Psalm 104

O Lord My God, You Are Very Great

104:1 Bless the Lord, O my soul! O Lord my God, you are very great! You are clothed with splendor and majesty, ² covering yourself with light as with a garment, stretching out the heavens like a tent. ³He lays the beams of his chambers on the waters; he makes the clouds his chariot; he rides on the wings of the wind; ⁴he makes his messengers winds, his ministers a flaming fire.

⁵He set the earth on its foundations, so that it should never be moved. ⁶You covered it with the deep as with a garment; the waters stood above the mountains. ⁷At your rebuke they fled; at the sound of your thunder they took to flight. ⁸The mountains rose, the valleys sank down to the place that you appointed for them. ⁹You set a boundary that they may not pass, so that they might not again cover the earth.

¹⁰You make springs gush forth in the valleys; they flow between the hills; ¹¹they give drink to every beast of the field; the wild donkeys quench their thirst. ¹²Beside them the birds of the heavens dwell; they sing among the branches. ¹³From your lofty abode you water the mountains; the earth is satisfied with the fruit of your work.

¹⁴You cause the grass to grow for the livestock and plants for man to cultivate, that he may bring forth food from the earth ¹⁵ and wine to gladden the heart of man, oil to make his face shine and bread to strengthen man’s heart.

¹⁶The trees of the Lord are watered abundantly, the cedars of Lebanon that he planted. ¹⁷In them the birds build their nests; the stork has her home in the fir trees. ¹⁸The high mountains are for the wild goats; the rocks are a refuge for the rock badgers.

¹⁹He made the moon to mark the seasons;[1] the sun knows its time for setting. ²⁰You make darkness, and it is night, when all the beasts of the forest creep about. ²¹The young lions roar for their prey, seeking their food from God. ²²When the sun rises, they steal away and lie down in their dens. ²³Man goes out to his work and to his labor until the evening.

²⁴O Lord, how manifold are your works! In wisdom have you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures. ²⁵Here is the sea, great and wide, which teems with creatures innumerable, living things both small and great. ²⁶There go the ships, and Leviathan, which you formed to play in it.^[2]

²⁷These all 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 filled with good things. ²⁹When you hide your face, they are dismayed; when you take away their breath, they die and return to their dust. ³⁰When you send forth your Spirit,[3] they are created, and you renew the face of the ground.

³¹May the glory of the Lord endure forever; may the Lord rejoice in his works, ³²who looks on the earth and it trembles, who touches the mountains and they smoke! ³³I will sing to the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praise to my God while I have being. ³⁴May my meditation be pleasing to him, for I rejoice in the Lord. ³⁵Let sinners be consumed from the earth, and let the wicked be no more! Bless the Lord, O my soul! Praise the Lord!

[1] Or the appointed times (compare Genesis 1:14) [2] Or you formed to play with [3] Or breath

Psalm 105

Tell of All His Wonderful Works

105:1 Oh give thanks to the Lord; call upon his name; make known his deeds among the peoples! ²Sing to him, sing praises to him; tell of all his wondrous works! ³Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice! ⁴Seek the Lord and his strength; seek his presence continually! ⁵Remember the wondrous works that he has done, his miracles, and the judgments he uttered, ⁶O offspring of Abraham, his servant, children of Jacob, his chosen ones!

⁷He is the Lord our God; his judgments are in all the earth. ⁸He remembers his covenant forever, the word that he commanded, for a thousand generations, ⁹the covenant that he made with Abraham, his sworn promise to Isaac, ¹⁰which he confirmed to Jacob as a statute, to Israel as an everlasting covenant, ¹¹saying, “To you I will give the land of Canaan as your portion for an inheritance.”

¹²When they were few in number, of little account, and sojourners in it, ¹³wandering from nation to nation, from one kingdom to another people, ¹⁴he allowed no one to oppress them; he rebuked kings on their account, ¹⁵saying, “Touch not my anointed ones, do my prophets no harm!”

¹⁶When he summoned a famine on the land and broke all supply[4] of bread, ¹⁷he had sent a man ahead of them, Joseph, who was sold as a slave. ¹⁸His feet were hurt with fetters; his neck was put in a collar of iron; ¹⁹until what he had said came to pass, the word of the Lord tested him. ²⁰The king sent and released him; the ruler of the peoples set him free; ²¹he made him lord of his house and ruler of all his possessions, ²²to bind 5] his princes at his pleasure and to teach his elders wisdom.

²³Then Israel came to Egypt; Jacob sojourned in the land of Ham. ²⁴And the Lord made his people very fruitful and made them stronger than their foes. ²⁵He turned their hearts to hate his people, to deal craftily with his servants.

²⁶He sent Moses, his servant, and Aaron, whom he had chosen. ²⁷They performed his signs among them and miracles in the land of Ham. ²⁸He sent darkness, and made the land dark; they did not rebel[6] against his words. ²⁹He turned their waters into blood and caused their fish to die. ³⁰Their land swarmed with frogs, even in the chambers of their kings. ³¹He spoke, and there came swarms of flies, and gnats throughout their country. ³²He gave them hail for rain, and fiery lightning bolts through their land. ³³He struck down their vines and fig trees, and shattered the trees of their country. ³⁴He spoke, and the locusts came, young locusts without number, ³⁵which devoured all the vegetation in their land and ate up the fruit of their ground. ³⁶He struck down all the firstborn in their land, the firstfruits of all their strength.

³⁷Then he brought out Israel with silver and gold, and there was none among his tribes who stumbled. ³⁸Egypt was glad when they departed, for dread of them had fallen upon it.

³⁹He spread a cloud for a covering, and fire to give light by night. ⁴⁰They asked, and he brought quail, and gave them bread from heaven in abundance. ⁴¹He opened the rock, and water gushed out; it flowed through the desert like a river. ⁴²For he remembered his holy promise, and Abraham, his servant.

⁴³So he brought his people out with joy, his chosen ones with singing. ⁴⁴And he gave them the lands of the nations, and they took possession of the fruit of the peoples’ toil, ⁴⁵that they might keep his statutes and observe his laws. Praise the Lord!

[4] Hebrew staff [5] Septuagint, Syriac, Jerome instruct [6] Septuagint, Syriac omit not