to release those condemned to die.

²¹And so the Lord’s fame will be celebrated in Zion,

his praises in Jerusalem,

²²when multitudes gather together

and kingdoms come to worship the Lord.

²³He broke my strength in midlife,

cutting short my days.

²⁴But I cried to him, “O my God, who lives forever,

don’t take my life while I am so young!

²⁵Long ago you laid the foundation of the earth

and made the heavens with your hands.

²⁶They will perish, but you remain forever;

they will wear out like old clothing.

You will change them like a garment

and discard them.

²⁷But you are always the same;

you will live forever.

²⁸The children of your people

will live in security.

Their children’s children

will thrive in your presence.”

Psalm 103

A psalm of David.

¹Let all that I am praise the Lord;

with my whole heart, I will praise his holy name.

²Let all that I am praise the Lord;

may I never forget the good things he does for me.

³He forgives all my sins

and heals all my diseases.

⁴He redeems me from death

and crowns me with love and tender mercies.

⁵He fills my life with good things.

My youth is renewed like the eagle’s!

⁶The Lord gives righteousness

and justice to all who are treated unfairly.

⁷He revealed his character to Moses

and his deeds to the people of Israel.

⁸The Lord is compassionate and merciful,

slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love.

⁹He will not constantly accuse us,

nor remain angry forever.

¹⁰He does not punish us for all our sins;

he does not deal harshly with us, as we deserve.

¹¹For his unfailing love toward those who fear him

is as great as the height of the heavens above the earth.

¹²He has removed our sins as far from us

as the east is from the west.

¹³The Lord is like a father to his children,

tender and compassionate to those who fear him.

¹⁴For he knows how weak we are;

he remembers we are only dust.

¹⁵Our days on earth are like grass;

like wildflowers, we bloom and die.

¹⁶The wind blows, and we are gone—

as though we had never been here.

¹⁷But the love of the Lord remains forever

with those who fear him.

His salvation extends to the children’s children

¹⁸of those who are faithful to his covenant,

of those who obey his commandments!

¹⁹The Lord has made the heavens his throne;

from there he rules over everything.

²⁰Praise the Lord, you angels,

you mighty ones who carry out his plans,

listening for each of his commands.

²¹Yes, praise the Lord, you armies of angels

who serve him and do his will!

²²Praise the Lord, everything he has created,

everything in all his kingdom.

Let all that I am praise the Lord.

Psalm 104

¹Let all that I am praise the Lord.

O Lord my God, how great you are!

You are robed with honor and majesty.

²You are dressed in a robe of light.

You stretch out the starry curtain of the heavens;

³you lay out the rafters of your home in the rain clouds.

You make the clouds your chariot;

you ride upon the wings of the wind.

⁴The winds are your messengers;

flames of fire are your servants.

⁵You placed the world on its foundation

so it would never be moved.

⁶You clothed the earth with floods of water,

water that covered even the mountains.

⁷At your command, the water fled;

at the sound of your thunder, it hurried away.

⁸Mountains rose and valleys sank

to the levels you decreed.

⁹Then you set a firm boundary for the seas,

so they would never again cover the earth.

¹⁰You make springs pour water into the ravines,

so streams gush down from the mountains.

¹¹They provide water for all the animals,

and the wild donkeys quench their thirst.

¹²The birds nest beside the streams

and sing among the branches of the trees.

¹³You send rain on the mountains from your heavenly home,

and you fill the earth with the fruit of your labor.

¹⁴You cause grass to grow for the livestock

and plants for people to use.

You allow them to produce food from the earth—

¹⁵wine to make them glad,

olive oil to soothe their skin,

and bread to give them strength.

¹⁶The trees of the Lord are well cared for—

the cedars of Lebanon that he planted.

¹⁷There the birds make their nests,

and the storks make their homes in the cypresses.

¹⁸High in the mountains live the wild goats,

and the rocks form a refuge for the hyraxes.

¹⁹You made the moon to mark the seasons,

and the sun knows when to set.

²⁰You send the darkness, and it becomes night,

when all the forest animals prowl about.

²¹Then the young lions roar for their prey,

stalking the food provided by God.

²²At dawn they slink back

into their dens to rest.

²³Then people go off to their work,

where they labor until evening.

²⁴O Lord, what a variety of things you have made!

In wisdom you have made them all.

The earth is full of your creatures.

²⁵Here is the ocean, vast and wide,

teeming with life of every kind,

both large and small.

²⁶See the ships sailing along,

and Leviathan, which you made to play in the sea.

²⁷They all depend on you

to give them food as they need it.

²⁸When you supply it, they gather it.

You open your hand to feed them,

and they are richly satisfied.

²⁹But if you turn away from them, they panic.

When you take away their breath,

they die and turn again to dust.

³⁰When you give them your breath, life is created,

and you renew the face of the earth.

³¹May the glory of the Lord continue forever!

The Lord takes pleasure in all he has made!

³²The earth trembles at his glance;

the mountains smoke at his touch.

³³I will sing to the Lord as long as I live.

I will praise my God to my last breath!

³⁴May all my thoughts be pleasing to him,

for I rejoice in the Lord.

³⁵Let all sinners vanish from the face of the earth;

let the wicked disappear forever.

Let all that I am praise the Lord.

Praise the Lord!

Psalm 105

¹Give thanks to the Lord and proclaim his greatness.

Let the whole world know what he has done.

²Sing to him; yes, sing his praises.

Tell everyone about his wonderful deeds.

³Exult in his holy name;

rejoice, you who worship the Lord.

⁴Search for the Lord and for his strength;

continually seek him.

⁵Remember the wonders he has performed,

his miracles, and the rulings he has given,

⁶you children of his servant Abraham,

you descendants of Jacob, his chosen ones.

⁷He is the Lord our God.

His justice is seen throughout the land.

⁸He always stands by his covenant—

the commitment he made to a thousand generations.

⁹This is the covenant he made with Abraham

and the oath he swore to Isaac.

¹⁰He confirmed it to Jacob as a decree,

and to the people of Israel as a never-ending covenant:

¹¹“I will give you the land of Canaan

as your special possession.”

¹²He said this when they were few in number,

a tiny group of strangers in Canaan.

¹³They wandered from nation to nation,

from one kingdom to another.

¹⁴Yet he did not let anyone oppress them.

He warned kings on their behalf:

¹⁵“Do not touch my chosen people,

and do not hurt my prophets.”

¹⁶He called for a famine on the land of Canaan,

cutting off its food supply.

¹⁷Then he sent someone to Egypt ahead of them—

Joseph, who was sold as a slave.

¹⁸They bruised his feet with fetters

and placed his neck in an iron collar.

¹⁹Until the time came to fulfill his dreams,

the Lord tested Joseph’s character.

²⁰Then Pharaoh sent for him and set him free;

the ruler of the nation opened his prison door.

²¹Joseph was put in charge of all the king’s household;

he became ruler over all the king’s possessions.

²²He could instruct the king’s aides as he pleased

and teach the king’s advisers.

²³Then Israel arrived in Egypt;

Jacob lived as a…