Psalms 102-104

Psalm 102

¹A prayer of one who is afflicted, when he grows faint and pours out his lament before the LORD. Hear my prayer, O LORD; let my cry for help come before You.

²Do not hide Your face from me in my day of distress. Incline Your ear to me; answer me quickly when I call.

³For my days vanish like smoke, and my bones burn like glowing embers.

⁴My heart is afflicted, and withered like grass; I even forget to eat my bread.

⁵Through my loud groaning my flesh clings to my bones.

⁶I am like a desert owl, like an owl among the ruins.

⁷I lie awake; I am like a lone bird on a housetop.

⁸All day long my enemies taunt me; they ridicule me and curse me.

⁹For I have eaten ashes like bread and mixed my drink with tears

¹⁰because of Your indignation and wrath, for You have picked me up and cast me aside.

¹¹My days are like lengthening shadows, and I wither away like grass.

¹²But You, O LORD, sit enthroned forever; Your renown endures to all generations.

¹³You will rise up and have compassion on Zion, for it is time to show her favor— the appointed time has come.

¹⁴For Your servants delight in her stones and take pity on her dust.

¹⁵So the nations will fear the name of the LORD, and all the kings of the earth will fear Your glory.

¹⁶For the LORD will rebuild Zion; He has appeared in His glory.

¹⁷He will turn toward the prayer of the destitute; He will not despise their prayer.

¹⁸Let this be written for the generation to come, so that a people not yet created may praise the LORD.

¹⁹For He looked down from the heights of His sanctuary; the LORD gazed out from heaven to earth

²⁰to hear a prisoner’s groaning, to release those condemned to death,

²¹that they may proclaim the name of the LORD in Zion and praise Him in Jerusalem,

²²when peoples and kingdoms assemble to serve the LORD.

²³He has broken my strength on the way; He has cut short my days.

²⁴I say: “O my God, do not take me in the midst of my days! Your years go on through all generations.

²⁵In the beginning You laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of Your hands.

²⁶They will perish, but You remain; they will all wear out like a garment. Like clothing You will change them, and they will be passed on.

²⁷But You remain the same, and Your years will never end.

²⁸The children of Your servants will dwell securely, and their descendants will be established before You.”

Psalm 103

¹Of David. Bless the LORD, O my soul; all that is within me, bless His holy name.

²Bless the LORD, O my soul, and do not forget all His kind deeds—

³He who forgives all your iniquities and heals all your diseases,

⁴who redeems your life from the Pit and crowns you with loving devotion and compassion,

⁵who satisfies you with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

⁶The LORD executes righteousness and justice for all the oppressed.

⁷He made known His ways to Moses, His deeds to the people of Israel.

⁸The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in loving devotion.

⁹He will not always accuse us, nor harbor His anger forever.

¹⁰He has not dealt with us according to our sins or repaid us according to our iniquities.

¹¹For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His loving devotion for those who fear Him.

¹²As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.

¹³As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear Him.

¹⁴For He knows our frame; He is mindful that we are dust.

¹⁵As for man, his days are like grass— he blooms like a flower of the field;

¹⁶when the wind passes over, it vanishes, and its place remembers it no more.

¹⁷But from everlasting to everlasting the loving devotion of the LORD extends to those who fear Him, and His righteousness to their children’s children—

¹⁸to those who keep His covenant and remember to obey His precepts.

¹⁹The LORD has established His throne in heaven, and His kingdom rules over all.

²⁰Bless the LORD, all His angels mighty in strength who carry out His word, who hearken to the voice of His command.

²¹Bless the LORD, all His hosts, you servants who 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, You are very great; You are clothed with splendor and majesty.

²He wraps Himself in light as with a garment; He stretches out the heavens like a tent,

³laying the beams of His chambers in the waters above, making the clouds His chariot, walking on the wings of the wind.

⁴He makes the winds His messengers, flames of fire His servants.

⁵He set the earth on its foundations, never to be moved.

⁶You covered it with the deep like a garment; the waters stood above the mountains.

⁷At Your rebuke the waters fled; at the sound of Your thunder they hurried away—

⁸the mountains rose and the valleys sank to the place You assigned for them—

⁹You set a boundary they cannot cross, that they may never again cover the earth.

¹⁰He sends forth springs in the valleys; they flow between the mountains.

¹¹They give drink to every beast of the field; the wild donkeys quench their thirst.

¹²The birds of the air nest beside the springs; they sing among the branches.

¹³He waters the mountains from His chambers; the earth is satisfied by the fruit of His works.

¹⁴He makes the grass grow for the livestock and provides crops for man to cultivate, bringing forth food from the earth:

¹⁵wine that gladdens the heart of man, oil that makes his face to shine, and bread that sustains his heart.

¹⁶The trees of the LORD have their fill, the cedars of Lebanon that He planted,

¹⁷where the birds build their nests; the stork makes her home in the cypresses.

¹⁸The high mountains are for the wild goats, the cliffs a refuge for the rock badgers.

¹⁹He made the moon to mark the seasons; the sun knows when to set.

²⁰You bring darkness, and it becomes night, when all the beasts of the forest prowl.

²¹The young lions roar for their prey and seek their food from God.

²²The sun rises, and they withdraw; they lie down in their dens.

²³Man goes forth to his work and to his labor until evening.

²⁴How many are Your works, O LORD! In wisdom You have made them all; the earth is full of Your creatures.

²⁵Here is the sea, vast and wide, teeming with creatures beyond number, living things both great and small.

²⁶There the ships pass, and Leviathan, which You formed to frolic there.

²⁷All creatures look to You to give them their food in due season.

²⁸When You give it to them, they gather it up; when You open Your hand, they are satisfied with good things.

²⁹When You hide Your face, they are terrified; when You take away their breath, they die and return to dust.

³⁰When You send Your Spirit, they are created, and You renew the face of the earth.

³¹May the glory of the LORD endure forever; may the LORD rejoice in His works.

³²He looks on the earth, and it trembles; He touches the mountains, and they smolder.

³³I will sing to the LORD all my life; I will sing praise to my God while I have my being.

³⁴May my meditation be pleasing to Him, for I rejoice in the LORD.

³⁵May sinners vanish from the earth and the wicked be no more. Bless the LORD, O my soul. Hallelujah!