1. By David. Bless the
Lord, O my soul; and all my being, His holy Name. 2. My soul, bless the Lord;
forget not all His favors: 3. Who forgives all your sins, Who heals all your
illnesses; 4. Who redeems your life from the grave, Who crowns you with
kindness and mercy; 5. Who satisfies your mouth with goodness; like the eagle,
your youth is renewed. 6. The Lord executes righteousness and justice for all
the oppressed. 7. He made His ways known to Moses, His deeds to the Children of
Israel. 8. The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and of great
kindness. 9. He will not contend for eternity, nor harbor ill will forever. 10.
He has not dealt with us according to our transgressions, nor requited us
according to our sins. 11. For as high as heaven is above the earth, so has His
kindness been mighty over those who fear Him. 12. As far as the east is from
the west, so has He distanced our transgressions from us. 13. As a father has
compassion on his children, so has the Lord had compassion on those who fear
Him. 14. For He knows our nature; He is mindful that we are but dust. 15. As
for man, his days are like grass; like a flower of the field, so he sprouts.
16. When a wind passes over him, he is gone; his place recognizes him no more.
17. But the kindness of the Lord is forever and ever upon those who fear Him,
and His righteousness is [secured] for children's children, 18. to those who
keep His covenant, and to those who remember His commands to do them. 19. The
Lord has established His throne in the heavens, and His kingship has dominion
over all. 20. Bless the Lord, you His angels who are mighty in strength, who do
His bidding to obey the voice of His speech. 21. Bless the Lord, all His hosts,
His servants who do His will. 22. Bless the Lord, all His works, in all the
places of His dominion. My soul, bless the Lord!
Chapter
104
This
psalm tells of the beauty of creation, describing that which was created on
each of the six days of creation. It proclaims the awesomeness of G-d Who
sustains it all-from the horns of the wild ox to the eggs of the louse.
1. My soul, bless the
Lord! Lord my G-d, You are greatly exalted; You have garbed Yourself with
majesty and splendor. 2. You enwrap [Yourself] with light as with a garment;
You spread the heavens as a curtain. 3. He roofs His heavens with water; He
makes the clouds His chariot, He moves [them] on the wings of the wind. 4. He
makes the winds His messengers, the blazing fire His servants. 5. He
established the earth on its foundations, that it shall never falter. 6. The
depths covered it as a garment; the waters stood above the mountains. 7. At
Your exhortation they fled; at the sound of Your thunder they rushed away. 8.
They ascended mountains, they flowed down valleys, to the place which You have
assigned for them. 9. You set a boundary which they may not cross, so that they
should not return to engulf the earth. 10. He sends forth springs into streams;
they flow between the mountains. 11. They give drink to all the beasts of the
field; the wild animals quench their thirst. 12. The birds of the heavens dwell
beside them; they raise their voice from among the foliage. 13. He irrigates
the mountains from His clouds above; the earth is satiated from the fruit of
Your works. 14. He makes grass grow for the cattle, and vegetation requiring
the labor of man to bring forth food from the earth; 15. and wine that gladdens
man's heart, oil that makes the face shine, and bread that sustains man's
heart. 16. The trees of the Lord drink their fill, the cedars of Lebanon which
He planted, 17. wherein birds build their nests; the stork has her home in the
cypress. 18. The high mountains are for the wild goats; the rocks are a refuge
for the rabbits. 19. He made the moon to calculate the festivals; the sun knows
its time of setting. 20. You bring on darkness and it is night, when all the
beasts of the forest creep forth. 21. The young lions roar for prey, and seek
their food from G-d. 22. When the sun rises, they return and lie down in their
dens. 23. Then man goes out to his work, to his labor until evening. 24. How
manifold are Your works, O Lord! You have made them all with wisdom; the earth
is full of Your possessions. 25. This sea, vast and wide, where there are
countless creeping creatures, living things small and great; 26. there ships
travel, there is the Leviathan that You created to frolic therein. 27. They all
look expectantly to You to give them their food at the proper time. 28. When
You give it to them, they gather it; when You open Your hand, they are satiated
with goodness. 29. When You conceal Your countenance, they are terrified; when
You take back their spirit, they perish and return to their dust. 30. When You
will send forth Your spirit they will be created anew, and You will renew the
face of the earth. 31. May the glory of the Lord be forever; may the Lord find
delight in His works. 32. He looks at the earth, and it trembles; He touches
the mountains, and they smoke. 33. I will sing to the Lord with my soul; I will
chant praise to my G-d with my [entire] being. 34. May my prayer be pleasant to
Him; I will rejoice in the Lord. 35. May sinners cease from the earth, and the
wicked be no more. Bless the Lord, O my soul! Praise the Lord!
Chapter 105
When
David brought the Holy Ark up to the City of David, he composed this psalm and
sang it before the Ark. He recounts all the miracles that G-d performed for the
Jews in Egypt: sending before them Joseph, who was imprisoned, only to be
liberated by G-d, eventually attaining the status of one who could imprison the
princes of Egypt without consulting Pharaoh.
1. Offer praise to the
Lord, proclaim His Name; make His deeds known among the nations. 2. Sing to
Him, chant praises to Him, speak of all His wonders. 3. Glory in His holy Name;
may the heart of those who seek the Lord rejoice. 4. Search for the Lord and
His might; seek His countenance always. 5. Remember the wonders that He has
wrought, His miracles, and the judgments of His mouth. 6. O descendants of
Abraham His servant, children of Jacob, His chosen ones: 7. He is the Lord our G-d;
His judgments extend over the entire earth. 8. He remembers His covenant
forever, the word which He has commanded to a thousand generations; 9. the
covenant which He made with Abraham, and His oath to Isaac. 10. He established
it for Jacob as a statute, for Israel as an everlasting covenant, 11. stating,
"To you I shall give the land of Canaan"-the portion of your
inheritance, 12. when they were but few, very few, and strangers in it. 13.
They wandered from nation to nation, from one kingdom to another people. 14. He
permitted no one to wrong them, and admonished kings for their sake: 15.
"Do not touch my anointed ones, and do not harm my prophets.” 16. He
called for a famine upon the land; he broke every source of bread. 17. He sent
a man before them; Joseph was sold as a slave. 18. They afflicted his foot with
chains, his soul was put into iron; 19. until the time that His words came, the
decree of the Lord purified him. 20. The king sent [word] and released him, the
ruler of nations set him free. 21. He appointed him master of his house and
ruler of all his possessions, 22. to imprison his princes at will, and to
enlighten his elders. 23. Thus Israel came to Egypt, and Jacob sojourned in the
land of Ham (Egypt). 24. He multiplied His nation greatly, and made it mightier
than its adversaries. 25. He turned their hearts to hate His nation, to
conspire against His servants. 26. He sent Moses, His servant; Aaron, whom He
had chosen. 27. They placed among them the words of His signs, miracles in the
land of Ham. 28. He sent darkness and made it dark, and they did not defy His
word. 29. He transformed their waters to blood, and killed their fish. 30.
Their land swarmed with frogs in the chambers of their kings. 31. He spoke, and
hordes of wild beasts came, and lice throughout their borders. 32. He turned
their rains to hail, flaming fire in their land; 33. it struck their vine and
fig tree, it broke the trees of their borders. 34. He spoke, and grasshoppers
came, locusts without number; 35. and it consumed all grass in their land, it
ate the fruit of their soil. 36. Then He smote every firstborn in their land,
the first of all their potency. 37. And He took them out with silver and gold,
and none among His tribes stumbled. 38. Egypt rejoiced at their leaving, for
the fear [of Israel] had fallen upon them. 39. He spread out a cloud for
shelter, and a fire to illuminate the night. 40. [Israel] asked, and He brought
quail, and with the bread of heaven He satisfied them. 41. He opened a rock and
waters flowed; they streamed through dry places like a river, 42. for He
remembered His holy word to Abraham His servant. 43. And He brought out His
nation with joy, His chosen ones with song. 44. He gave them the lands of
nations, they inherited the toil of peoples, 45. so that they might keep His
statutes and observe His laws. Praise the Lord!
