Psalms 90-96

Psalm 90

¹A Prayer of Moses, the man of God. Lord, you have been our resting-place in all generations.

²Before the mountains were made, before you had given birth to the earth and the world, before time was, and for ever, you are God.

³You send man back to his dust; and say, Go back, you children of men.

⁴For to you a thousand years are no more than yesterday when it is past, and like a watch in the night.

⁵...

⁶In the morning it is green; in the evening it is cut down, and becomes dry.

⁷We are burned up by the heat of your passion, and troubled by your wrath.

⁸You have put our evil doings before you, our secret sins in the light of your face.

⁹For all our days have gone by in your wrath; our years come to an end like a breath.

¹⁰The measure of our life is seventy years; and if through strength it may be eighty years, its pride is only trouble and sorrow, for it comes to an end and we are quickly gone.

¹¹Who has knowledge of the power of your wrath, or who takes note of the weight of your passion?

¹²So give us knowledge of the number of our days, that we may get a heart of wisdom.

¹³Come back, O Lord; how long? let your purpose for your servants be changed.

¹⁴In the morning give us your mercy in full measure; so that we may have joy and delight all our days.

¹⁵Make us glad in reward for the days of our sorrow, and for the years in which we have seen evil.

¹⁶Make your work clear to your servants, and your glory to their children.

¹⁷Let the pleasure of the Lord our God be on us: O Lord, give strength to the work of our hands.

Psalm 91

¹Happy is he whose resting-place is in the secret of the Lord, and under the shade of the wings of the Most High;

²Who says of the Lord, He is my safe place and my tower of strength: he is my God, in whom is my hope.

³He will take you out of the bird-net, and keep you safe from wasting disease.

⁴You will be covered by his feathers; under his wings you will be safe: his good faith will be your salvation.

⁵You will have no fear of the evil things of the night, or of the arrow in flight by day,

⁶Or of the disease which takes men in the dark, or of the destruction which makes waste when the sun is high.

⁷You will see a thousand falling by your side, and ten thousand at your right hand; but it will not come near you.

⁸Only with your eyes will you see the reward of the evil-doers.

⁹Because you have said, I am in the hands of the Lord, the Most High is my safe resting-place;

¹⁰No evil will come on you, and no disease will come near your tent.

¹¹For he will give you into the care of his angels to keep you wherever you go.

¹²In their hands they will keep you up, so that your foot may not be crushed against a stone.

¹³You will put your foot on the lion and the snake; the young lion and the great snake will be crushed under your feet.

¹⁴Because he has given me his love, I will take him out of danger: I will put him in a place of honour, because he has kept my name in his heart.

¹⁵When his cry comes up to me, I will give him an answer: I will be with him in trouble; I will make him free from danger and give him honour.

¹⁶With long life will he be rewarded; and I will let him see my salvation.

Psalm 92

¹A Psalm. A Song for the Sabbath. It is a good thing to give praise to the Lord, and to make melody to your name, O Most High;

²To make clear your mercy in the morning, and your unchanging faith every night;

³On a ten-corded instrument, and on an instrument of music with a quiet sound.

⁴For you, O Lord, have made me glad through your work; I will have joy in the works of your hands.

⁵O Lord, how great are your works! and your thoughts are very deep.

⁶A man without sense has no knowledge of this; and a foolish man may not take it in.

⁷When the sinners come up like the grass, and all the workers of evil do well for themselves, it is so that their end may be eternal destruction.

⁸But you, O Lord, are on high for ever.

⁹For see! your haters, O Lord, will be put to death; all the workers of evil will be put to flight;

¹⁰But my horn is lifted up like the horn of the ox: the best oil is flowing on my head.

¹¹My eyes have seen trouble come on my haters; my ears have news of the fate of the evil-doers who have come up against me.

¹²The good man will be like a tall tree in his strength; his growth will be as the wide-stretching trees of Lebanon.

¹³Those who are planted in the house of the Lord will come up tall and strong in his gardens.

¹⁴They will give fruit even when they are old; they will be fertile and full of growth;

¹⁵For a sign that the Lord is upright; he is my Rock, there is no deceit in him.

Psalm 93

¹The Lord is King; he is clothed with glory; the Lord is clothed with strength; power is the cord of his robe; the world is fixed, so that it may not be moved.

²The seat of your power has been from the past; you are eternal.

³The rivers send up, O Lord, the rivers send up their voices; they send them up with a loud cry.

⁴The Lord in heaven is stronger than the noise of great waters, yes, he is stronger than the great waves of the sea.

⁵Your witness is most certain; it is right for your house to be holy, O Lord, for ever.

Psalm 94

¹O God, in whose hands is punishment, O God of punishment, let your shining face be seen.

²Be lifted up, O judge of the earth; let their reward come to the men of pride.

³How long will sinners, O Lord, how long will sinners have joy over us?

⁴Words of pride come from their lips; all the workers of evil say great things of themselves.

⁵Your people are crushed by them, O Lord, your heritage is troubled,

⁶They put to death the widow and the guest, they take the lives of children who have no father;

⁷And they say, Jah will not see it, the God of Jacob will not give thought to it.

⁸Give your mind to my words, you who are without wisdom among the people; you foolish men, when will you be wise?

⁹Has he by whom your ears were planted no hearing? or is he blind by whom your eyes were formed?

¹⁰He who is the judge of the nations, will he not give men the reward of their acts, even he who gives knowledge to man?

¹¹The Lord has knowledge of the thoughts of man, for they are only a breath.

¹²Happy is the man who is guided by you, O Jah, and to whom you give teaching out of your law;

¹³So that you may give him rest from the days of evil, till a hole is made ready for the destruction of the sinners.

¹⁴The Lord will not give up his people, or take away his support from his heritage;

¹⁵But decisions will again be made in righteousness; and they will be kept by all whose hearts are true.

¹⁶Who will give me help against the sinners? and who will be my support against the workers of evil?

¹⁷If the Lord had not been my helper, my soul would quickly have gone down into death.

¹⁸If I say, My foot is slipping; your mercy, O Lord, is my support.

¹⁹Among all my troubled thoughts, your comforts are the delight of my soul.

²⁰What part with you has the seat of sin, which makes evil into a law?

²¹They are banded together against the soul of the upright, to give decisions against those who have done no wrong.

²²But the Lord is my safe resting-place; my God is the Rock where I am safe.

²³And he has made their evil designs come back on themselves, cutting them off in their sin; the Lord our God will put an end to them.

Psalm 95

¹O come, let us make songs to the Lord; sending up glad voices to the Rock of our salvation.

²Let us come before his face with praises; and make melody with holy songs.

³For the Lord is a great God, and a great King over all gods.

⁴The deep places of the earth are in his hand; and the tops of the mountains are his.

⁵The sea is his, and he made it; and the dry land was formed by his hands.

⁶O come, let us give worship, falling down on our knees before the Lord our Maker.

⁷For he is our God; and we are the people to whom he gives food, and the sheep of his flock. Today, if you would only give ear to his voice!

⁸Let not your hearts be hard, as at Meribah, as in the day of Massah in the waste land;

⁹When your fathers put me to the test and saw my power and my work.

¹⁰For forty years I was angry with this generation, and said, They are a people whose hearts are turned away from me, for they have no knowledge of my ways;

¹¹And I made an oath in my wrath, that they might not come into my place of rest.

Psalm 96

¹O make a new song to the Lord; let all the earth make melody to the Lord.

²Make songs to the Lord, blessing his name; give the good news of his salvation day by day.

³Make clear his glory to the nations, and his wonders to all the peoples.

⁴For the Lord is great, and greatly to be praised; he is more to be feared than all other gods.

⁵For all the gods of the nations are false gods; but the Lord made the heavens.

⁶Honour and glory are before him: strong and fair is his holy place.

⁷Give to the Lord, O you families of the peoples, give to the Lord glory and strength.

⁸Give to the Lord the glory of his name; take with you an offering and come into his house.

⁹O give worship to the Lord in holy robes; be in fear before him, all the earth.

¹⁰Say among the nations, The Lord is King; yes, the world is ordered so that it may not be moved; he will be an upright judge of the peoples.

¹¹Let the heavens have joy and the earth be glad; let the sea be thundering with all its waters;

¹²Let the field be glad, and everything which is in it; yes, let all the trees of the wood be sounding with joy,

¹³Before the Lord, for he is come; he is come to be the judge of the earth; the earth will be judged in righteousness, and the peoples with unchanging faith.