Psalm 104-106

Psalm 104-106 New King James Version

 

Praise to the Sovereign Lord for His Creation and Providence

104 Bless the Lord, O my soul!

O Lord my God, You are very great:
You are clothed with honor and majesty,
² Who cover Yourself with light as with a garment,
Who stretch out the heavens like a curtain.

³ He lays the beams of His upper chambers in the waters,
Who makes the clouds His chariot,
Who walks on the wings of the wind,
⁴ Who makes His angels spirits,
His ^[a]ministers a flame of fire.

⁵ You who ^[b]laid the foundations of the earth,
So that it should not be moved forever,
⁶ You covered it with the deep as with a garment;
The waters stood above the mountains.
⁷ At Your rebuke they fled;
At the voice of Your thunder they hastened away.
^8 [c]They went up over the mountains;
They went down into the valleys,
To the place which You founded for them.
⁹ You have set a boundary that they may not pass over,
That they may not return to cover the earth.

¹⁰ He sends the springs into the valleys;
They flow among the hills.
¹¹ They give drink to every beast of the field;
The wild donkeys quench their thirst.
¹² By them the birds of the heavens have their home;
They sing among the branches.
¹³ He waters the hills from His upper chambers;
The earth is satisfied with the fruit of Your works.

¹⁴ He causes the grass to grow for the cattle,
And vegetation for the service of man,
That he may bring forth food from the earth,
¹⁵ And wine that makes glad the heart of man,
Oil to make his face shine,
And bread which strengthens man’s heart.
¹⁶ The trees of the Lord are full of sap,
The cedars of Lebanon which He planted,
¹⁷ Where the birds make their nests;
The stork has her home in the fir trees.
¹⁸ The high hills are for the wild goats;
The cliffs are a refuge for the rock^[d] badgers.

¹⁹ He appointed the moon for seasons;
The sun knows its going down.
²⁰ You make darkness, and it is night,
In which all the beasts of the forest creep about.
²¹ The young lions roar after their prey,
And seek their food from God.
²² When the sun rises, they gather together
And lie down in their dens.
²³ Man goes out to his work
And to his labor until the evening.

²⁴ O Lord, how manifold are Your works!
In wisdom You have made them all.
The earth is full of Your possessions—
²⁵ This great and wide sea,
In which are innumerable teeming things,
Living things both small and great.
²⁶ There the ships sail about;
There is that Leviathan^[e]
Which You have ^[f]made to play there.

²⁷ These all wait for You,
That You may give them their food in due season.
²⁸ What You give them they gather in;
You open Your hand, they are filled with good.
²⁹ You hide Your face, they are troubled;
You take away their breath, they die and return to their dust.
³⁰ You send forth Your Spirit, they are created;
And You renew the face of the earth.

³¹ May the glory of the Lord endure forever;
May the Lord rejoice in His works.
³² He looks on the earth, and it trembles;
He touches the hills, and they smoke.

³³ I will sing to the Lord as long as I live;
I will sing praise to my God while I have my being.
³⁴ May my meditation be sweet to Him;
I will be glad in the Lord.
³⁵ May sinners be consumed from the earth,
And the wicked be no more.

Bless the Lord, O my soul!
^[g]Praise the Lord!

The Eternal Faithfulness of the Lord

105 Oh, give thanks to the Lord!
Call upon His name;
Make known His deeds among the peoples!
² Sing to Him, sing psalms to Him;
Talk of all His wondrous works!
³ Glory in His holy name;
Let the hearts of those rejoice who seek the Lord!
⁴ Seek the Lord and His strength;
Seek His face evermore!
⁵ Remember His marvelous works which He has done,
His wonders, and the judgments of His mouth,
⁶ O seed of Abraham His servant,
You children of Jacob, His chosen ones!

⁷ He is the Lord our God;
His judgments are in all the earth.
⁸ He remembers His covenant forever,
The word which He commanded, for a thousand generations,
⁹ The covenant which He made with Abraham,
And His oath to Isaac,
¹⁰ And confirmed it to Jacob for a statute,
To Israel as an everlasting covenant,
¹¹ Saying, “To you I will give the land of Canaan
As the allotment of your inheritance,”
¹² When they were few in number,
Indeed very few, and strangers in it.

¹³ When they went from one nation to another,
From one kingdom to another people,
¹⁴ He permitted no one to do them wrong;
Yes, He rebuked kings for their sakes,
¹⁵ Saying, “Do not touch My anointed ones,
And do My prophets no harm.”

¹⁶ Moreover He called for a famine in the land;
He destroyed all the provision of bread.
¹⁷ He sent a man before them—
Joseph—who was sold as a slave.
¹⁸ They hurt his feet with fetters,
^[h]He was laid in irons.
¹⁹ Until the time that his word came to pass,
The word of the Lord tested him.
²⁰ The king sent and released him,
The ruler of the people let him go free.
²¹ He made him lord of his house,
And ruler of all his possessions,
²² To ^[i]bind his princes at his pleasure,
And teach his elders wisdom.

²³ Israel also came into Egypt,
And Jacob dwelt in the land of Ham.
²⁴ He increased His people greatly,
And made them stronger than their enemies.
²⁵ He turned their heart to hate His people,
To deal craftily with His servants.

²⁶ He sent Moses His servant,
And Aaron whom He had chosen.
²⁷ They performed His signs among them,
And wonders in the land of Ham.
²⁸ He sent darkness, and made it dark;
And they did not rebel against His word.
²⁹ He turned their waters into blood,
And killed their fish.
³⁰ Their land abounded with frogs,
Even in the chambers of their kings.
³¹ He spoke, and there came swarms of flies,
And lice in all their territory.
³² He gave them hail for rain,
And flaming fire in their land.
³³ He struck their vines also, and their fig trees,
And splintered the trees of their territory.
³⁴ He spoke, and locusts came,
Young locusts without number,
³⁵ And ate up all the vegetation in their land,
And devoured the fruit of their ground.
³⁶ He also ^[j]destroyed all the firstborn in their land,
The first of all their strength.

³⁷ He also brought them out with silver and gold,
And there was none feeble among His tribes.
³⁸ Egypt was glad when they departed,
For the fear of them had fallen upon them.
³⁹ He spread a cloud for a covering,
And fire to give light in the night.
⁴⁰ The people asked, and He brought quail,
And satisfied them with the bread of heaven.
⁴¹ He opened the rock, and water gushed out;
It ran in the dry places like a river.

⁴² For He remembered His holy promise,
And Abraham His servant.
⁴³ He brought out His people with joy,
His chosen ones with ^[k]gladness.
⁴⁴ He gave them the lands of the ^[l]Gentiles,
And they inherited the labor of the nations,
⁴⁵ That they might observe His statutes
And keep His laws.

^[m]Praise the Lord!

Joy in Forgiveness of Israel’s Sins

106 Praise^[n] the Lord!

Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good!
For His mercy endures forever.

² Who can ^[o]utter the mighty acts of the Lord?
Who can declare all His praise?
³ Blessed are those who keep justice,
And ^[p]he who does righteousness at all times!

⁴ Remember me, O Lord, with the favor You have toward Your people.
Oh, visit me with Your salvation,
⁵ That I may see the benefit of Your chosen ones,
That I may rejoice in the gladness of Your nation,
That I may glory with ^[q]Your inheritance.

⁶ We have sinned with our fathers,
We have committed iniquity,
We have done wickedly.
⁷ Our fathers in Egypt did not understand Your wonders;
They did not remember the multitude of Your mercies,
But rebelled by the sea—the Red Sea.

⁸ Nevertheless He saved them for His name’s sake,
That He might make His mighty power known.
⁹ He rebuked the Red Sea also, and it dried up;
So He led them through the depths,
As through the wilderness.
¹⁰ He saved them from the hand of him who hated them,
And redeemed them from the hand of the enemy.
¹¹ The waters covered their enemies;
There was not one of them left.
¹² Then they believed His words;
They sang His praise.

¹³ They soon forgot His works;
They did not wait for His counsel,
¹⁴ But lusted exceedingly in the wilderness,
And tested God in the desert.
¹⁵ And He gave them their request,
But sent leanness into their soul.

¹⁶ When they envied Moses in the camp,
And Aaron the saint of the Lord,
¹⁷ The earth opened up and swallowed Dathan,
And covered the faction of Abiram.
¹⁸ A fire was kindled in their company;
The flame burned up the wicked.

¹⁹ They made a calf in Horeb,
And worshiped the molded image.
²⁰ Thus they changed their glory
Into the image of an ox that eats grass.
²¹ They forgot God their Savior,
Who had done great things in Egypt,
²² Wondrous works in the land of Ham,
Awesome things by the Red Sea.
²³ Therefore He said that He would destroy them,
Had not Moses His chosen one stood before Him in the breach,
To turn away His wrath, lest He destroy them.

²⁴ Then they despised the pleasant land;
They did not believe His word,
²⁵ But complained in their tents,
And did not heed the voice of the Lord.
²⁶ Therefore He raised His hand in an oath against them,
To ^[r]overthrow them in the wilderness,
²⁷ To ^[s]overthrow their descendants among the ^[t]nations,
And to scatter them in the lands.

²⁸ They joined themselves also to Baal of Peor,
And ate sacrifices ^[u]made to the dead.
²⁹ Thus they provoked Him to anger with their deeds,
And the plague broke out among them.
³⁰ Then Phinehas stood up and intervened,
And the plague was stopped.
³¹ And that was accounted to him for righteousness
To all generations forevermore.

³² They angered Him also at the waters of ^[v]strife,
So that it went ill with Moses on account of them;
³³ Because they rebelled against His Spirit,
So that he spoke rashly with his lips.

³⁴ They did not destroy the peoples,
Concerning whom the Lord had commanded them,
³⁵ But they mingled with the Gentiles
And learned their works;
³⁶ They served their idols,
Which became a snare to them.
³⁷ They even sacrificed their sons
And their daughters to demons,
³⁸ And shed innocent blood,
The blood of their sons and daughters,
Whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan;
And the land was polluted with blood.
³⁹ Thus they ^[w]were defiled by their own works,
And played^[x] the harlot by their own deeds.

⁴⁰ Therefore the wrath of the Lord was kindled against His people,
So that He abhorred His own inheritance.
⁴¹ And He gave them into the hand of the Gentiles,
And those who hated them ruled over them.
⁴² Their enemies also oppressed them,
And they were brought into subjection under their hand.
⁴³ Many times He delivered them;
But they rebelled in their counsel,
And were brought low for their iniquity.

⁴⁴ Nevertheless He regarded their affliction,
When He heard their cry;
⁴⁵ And for their sake He remembered His covenant,
And relented according to the multitude of His mercies.
⁴⁶ He also made them to be pitied
By all those who carried them away captive.

⁴⁷ Save us, O Lord our God,
And gather us from among the Gentiles,
To give thanks to Your holy name,
To triumph in Your praise.

⁴⁸ Blessed be the Lord God of Israel
From everlasting to everlasting!
And let all the people say, “Amen!”