Psalm 101–150

PSALM 101

A Psalm of David.

¹I will sing of loyalty and of justice;

to thee, O Lord, I will sing.

²I will give heed to the way that is blameless.

Oh when wilt thou come to me?

I will walk with integrity of heart

within my house;

³I will not set before my eyes

anything that is base.

I hate the work of those who fall away;

it shall not cleave to me.

⁴Perverseness of heart shall be far from me;

I will know nothing of evil.

⁵Him who slanders his neighbor secretly

I will destroy.

The man of haughty looks and arrogant heart

I will not endure.

⁶I will look with favor on the faithful in the land,

that they may dwell with me;

he who walks in the way that is blameless

shall minister to me.

⁷No man who practices deceit

shall dwell in my house;

no man who utters lies

shall continue in my presence.

⁸Morning by morning I will destroy

all the wicked in the land,

cutting off all the evildoers

from the city of the Lord.

PSALM 102

A prayer of one afflicted, when he is faint and pours out his complaint before the Lord.

¹Hear my prayer, O Lord;

let my cry come to thee!

²Do not hide thy face from me

in the day of my distress!

Incline thy ear to me;

answer me speedily in the day when I call!

³For my days pass away like smoke,

and my bones burn like a furnace.

⁴My heart is smitten like grass, and withered;

I forget to eat my bread.

⁵Because of my loud groaning

my bones cleave to my flesh.

⁶I am like a vulture^p of the wilderness,

like an owl of the waste places;

⁷I lie awake,

I am like a lonely bird on the housetop.

⁸All the day my enemies taunt me,

those who deride me use my name for a curse.

⁹For I eat ashes like bread,

and mingle tears with my drink,

¹⁰because of thy indignation and anger;

for thou hast taken me up and thrown me away.

¹¹My days are like an evening shadow;

I wither away like grass.

¹²But thou, O Lord, art enthroned for ever;

thy name endures to all generations.

¹³Thou wilt arise and have pity on Zion;

it is the time to favor her;

the appointed time has come.

¹⁴For thy servants hold her stones dear,

and have pity on her dust.

¹⁵The nations will fear the name of the Lord,

and all the kings of the earth thy glory.

¹⁶For the Lord will build up Zion,

he will appear in his glory;

¹⁷he will regard the prayer of the destitute,

and will not despise their supplication.

¹⁸Let this be recorded for a generation to come,

so that a people yet unborn may praise the Lord:

¹⁹that he looked down from his holy height,

from heaven the Lord looked at the earth,

²⁰to hear the groans of the prisoners,

to set free those who were doomed to die;

²¹that men may declare in Zion the name of the Lord,

and in Jerusalem his praise,

²²when peoples gather together,

and kingdoms, to worship the Lord.

²³He has broken my strength in mid-course;

he has shortened my days.

²⁴“O my God,” I say, “take me not hence

in the midst of my days,

thou whose years endure

throughout all generations!”

²⁵Of old thou didst lay the foundation of the earth,

and the heavens are the work of thy hands.

²⁶They will perish, but thou dost endure;

they will all wear out like a garment.

Thou changest them like raiment, and they pass away;

²⁷but thou art the same, and thy years have no end.

²⁸The children of thy servants shall dwell secure;

their posterity shall be established before thee.

PSALM 103

A Psalm of David.

¹Bless the Lord, O my soul;

and all that is within me, bless his holy name!

²Bless the Lord, O my soul,

and forget not all his benefits,

³who forgives all your iniquity,

who heals all your diseases,

⁴who redeems your life from the Pit,

who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,

⁵who satisfies you with good as long as you live

so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

⁶The Lord works vindication

and justice for all who are oppressed.

⁷He made known his ways to Moses,

his acts to the people of Israel.

⁸The Lord is merciful and gracious,

slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.

⁹He will not always chide,

nor will he keep his anger for ever.

¹⁰He does not deal with us according to our sins,

nor requite us according to our iniquities.

¹¹For as the heavens are high above the earth,

so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him;

¹²as far as the east is from the west,

so far does he remove our transgressions from us.

¹³As a father pities his children,

so the Lord pities those who fear him.

¹⁴For he knows our frame;

he remembers that we are dust.

¹⁵As for man, his days are like grass;

he flourishes like a flower of the field;

¹⁶for the wind passes over it, and it is gone,

and its place knows it no more.

¹⁷But the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting

upon those who fear him,

and his righteousness to children’s children,

¹⁸to those who keep his covenant

and remember to do his commandments.

¹⁹The Lord has established his throne in the heavens,

and his kingdom rules over all.

²⁰Bless the Lord, O you his angels,

you mighty ones who do his word,

hearkening to the voice of his word!

²¹Bless the Lord, all his hosts,

his ministers that do his will!

²²Bless the Lord, all his works,

in all places of his dominion.

Bless the Lord, O my soul!

PSALM 104

¹Bless the Lord, O my soul!

O Lord my God, thou art very great!

Thou art clothed with honor and majesty,

²who coverest thyself with light as with a garment,

who hast stretched out the heavens like a tent,

³who hast laid the beams of thy chambers on the waters,

who makest the clouds thy chariot,

who ridest on the wings of the wind,

⁴who makest the winds thy messengers,

fire and flame thy ministers.

⁵Thou didst set the earth on its foundations,

so that it should never be shaken.

⁶Thou didst cover it with the deep as with a garment;

the waters stood above the mountains.

⁷At thy rebuke they fled;

at the sound of thy thunder they took to flight.

⁸The mountains rose, the valleys sank down

to the place which thou didst appoint for them.

⁹Thou didst set a bound which they should not pass,

so that they might not again cover the earth.

¹⁰Thou makest springs gush forth in the valleys;

they flow between the hills,

¹¹they give drink to every beast of the field;

the wild asses quench their thirst.

¹²By them the birds of the air have their habitation;

they sing among the branches.

¹³From thy lofty abode thou waterest the mountains;

the earth is satisfied with the fruit of thy work.

¹⁴Thou dost cause the grass to grow for the cattle,

and plants for man to cultivate,

that he may bring forth food from the earth,

¹⁵and wine to gladden the heart of man,

oil to make his face shine,

and bread to strengthen man’s heart.

¹⁶The trees of the Lord are watered abundantly,

the cedars of Lebanon which he planted.

¹⁷In them the birds build their nests;

the stork has her home in the fir trees.

¹⁸The high mountains are for the wild goats;

the rocks are a refuge for the badgers.

¹⁹Thou hast made the moon to mark the seasons;

the sun knows its time for setting.

²⁰Thou makest darkness, and it is night,

when all the beasts of the forest creep forth.

²¹The young lions roar for their prey,

seeking their food from God.

²²When the sun rises, they get them away

and lie down in their dens.

²³Man goes forth to his work

and to his labor until the evening.

²⁴O Lord, how manifold are thy works!

In wisdom hast thou made them all;

the earth is full of thy creatures.

²⁵Yonder is the sea, great and wide,

which teems with things innumerable,

living things both small and great.

²⁶There go the ships,

and Leviathan which thou didst form to sport in it.

²⁷These all look to thee,

to give them their food in due season.

²⁸When thou givest to them, they gather it up;

when thou openest thy hand, they are filled with good things.

²⁹When thou hidest thy face, they are dismayed;

when thou takest away their breath, they die

and return to their dust.

³⁰When thou sendest forth thy Spirit,^s they are created;

and thou renewest the face of the ground.

³¹May the glory of the Lord endure for ever,

may the Lord rejoice in his works,

³²who looks on the earth and it trembles,

who touches the mountains and they smoke!

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

I will sing praise to my God while I have being.

³⁴May my meditation be pleasing to him,

for I rejoice in the Lord.

³⁵Let sinners be consumed from the earth,

and let the wicked be no more!

Bless the Lord, O my soul!

Praise the Lord!

PSALM 105

¹O give thanks to the Lord, call on his name,

make known his deeds among the peoples!

²Sing to him, sing praises to him,

tell of all his wonderful works!

³Glory in his holy name;

let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice!

⁴Seek the Lord and his strength,

seek his presence continually!

⁵Remember the wonderful works that he has done,

his miracles, and the judgments he uttered,

⁶O offspring of Abraham his servant,

sons of Jacob, his chosen ones!

⁷He is the Lord our God;

his judgments are in all the earth.

⁸He is mindful of his covenant for ever,

of the word that he commanded, for a thousand generations,

⁹the covenant which he made with Abraham,

his sworn promise to Isaac,

¹⁰which he confirmed to Jacob as a statute,

to Israel as an everlasting covenant,

¹¹saying, “To you I will give the land of Canaan

as your portion for an inheritance.”

¹²When they were few in number,

of little account, and sojourners in it,

¹³wandering from nation to nation,

from one kingdom to another people,

¹⁴he allowed no one to oppress them;

he rebuked kings on their account,

¹⁵saying, “Touch not my anointed ones,

do my prophets no harm!”

¹⁶When he summoned a famine on the land,

and broke every staff of bread,

¹⁷he had sent a man ahead of them,

Joseph, who was sold as a slave.

¹⁸His feet were hurt with fetters,

his neck was put in a collar of iron;

¹⁹until what he had said came to pass

the word of the Lord tested him.

²⁰The king sent and released him,

the ruler of the peoples set him free;

²¹he made him lord of his house,

and ruler of all his possessions,

²²to instruct his…