Psalm 102-104

Complete Jewish Bible

102 ⁽⁰⁾Prayer of a sufferer overcome by weakness and pouring out his complaint before Adonai:

²⁽¹⁾Adonai, hear my prayer!
Let my cry for help reach you!
³⁽²⁾Don’t hide your face from me
when I am in such distress!
Turn your ear toward me;
when I call, be quick to reply!

⁴⁽³⁾For my days are vanishing like smoke,
my bones are burning like a furnace.
⁵⁽⁴⁾I am stricken and withered like grass;
I forget to eat my food.
⁶⁽⁵⁾Because of my loud groaning,
I am just skin and bones.
⁷⁽⁶⁾I am like a great owl in the desert,
I’ve become like an owl in the ruins.
⁸⁽⁷⁾I lie awake and become
like a bird alone on the roof.

⁹⁽⁸⁾My enemies taunt me all day long;
mad with rage, they make my name a curse.
¹⁰⁽⁹⁾For I have been eating ashes like bread
and mingling tears with my drink
¹¹⁽¹⁰⁾because of your furious anger,
since you picked me up just to toss me aside.
¹²⁽¹¹⁾My days decline like an evening shadow;
I am drying up like grass.

¹³⁽¹²⁾But you, Adonai, are enthroned forever;
your renown will endure through all generations.
¹⁴⁽¹³⁾You will arise and take pity on Tziyon,
for the time has come to have mercy on her;
the time determined has come.
¹⁵⁽¹⁴⁾For your servants love her very stones;
they take pity even on her dust.

¹⁶⁽¹⁵⁾The nations will fear the name of Adonai
and all the kings on earth your glory,
¹⁷⁽¹⁶⁾when Adonai has rebuilt Tziyon,
and shows himself in his glory,
¹⁸⁽¹⁷⁾when he has heeded the plea of the poor
and not despised their prayer.
¹⁹⁽¹⁸⁾May this be put on record for a future generation;
may a people yet to be created praise Adonai.

²⁰⁽¹⁹⁾For he has looked down from the height of his sanctuary;
from heaven Adonai surveys the earth
²¹⁽²⁰⁾to listen to the sighing of the prisoner,
to set free those who are sentenced to death,
²²⁽²¹⁾to proclaim the name of Adonai in Tziyon
and his praise in Yerushalayim
²³⁽²²⁾when peoples and kingdoms have been gathered together
to serve Adonai.

²⁴⁽²³⁾He has broken my strength in midcourse,
he has cut short my days.
²⁵⁽²⁴⁾I plead, “God, your years last through all generations;
so don’t take me away when my life is half over!

²⁶⁽²⁵⁾In the beginning, you laid the foundations of the earth;
heaven is the work of your hands.
²⁷⁽²⁶⁾They will vanish, but you will remain;
like clothing, they will all grow old;
yes, you will change them like clothing,
and they will pass away.
²⁸⁽²⁷⁾But you remain the same,
and your years will never end.
²⁹⁽²⁸⁾The children of your servants will live securely
and their descendants be established in your presence.”

103 ⁽⁰⁾By David:

⁽¹⁾Bless Adonai, my soul!
Everything in me, bless his holy name!
²Bless Adonai, my soul,
and forget none of his benefits!

³He forgives all your offenses,
he heals all your diseases,
⁴he redeems your life from the pit,
he surrounds you with grace and compassion,
⁵he contents you with good as long as you live,
so that your youth is renewed like an eagle’s.

⁶Adonai brings vindication and justice
to all who are oppressed.
⁷He made his ways known to Moshe,
his mighty deeds to the people of Isra’el.
⁸Adonai is merciful and compassionate,
slow to anger and rich in grace.
⁹He will not always accuse,
he will not keep his anger forever.
¹⁰He has not treated us as our sins deserve
or paid us back for our offenses,
¹¹because his mercy toward those who fear him
is as far above earth as heaven.
¹²He has removed our sins from us
as far as the east is from the west.

¹³Just as a father has compassion on his children,
Adonai has compassion on those who fear him.
¹⁴For he understands how we are made,
he remembers that we are dust.
¹⁵Yes, a human being’s days are like grass,
he sprouts like a flower in the countryside —
¹⁶but when the wind sweeps over, it’s gone;
and its place knows it no more.
¹⁷But the mercy of Adonai on those who fear him
is from eternity past to eternity future,
and his righteousness extends
to his children’s children,
¹⁸provided they keep his covenant
and remember to follow his precepts.

¹⁹Adonai has established his throne in heaven;
his kingly power rules everything.
²⁰Bless Adonai, you angels of his,
you mighty warriors who obey his word,
who carry out his orders!
²¹Bless Adonai, all his troops,
who serve him and do what he wants!
²²Bless Adonai, all his works,
in every place where he rules!
Bless Adonai, my soul!

104 Bless Adonai, my soul!
Adonai, my God, you are very great;
you are clothed with glory and majesty,
²wrapped in light as with a robe.
You spread out the heavens like a curtain,
³you laid the beams of your palace on the water.
You make the clouds your chariot,
you ride on the wings of the wind.
⁴You make winds your messengers,
fiery flames your servants.

⁵You fixed 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 they fled;
at the sound of your thunder they rushed away,
⁸flowing over hills, pouring into valleys,
down to the place you had fixed for them.
⁹You determined a boundary they could not cross;
they were never to cover the earth again.

¹⁰You make springs gush forth in the vadis;
they flow between the hills,
¹¹supplying water to all the wild animals;
the wild donkeys quench their thirst.
¹²On their banks the birds of the air build their nests;
among the branches they sing.
¹³You water the mountains from your palace;
the earth is satisfied with how you provide —
¹⁴You grow grass for the cattle;
and for people you grow the plants they need
to bring forth bread from the earth,
¹⁵wine that gladdens the human heart,
oil to make faces glow,
and food to sustain their strength.

¹⁶Adonai’s trees are satisfied —
the cedars of the L’vanon, which he has planted.
¹⁷In them sparrows build their nests,
while storks live in the fir trees.
¹⁸For the wild goats there are the high mountains,
while the coneys find refuge in the rocks.

¹⁹You made the moon to mark the seasons,
and the sun knows when to set.
²⁰You bring darkness, and it is night,
the time when all forest animals prowl.
²¹The young lions roar after their prey
and seek their food from God.
²²The sun rises, they slink away
and lie down to rest in their dens;
²³while people go out to their work,
laboring on till evening.

²⁴What variety there is in your works, Adonai!
How many [of them there are]!
In wisdom you have made them all;
the earth is full of your creations.

²⁵Look at the sea, so great, so wide!
It teems with countless creatures,
living beings, both large and small.
²⁶The ships are there, sailing to and fro;
Livyatan, which you formed to play there.

²⁷All of them look to you
to give them their food when they need it.
²⁸When you give it to them, they gather it;
when you open your hand, they are well satisfied.
²⁹If you hide your face, they vanish;
if you hold back their breath, they perish
and return to their dust.
³⁰If you send out your breath, they are created,
and you renew the face of the earth.
³¹May the glory of Adonai last forever!
May Adonai rejoice in his works!
³²When he looks at the earth, it trembles;
when he touches the mountains, they pour out smoke.
³³I will sing to Adonai as long as I live,
sing praise to my God all my life.
³⁴May my musings be pleasing to him;
I will rejoice in Adonai.
³⁵May sinners vanish from the earth
and the wicked be no more!
Bless Adonai, my soul!