Psalms 102-104

Psalm 102

¹A Prayer of the man who is in trouble, when he is overcome, and puts his grief before the Lord. Give ear to my prayer, O Lord, and let my cry come to you.

²Let not your face be veiled from me in the day of my trouble; give ear to me, and let my cry be answered quickly.

³My days are wasted like smoke, and my bones are burned up as in a fire.

⁴My heart is broken; it has become dry and dead like grass, so that I give no thought to food.

⁵Because of the voice of my sorrow, my flesh is wasted to the bone.

⁶I am like a bird living by itself in the waste places; like the night-bird in a waste of sand.

⁷I keep watch like a bird by itself on the house-top.

⁸My haters say evil of me all day; those who are violent against me make use of my name as a curse.

⁹I have had dust for bread and my drink has been mixed with weeping:

¹⁰Because of your passion and your wrath, for I have been lifted up and then made low by you.

¹¹My days are like a shade which is stretched out; I am dry like the grass.

¹²But you, O Lord, are eternal; and your name will never come to an end.

¹³You will again get up and have mercy on Zion: for the time has come for her to be comforted.

¹⁴For your servants take pleasure in her stones, looking with love on her dust.

¹⁵So the nations will give honour to the name of the Lord, and all the kings of the earth will be in fear of his glory:

¹⁶When the Lord has put up the walls of Zion, and has been been in his glory;

¹⁷When he has given ear to the prayer of the poor, and has not put his request on one side.

¹⁸This will be put in writing for the coming generation, and the people of the future will give praise to the Lord.

¹⁹For from his holy place the Lord has seen, looking down on the earth from heaven;

²⁰Hearing the cry of the prisoner, making free those for whom death is ordered;

²¹So that they may give out the name of the Lord in Zion, and his praise in Jerusalem;

²²When the peoples are come together, and the kingdoms, to give worship to the Lord.

²³He has taken my strength from me in the way; he has made short my days.

²⁴I will say, O my God, take me not away before my time; your years go on through all generations:

²⁵In the past you put the earth on its base, and the heavens are the work of your hands.

²⁶They will come to an end, but you will still go on; they all will become old like a coat, and like a robe they will be changed:

²⁷But you are the unchanging One, and your years will have no end.

²⁸The children of your servants will have a safe resting-place, and their seed will be ever before you.

Psalm 103

¹Of David. Give praise to the Lord, O my soul; let everything in me give praise to his holy name.

²Give praise to the Lord, O my soul; let not all his blessings go from your memory.

³He has forgiveness for all your sins; he takes away all your diseases;

⁴He keeps back your life from destruction, crowning you with mercy and grace.

⁵He makes your mouth full of good things, so that your strength is made new again like the eagle's.

⁶The Lord gives decisions in righteousness for all who are in trouble.

⁷He gave knowledge of his way to Moses, and made his acts clear to the children of Israel.

⁸The Lord is kind and full of pity, not quickly made angry, but ever ready to have mercy.

⁹His feeling will no longer be bitter; he will not keep his wrath for ever.

¹⁰He has not given us the punishment for our sins, or the reward of our wrongdoing.

¹¹For as the heaven is high over the earth, so great is his mercy to his worshippers.

¹²As far as the east is from the west, so far has he put our sins from us.

¹³As a father has pity on his children, so the Lord has pity on his worshippers.

¹⁴For he has knowledge of our feeble frame; he sees that we are only dust.

¹⁵As for man, his days are as grass: his beautiful growth is like the flower of the field.

¹⁶The wind goes over it and it is gone; and its place sees it no longer.

¹⁷But the mercy of the Lord is eternal for his worshippers, and their children's children will see his righteousness;

¹⁸If they keep his agreement, and have his laws in mind to do them.

¹⁹The Lord has made ready his high seat in the heavens; his kingdom is ruling over all.

²⁰Give praise to the Lord, you his angels, who are great in strength, doing his orders, and waiting for his voice.

²¹Give praise to the Lord, all you his armies; and you his servants who do his pleasure.

²²Give praise to the Lord, all his works, in all places under his rule: give praise to the Lord, O my soul.

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.