Psalms 104-106

Psalm 104

¹Give praise to the Lord, O my soul. O Lord my God, you are very great; you are robed with honour and power.

²You are clothed with light as with a robe; stretching out the heavens like a curtain:

³The arch of your house is based on the waters; you make the clouds your carriage; you go on the wings of the wind:

⁴He makes winds his angels, and flames of fire his servants.

⁵He has made the earth strong on its bases, so that it may not be moved for ever and ever;

⁶Covering it with the sea as with a robe: the waters were high over the mountains;

⁷At the voice of your word they went in flight; at the sound of your thunder they went away in fear;

⁸The mountains came up and the valleys went down into the place which you had made ready for them.

⁹You made a limit over which they might not go, so that the earth would never again be covered by them.

¹⁰You sent the springs into the valleys; they are flowing between the hills.

¹¹They give drink to every beast of the field; the mountain asses come to them for water.

¹²The birds of the air have their resting-places by them, and make their song among the branches.

¹³He sends down rain from his store-houses on the hills: the earth is full of the fruit of his works.

¹⁴He makes the grass come up for the cattle, and plants for the use of man; so that bread may come out of the earth;

¹⁵And wine to make glad the heart of man, and oil to make his face shining, and bread giving strength to his heart.

¹⁶The trees of the Lord are full of growth, the cedars of Lebanon of his planting;

¹⁷Where the birds have their resting-places; as for the stork, the tall trees are her house.

¹⁸The high hills are a safe place for the mountain goats, and the rocks for the small beasts.

¹⁹He made the moon for a sign of the divisions of the year; teaching the sun the time of its going down.

²⁰When you make it dark, it is night, when all the beasts of the woods come quietly out of their secret places.

²¹The young lions go thundering after their food; searching for their meat from God.

²²The sun comes up, and they come together, and go back to their secret places to take their rest.

²³Man goes out to his work, and to his business, till the evening.

²⁴O Lord, how great is the number of your works! in wisdom you have made them all; the earth is full of the things you have made.

²⁵There is the great, wide sea, where there are living things, great and small, more than may be numbered.

²⁶There go the ships; there is that great beast, which you have made as a plaything.

²⁷All of them are waiting for you, to give them their food in its time.

²⁸They take what you give them; they are full of the good things which come from your open hand.

²⁹If your face is veiled, they are troubled; when you take away their breath, they come to an end, and go back to the dust.

³⁰If you send out your spirit, they are given life; you make new the face of the earth.

³¹Let the glory of the Lord be for ever; let the Lord have joy in his works:

³²At whose look the earth is shaking; at whose touch the mountains send out smoke.

³³I will make songs to the Lord all my life; I will make melody to my God while I have my being.

³⁴Let my thoughts be sweet to him: I will be glad in the Lord.

³⁵Let sinners be cut off from the earth, and let all evil-doers come to an end. Give praise to the Lord, O my soul. Give praise to the Lord.

Psalm 105

¹O give praise to the Lord; give honour to his name, talking of his doings among the peoples.

²Let your voice be sounding in songs and melody; let all your thoughts be of the wonder of his works.

³Have glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who are searching after the Lord be glad.

⁴Let your search be for the Lord and for his strength; let your hearts ever be turned to him.

⁵Keep in mind the great works which he has done; his wonders, and the decisions of his mouth;

⁶O you seed of Abraham, his servant, you children of Jacob, his loved ones.

⁷He is the Lord our God: he is judge of all the earth.

⁸He has kept his agreement in mind for ever, the word which he gave for a thousand generations;

⁹The agreement which he made with Abraham, and his oath to Isaac;

¹⁰And he gave it to Jacob for a law, and to Israel for an eternal agreement;

¹¹Saying, To you will I give the land of Canaan, the measured line of your heritage:

¹²When they were still small in number, and strange in the land;

¹³When they went about from one nation to another, and from one kingdom to another people.

¹⁴He would not let anyone do them wrong; he even kept back kings because of them,

¹⁵Saying, Put not your hand on those who have been marked with my holy oil, and do my prophets no wrong.

¹⁶And he took away all food from the land, so that the people were without bread.

¹⁷He sent a man before them, even Joseph, who was given as a servant for a price:

¹⁸His feet were fixed in chains; his neck was put in iron bands;

¹⁹Till the time when his word came true; he was tested by the word of the Lord.

²⁰The king sent men to take off his chains; even the ruler of the people, who let him go free.

²¹He made him lord of his house, and ruler over everything he had;

²²To give his chiefs teaching at his pleasure, and so that his law-givers might get wisdom from him.

²³Then Israel came into Egypt, and Jacob was living in the land of Ham.

²⁴And his people were greatly increased, and became stronger than those who were against them.

²⁵Their hearts were turned to hate against his people, so that they made secret designs against them.

²⁶He sent Moses, his servant, and Aaron, the man of his selection.

²⁷He let his signs be seen among the people, and his wonders in the land of Ham.

²⁸He sent black night and made it dark; and they did not go against his word.

²⁹At his word their waters were turned to blood, and he sent death on all their fish.

³⁰Their land was full of frogs, even in the rooms of the king.

³¹He gave the word, and there came the dog-fly, and insects over all the land.

³²He gave them ice for rain, and flaming fire in their land.

³³He gave their vines and their fig-trees to destruction, and the trees of their land were broken down.

³⁴At his word the locusts came, and young locusts more than might be numbered,

³⁵And put an end to all the plants of their land, taking all the fruit of the earth for food.

³⁶He put to death the first child of every family in the land, the first-fruits of their strength.

³⁷He took his people out with silver and gold: there was not one feeble person among them.

³⁸Egypt was glad when they went; for the fear of them had come down on them.

³⁹A cloud was stretched over them for a cover; and he sent fire to give light in the night.

⁴⁰At the people's request he sent birds, and gave them the bread of heaven for food.

⁴¹His hand made the rock open, and the waters came streaming out; they went down through the dry places like a river.

⁴²For he kept in mind his holy word, and Abraham, his servant.

⁴³And he took his people out with joy, the men of his selection with glad cries:

⁴⁴And gave them the lands of the nations; and they took the work of the peoples for a heritage;

⁴⁵So that they might keep his orders, and be true to his laws. Give praise to the Lord.

Psalm 106

¹Let the Lord be praised. O give praise to the Lord, for he is good: for his mercy is unchanging for ever.

²Who is able to give an account of the great acts of the Lord, or to make clear all his praise?

³Happy are they whose decisions are upright, and he who does righteousness at all times.

⁴Keep me in mind, O Lord, when you are good to your people; O let your salvation come to me;

⁵So that I may see the well-being of the people of your selection, and have a part in the joy of your nation, and take pride in your heritage.

⁶We are sinners like our fathers, we have done wrong, our acts are evil.

⁷Our fathers did not give thought to your wonders in Egypt; they did not keep in memory the great number of your mercies, but gave you cause for wrath at the sea, even at the Red Sea.

⁸But he was their saviour because of his name, so that men might see his great power.

⁹By his word the Red Sea was made dry: and he took them through the deep waters as through the waste land.

¹⁰And he took them safely out of the hands of their haters, and kept them from the attacks of those who were against them.

¹¹And the waters went over their haters; all of them came to an end.

¹²Then they had faith in his words; they gave him songs of praise.

¹³But their memory of his works was short; not waiting to be guided by him,

¹⁴They gave way to their evil desires in the waste land, and put God to the test in the dry places.

¹⁵And he gave them their request, but sent a wasting disease into their souls.

¹⁶They were full of envy against Moses among the tents, and against Aaron, the holy one of the Lord.

¹⁷The earth opening put an end to Dathan, covering up Abiram and his band.

¹⁸And a fire was lighted among their tents; the sinners were burned up by the flames.

¹⁹They made a young ox in Horeb, and gave worship to an image of gold.

²⁰And their glory was changed into the image of an ox, whose food is grass.

²¹They had no memory of God their saviour, who had done great things in Egypt;

²²Works of wonder in the land of Ham, and things of fear by the Red Sea.

²³And he was purposing to put an end to them if Moses, his special servant, had not gone up before him, between him and his people, turning back his wrath, to keep them from destruction.

²⁴They were disgusted with the good land; they had no belief in his word;

²⁵Talking against him secretly in their tents, they did not give ear to the voice of the Lord.

²⁶So he made an oath against them, to put an end to them in the waste land:

²⁷That their children might be mixed among the nations, and sent away into other lands.

²⁸And they were joined to Baal-peor, and took part in the offerings to the dead.

²⁹So they made him angry by their behaviour; and he sent disease on them.

³⁰Then Phinehas got up, and made prayer for them; and the disease went no farther.

³¹And all the generations coming after him kept the memory of his righteousness for ever.

³²They made God angry again at the waters of Meribah, so that Moses was troubled because of them;

³³For they made his spirit bitter, and he said unwise things.

³⁴They did not put an end to the peoples, as the Lord had said;

³⁵But they were joined to the nations, learning their works.

³⁶And they gave worship to images; which were a danger to them:

³⁷They even made offerings of their sons and their daughters to evil spirits,

³⁸And gave the blood of their sons and their daughters who had done no wrong, offering them to the images of Canaan; and the land was made unclean with blood.

³⁹So they became unclean through their works, going after their evil desires.

⁴⁰Then the wrath of the Lord was burning against his people, and he was angry with his heritage.

⁴¹And he gave them into the hands of the nations; and they were ruled by their haters.

⁴²By them they were crushed, and made low under their hands.

⁴³Again and again he made them free; but their hearts were turned against his purpose, and they were overcome by their sins.

⁴⁴But when their cry came to his ears, he had pity on their trouble:

⁴⁵And kept in mind his agreement with them, and in his great mercy gave them forgiveness.

⁴⁶He put pity into the hearts of those who made them prisoners.

⁴⁷Be our saviour, O Lord our God, and let us come back together from among the nations, so that we may give honour to your holy name, and have glory in your praise.

⁴⁸Praise be to the Lord God of Israel for ever and for ever; and let all the people say, So be it. Give praise to the Lord.