Psalm 90–106

Book Four (Psalms 90–106)

Psalm 90

A prayer of Moses, the man of God.

¹Lord, through all the generations

you have been our home!

²Before the mountains were born,

before you gave birth to the earth and the world,

from beginning to end, you are God.

³You turn people back to dust, saying,

“Return to dust, you mortals!”

⁴For you, a thousand years are as a passing day,

as brief as a few night hours.

⁵You sweep people away like dreams that disappear.

They are like grass that springs up in the morning.

⁶In the morning it blooms and flourishes,

but by evening it is dry and withered.

⁷We wither beneath your anger;

we are overwhelmed by your fury.

⁸You spread out our sins before you—

our secret sins—and you see them all.

⁹We live our lives beneath your wrath,

ending our years with a groan.

¹⁰Seventy years are given to us!

Some even live to eighty.

But even the best years are filled with pain and trouble;

soon they disappear, and we fly away.

¹¹Who can comprehend the power of your anger?

Your wrath is as awesome as the fear you deserve.

¹²Teach us to realize the brevity of life,

so that we may grow in wisdom.

¹³O Lord, come back to us!

How long will you delay?

Take pity on your servants!

¹⁴Satisfy us each morning with your unfailing love,

so we may sing for joy to the end of our lives.

¹⁵Give us gladness in proportion to our former misery!

Replace the evil years with good.

¹⁶Let us, your servants, see you work again;

let our children see your glory.

¹⁷And may the Lord our God show us his approval

and make our efforts successful.

Yes, make our efforts successful!

Psalm 91

¹Those who live in the shelter of the Most High

will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty.

²This I declare about the Lord:

He alone is my refuge, my place of safety;

he is my God, and I trust him.

³For he will rescue you from every trap

and protect you from deadly disease.

⁴He will cover you with his feathers.

He will shelter you with his wings.

His faithful promises are your armor and protection.

⁵Do not be afraid of the terrors of the night,

nor the arrow that flies in the day.

⁶Do not dread the disease that stalks in darkness,

nor the disaster that strikes at midday.

⁷Though a thousand fall at your side,

though ten thousand are dying around you,

these evils will not touch you.

⁸Just open your eyes,

and see how the wicked are punished.

⁹If you make the Lord your refuge,

if you make the Most High your shelter,

¹⁰no evil will conquer you;

no plague will come near your home.

¹¹For he will order his angels

to protect you wherever you go.

¹²They will hold you up with their hands

so you won’t even hurt your foot on a stone.

¹³You will trample upon lions and cobras;

you will crush fierce lions and serpents under your feet!

¹⁴The Lord says, “I will rescue those who love me.

I will protect those who trust in my name.

¹⁵When they call on me, I will answer;

I will be with them in trouble.

I will rescue and honor them.

¹⁶I will reward them with a long life

and give them my salvation.”

Psalm 92

A psalm. A song to be sung on the Sabbath Day.

¹It is good to give thanks to the Lord,

to sing praises to the Most High.

²It is good to proclaim your unfailing love in the morning,

your faithfulness in the evening,

³accompanied by a ten-stringed instrument, a harp,

and the melody of a lyre.

⁴You thrill me, Lord, with all you have done for me!

I sing for joy because of what you have done.

⁵O Lord, what great works you do!

And how deep are your thoughts.

⁶Only a simpleton would not know,

and only a fool would not understand this:

⁷Though the wicked sprout like weeds

and evildoers flourish,

they will be destroyed forever.

⁸But you, O Lord, will be exalted forever.

⁹Your enemies, Lord, will surely perish;

all evildoers will be scattered.

¹⁰But you have made me as strong as a wild ox.

You have anointed me with the finest oil.

¹¹My eyes have seen the downfall of my enemies;

my ears have heard the defeat of my wicked opponents.

¹²But the godly will flourish like palm trees

and grow strong like the cedars of Lebanon.

¹³For they are transplanted to the Lord’s own house.

They flourish in the courts of our God.

¹⁴Even in old age they will still produce fruit;

they will remain vital and green.

¹⁵They will declare, “The Lord is just!

He is my rock!

There is no evil in him!”

Psalm 93

¹The Lord is king! He is robed in majesty.

Indeed, the Lord is robed in majesty and armed with strength.

The world stands firm

and cannot be shaken.

²Your throne, O Lord, has stood from time immemorial.

You yourself are from the everlasting past.

³The floods have risen up, O Lord.

The floods have roared like thunder;

the floods have lifted their pounding waves.

⁴But mightier than the violent raging of the seas,

mightier than the breakers on the shore—

the Lord above is mightier than these!

⁵Your royal laws cannot be changed.

Your reign, O Lord, is holy forever and ever.

Psalm 94

¹O Lord, the God of vengeance,

O God of vengeance, let your glorious justice shine forth!

²Arise, O Judge of the earth.

Give the proud what they deserve.

³How long, O Lord?

How long will the wicked be allowed to gloat?

⁴How long will they speak with arrogance?

How long will these evil people boast?

⁵They crush your people, Lord,

hurting those you claim as your own.

⁶They kill widows and foreigners

and murder orphans.

⁷“The Lord isn’t looking,” they say,

“and besides, the God of Israel doesn’t care.”

⁸Think again, you fools!

When will you finally catch on?

⁹Is he deaf—the one who made your ears?

Is he blind—the one who formed your eyes?

¹⁰He punishes the nations—won’t he also punish you?

He knows everything—doesn’t he also know what you are doing?

¹¹The Lord knows people’s thoughts;

he knows they are worthless!

¹²Joyful are those you discipline, Lord,

those you teach with your instructions.

¹³You give them relief from troubled times

until a pit is dug to capture the wicked.

¹⁴The Lord will not reject his people;

he will not abandon his special possession.

¹⁵Judgment will again be founded on justice,

and those with virtuous hearts will pursue it.

¹⁶Who will protect me from the wicked?

Who will stand up for me against evildoers?

¹⁷Unless the Lord had helped me,

I would soon have settled in the silence of the grave.

¹⁸I cried out, “I am slipping!”

but your unfailing love, O Lord, supported me.

¹⁹When doubts filled my mind,

your comfort gave me renewed hope and cheer.

²⁰Can unjust leaders claim that God is on their side—

leaders whose decrees permit injustice?

²¹They gang up against the righteous

and condemn the innocent to death.

²²But the Lord is my fortress;

my God is the mighty rock where I hide.

²³God will turn the sins of evil people back on them.

He will destroy them for their sins.

The Lord our God will destroy them.

Psalm 95

¹Come, let us sing to the Lord!

Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation.

²Let us come to him with thanksgiving.

Let us sing psalms of praise to him.

³For the Lord is a great God,

a great King above all gods.

⁴He holds in his hands the depths of the earth

and the mightiest mountains.

⁵The sea belongs to him, for he made it.

His hands formed the dry land, too.

⁶Come, let us worship and bow down.

Let us kneel before the Lord our maker,

⁷for he is our God.

We are the people he watches over,

the flock under his care.

If only you would listen to his voice today!

⁸The Lord says, “Don’t harden your hearts as Israel did at Meribah,

as they did at Massah in the wilderness.

⁹For there your ancestors tested and tried my patience,

even though they saw everything I did.

¹⁰For forty years I was angry with them, and I said,

‘They are a people whose hearts turn away from me.

They refuse to do what I tell them.’

¹¹So in my anger I took an oath:

‘They will never enter my place of rest.’ ”

Psalm 96

¹Sing a new song to the Lord!

Let the whole earth sing to the Lord!

²Sing to the Lord; praise his name.

Each day proclaim the good news that he saves.

³Publish his glorious deeds among the nations.

Tell everyone about the amazing things he does.

⁴Great is the Lord! He is most worthy of praise!

He is to be feared above all gods.

⁵The gods of other nations are mere idols,

but the Lord made the heavens!

⁶Honor and majesty surround him;

strength and beauty fill his sanctuary.

⁷O nations of the world, recognize the Lord;

recognize that the Lord is glorious and strong.

⁸Give to the Lord the glory he deserves!

Bring your offering and come into his courts.

⁹Worship the Lord in all his holy splendor.

Let all the earth tremble before him.

¹⁰Tell all the nations, “The Lord reigns!”

The world stands firm and cannot be shaken.

He will judge all peoples fairly.

¹¹Let the heavens be glad, and the earth rejoice!

Let the sea and everything in it shout his praise!

¹²Let the fields and their crops burst out with joy!

Let the trees of the forest sing for joy

¹³before the Lord, for he is coming!

He is coming to judge the earth.

He will judge the world with justice,

and the nations with his truth.

Psalm 97

¹The Lord is king!

Let the earth rejoice!

Let the farthest coastlands be glad.

²Dark clouds surround him.

Righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne.

³Fire spreads ahead of him

and burns up all his foes.

⁴His lightning flashes out across the world.

The earth sees and trembles.

⁵The mountains melt like wax before the Lord,

before the Lord of all the earth.

⁶The heavens proclaim his righteousness;

every nation sees his glory.

⁷Those who worship idols are disgraced—

all who brag about their worthless gods—

for every god must bow to him.

⁸Jerusalem has heard and rejoiced,

and all the towns of Judah are glad

because of your justice, O Lord!

⁹For you, O Lord, are supreme over all the earth;

you are exalted far above all gods.

¹⁰You who love the Lord, hate evil!

He protects the lives of his godly people

and rescues them from the power of the wicked.

¹¹Light shines on the godly,

and joy on those whose hearts are right.

¹²May all…