Psalm 90-106

New Living Translation

¹ Lord, through all the generations
    you have been our home!
² Before the mountains were born,
    before you gave birth to the earth and the world,
    from beginning to end, you are God.

³ You turn people back to dust, saying,
    “Return to dust, you mortals!”
⁴ For you, a thousand years are as a passing day,
    as brief as a few night hours.
⁵ You sweep people away like dreams that disappear.
    They are like grass that springs up in the morning.
⁶ In the morning it blooms and flourishes,
    but by evening it is dry and withered.
⁷ We wither beneath your anger;
    we are overwhelmed by your fury.
⁸ You spread out our sins before you—
    our secret sins—and you see them all.
⁹ We live our lives beneath your wrath,
    ending our years with a groan.

¹⁰ Seventy years are given to us!
    Some even live to eighty.
But even the best years are filled with pain and trouble;
    soon they disappear, and we fly away.
¹¹ Who can comprehend the power of your anger?
    Your wrath is as awesome as the fear you deserve.
¹² Teach us to realize the brevity of life,
    so that we may grow in wisdom.

¹³ O Lord, come back to us!
    How long will you delay?
    Take pity on your servants!
¹⁴ Satisfy us each morning with your unfailing love,
    so we may sing for joy to the end of our lives.
¹⁵ Give us gladness in proportion to our former misery!
    Replace the evil years with good.
¹⁶ Let us, your servants, see you work again;
    let our children see your glory.
¹⁷ And may the Lord our God show us his approval
    and make our efforts successful.
    Yes, make our efforts successful!

⁹ If you make the Lord your refuge,
    if you make the Most High your shelter,
¹⁰ no evil will conquer you;
    no plague will come near your home.
¹¹ For he will order his angels
    to protect you wherever you go.
¹² They will hold you up with their hands
    so you won’t even hurt your foot on a stone.
¹³ You will trample upon lions and cobras;
    you will crush fierce lions and serpents under your feet!

¹⁴ The Lord says, “I will rescue those who love me.
    I will protect those who trust in my name.
¹⁵ When they call on me, I will answer;
    I will be with them in trouble.
    I will rescue and honor them.
¹⁶ I will reward them with a long life
    and give them my salvation.”

¹ It is good to give thanks to the Lord,
    to sing praises to the Most High.
² It is good to proclaim your unfailing love in the morning,
    your faithfulness in the evening,
³ accompanied by a ten-stringed instrument, a harp,
    and the melody of a lyre.

⁴ You thrill me, Lord, with all you have done for me!
    I sing for joy because of what you have done.
⁵ O Lord, what great works you do!
    And how deep are your thoughts.
⁶ Only a simpleton would not know,
    and only a fool would not understand this:
⁷ Though the wicked sprout like weeds
    and evildoers flourish,
    they will be destroyed forever.

⁸ But you, O Lord, will be exalted forever.
⁹ Your enemies, Lord, will surely perish;
    all evildoers will be scattered.
¹⁰ But you have made me as strong as a wild ox.
    You have anointed me with the finest oil.
¹¹ My eyes have seen the downfall of my enemies;
    my ears have heard the defeat of my wicked opponents.
¹² But the godly will flourish like palm trees
    and grow strong like the cedars of Lebanon.
¹³ For they are transplanted to the Lord’s own house.
    They flourish in the courts of our God.
¹⁴ Even in old age they will still produce fruit;
    they will remain vital and green.
¹⁵ They will declare, “The Lord is just!
    He is my rock!
    There is no evil in him!”

² Your throne, O Lord, has stood from time immemorial.
    You yourself are from the everlasting past.
³ The floods have risen up, O Lord.
    The floods have roared like thunder;
    the floods have lifted their pounding waves.
⁴ But mightier than the violent raging of the seas,
    mightier than the breakers on the shore—
    the Lord above is mightier than these!
⁵ Your royal laws cannot be changed.
    Your reign, O Lord, is holy forever and ever.

⁸ Think again, you fools!
    When will you finally catch on?
⁹ Is he deaf—the one who made your ears?
    Is he blind—the one who formed your eyes?
¹⁰ He punishes the nations—won’t he also punish you?
    He knows everything—doesn’t he also know what you are doing?
¹¹ The Lord knows people’s thoughts;
    he knows they are worthless!

¹² Joyful are those you discipline, Lord,
    those you teach with your instructions.
¹³ You give them relief from troubled times
    until a pit is dug to capture the wicked.
¹⁴ The Lord will not reject his people;
    he will not abandon his special possession.
¹⁵ Judgment will again be founded on justice,
    and those with virtuous hearts will pursue it.

¹⁶ Who will protect me from the wicked?
    Who will stand up for me against evildoers?
¹⁷ Unless the Lord had helped me,
    I would soon have settled in the silence of the grave.
¹⁸ I cried out, “I am slipping!”
    but your unfailing love, O Lord, supported me.
¹⁹ When doubts filled my mind,
    your comfort gave me renewed hope and cheer.

²⁰ Can unjust leaders claim that God is on their side—
    leaders whose decrees permit injustice?
²¹ They gang up against the righteous
    and condemn the innocent to death.
²² But the Lord is my fortress;
    my God is the mighty rock where I hide.
²³ God will turn the sins of evil people back on them.
    He will destroy them for their sins.
    The Lord our God will destroy them.

⁶ Come, let us worship and bow down.
    Let us kneel before the Lord our maker,
⁷     for he is our God.
We are the people he watches over,
    the flock under his care.

If only you would listen to his voice today!
⁸ The Lord says, “Don’t harden your hearts as Israel did at Meribah,
    as they did at Massah in the wilderness.
⁹ For there your ancestors tested and tried my patience,
    even though they saw everything I did.
¹⁰ For forty years I was angry with them, and I said,
‘They are a people whose hearts turn away from me.
    They refuse to do what I tell them.’
¹¹ So in my anger I took an oath:
    ‘They will never enter my place of rest.’”

⁷ O nations of the world, recognize the Lord;
    recognize that the Lord is glorious and strong.
⁸ Give to the Lord the glory he deserves!
    Bring your offering and come into his courts.
⁹ Worship the Lord in all his holy splendor.
    Let all the earth tremble before him.
¹⁰ Tell all the nations, “The Lord reigns!”
    The world stands firm and cannot be shaken.
    He will judge all peoples fairly.

¹¹ Let the heavens be glad, and the earth rejoice!
    Let the sea and everything in it shout his praise!
¹² Let the fields and their crops burst out with joy!
    Let the trees of the forest sing for joy
¹³ before the Lord, for he is coming!
    He is coming to judge the earth.
He will judge the world with justice,
    and the nations with his truth.

¹⁰ You who love the Lord, hate evil!
    He protects the lives of his godly people
    and rescues them from the power of the wicked.
¹¹ Light shines on the godly,
    and joy on those whose hearts are right.
¹² May all who are godly rejoice in the Lord
    and praise his holy name!

¹ Sing a new song to the Lord,
    for he has done wonderful deeds.
His right hand has won a mighty victory;
    his holy arm has shown his saving power!
² The Lord has announced his victory
    and has revealed his righteousness to every nation!
³ He has remembered his promise to love and be faithful to Israel.
    The ends of the earth have seen the victory of our God.

⁴ Shout to the Lord, all the earth;
    break out in praise and sing for joy!
⁵ Sing your praise to the Lord with the harp,
    with the harp and melodious song,
⁶ with trumpets and the sound of the ram’s horn.
    Make a joyful symphony before the Lord, the King!

⁷ Let the sea and everything in it shout his praise!
    Let the earth and all living things join in.
⁸ Let the rivers clap their hands in glee!
    Let the hills sing out their songs of joy
⁹ before the Lord,
    for he is coming to judge the earth.
He will judge the world with justice,
    and the nations with fairness.

⁶ Moses and Aaron were among his priests;
    Samuel also called on his name.
They cried to the Lord for help,
    and he answered them.
⁷ He spoke to Israel from the pillar of cloud,
    and they followed the laws and decrees he gave them.
⁸ O Lord our God, you answered them.
    You were a forgiving God to them,
    but you punished them when they went wrong.

⁹ Exalt the Lord our God,
    and worship at his holy mountain in Jerusalem,
    for the Lord our God is holy!

¹ Shout with joy to the Lord, all the earth!
²     Worship the Lord with gladness.
    Come before him, singing with joy.
³ Acknowledge that the Lord is God!
    He made us, and we are his.^[e]
    We are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
⁴ Enter his gates with thanksgiving;
    go into his courts with praise.
    Give thanks to him and praise his name.
⁵ For the Lord is good.
    His unfailing love continues forever,
    and his faithfulness continues to each generation.

¹ I will sing of your love and justice, Lord.
    I will praise you with songs.
² I will be careful to live a blameless life—
    when will you come to help me?
I will lead a life of integrity
    in my own home.
³ I will refuse to look at
    anything vile and vulgar.
I hate all who deal crookedly;
    I will have nothing to do with them.
⁴ I will reject perverse ideas
    and stay away from every evil.
⁵ I will not tolerate people who slander their neighbors.
    I will not endure conceit and pride.

⁶ I will search for faithful people
    to be my companions.
Only those who are above reproach
    will be allowed to serve me.
⁷ I will not allow deceivers to serve in my house,
    and liars will not stay in my presence.
⁸ My daily task will be to ferret out the wicked
    and free the city of the Lord from their grip.

¹ Lord, hear my prayer!
    Listen to my plea!
² Don’t turn away from me
    in my time of distress.
Bend down to listen,
    and answer me quickly when I call to you.
³ For my days disappear like smoke,
    and my bones burn like red-hot coals.
⁴ My heart is sick, withered like grass,
    and I have lost my appetite.
⁵ Because of my groaning,
    I am reduced to skin and bones.
⁶ I am like an owl in the desert,
    like a little owl in a far-off wilderness.
⁷ I lie awake,
    lonely as a solitary bird on the roof.
⁸ My enemies taunt me day after day.
    They mock and curse me.
⁹ I eat ashes for food.
    My tears run down into my drink
¹⁰ because of your anger and wrath.
    For you have picked me up and thrown me out.
¹¹ My life passes as swiftly as the evening shadows.
    I am withering away like grass.

¹² But you, O Lord, will sit on your throne forever.
    Your fame will endure to every generation.
¹³ You will arise and have mercy on Jerusalem^[f]—
    and now is the time to pity her,
    now is the time you promised to help.
¹⁴ For your people love every stone in her walls
    and cherish even the dust in her streets.
¹⁵ Then the nations will tremble before the Lord.
    The kings of the earth will tremble before his glory.
¹⁶ For the Lord will rebuild Jerusalem.
    He will appear in his glory.
¹⁷ He will listen to the prayers of the destitute.
    He will not reject their pleas.

¹⁸ Let this be recorded for future generations,
    so that a people not yet born will praise the Lord.
¹⁹ Tell them the Lord looked down
    from his heavenly sanctuary.
He looked down to earth from heaven
²⁰     to hear the groans of the prisoners,
    to release those condemned to die.
²¹ And so the Lord’s fame will be celebrated in Zion,
    his praises in Jerusalem,
²² when multitudes gather together
    and kingdoms come to worship the Lord.

²³ He broke my strength in midlife,
    cutting short my days.
²⁴ But I cried to him, “O my God, who lives forever,
    don’t take my life while I am so young!
²⁵ Long ago you laid the foundation of the earth
    and made the heavens with your hands.
²⁶ They will perish, but you remain forever;
    they will wear out like old clothing.
You will change them like a garment
    and discard them.
²⁷ But you are always the same;
    you will live forever.
²⁸ The children of your people
    will live in security.
Their children’s children
    will thrive in your presence.”

¹ Let all that I am praise the Lord;
    with my whole heart, I will praise his holy name.
² Let all that I am praise the Lord;
    may I never forget the good things he does for me.
³ He forgives all my sins
    and heals all my diseases.
⁴ He redeems me from death
    and crowns me with love and tender mercies.
⁵ He fills my life with good things.
    My youth is renewed like the eagle’s!

⁶ The Lord gives righteousness
    and justice to all who are treated unfairly.

⁷ He revealed his character to Moses
    and his deeds to the people of Israel.
⁸ The Lord is compassionate and merciful,
    slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love.
⁹ He will not constantly accuse us,
    nor remain angry forever.
¹⁰ He does not punish us for all our sins;
    he does not deal harshly with us, as we deserve.
¹¹ For his unfailing love toward those who fear him
    is as great as the height of the heavens above the earth.
¹² He has removed our sins as far from us
    as the east is from the west.
¹³ The Lord is like a father to his children,
    tender and compassionate to those who fear him.
¹⁴ For he knows how weak we are;
    he remembers we are only dust.
¹⁵ Our days on earth are like grass;
    like wildflowers, we bloom and die.
¹⁶ The wind blows, and we are gone—
    as though we had never been here.
¹⁷ But the love of the Lord remains forever
    with those who fear him.
His salvation extends to the children’s children
¹⁸     of those who are faithful to his covenant,
    of those who obey his commandments!

¹⁹ The Lord has made the heavens his throne;
    from there he rules over everything.

²⁰ Praise the Lord, you angels,
    you mighty ones who carry out his plans,
    listening for each of his commands.
²¹ Yes, praise the Lord, you armies of angels
    who serve him and do his will!
²² Praise the Lord, everything he has created,
    everything in all his kingdom.

Let all that I am praise the Lord.

O Lord my God, how great you are!
    You are robed with honor and majesty.
²     You are dressed in a robe of light.
You stretch out the starry curtain of the heavens;
³     you lay out the rafters of your home in the rain clouds.
You make the clouds your chariot;
    you ride upon the wings of the wind.
⁴ The winds are your messengers;
    flames of fire are your servants.^[g]

⁵ You placed the world on its foundation
    so it would never be moved.
⁶ You clothed the earth with floods of water,
    water that covered even the mountains.
⁷ At your command, the water fled;
    at the sound of your thunder, it hurried away.
⁸ Mountains rose and valleys sank
    to the levels you decreed.
⁹ Then you set a firm boundary for the seas,
    so they would never again cover the earth.

¹⁰ You make springs pour water into the ravines,
    so streams gush down from the mountains.
¹¹ They provide water for all the animals,
    and the wild donkeys quench their thirst.
¹² The birds nest beside the streams
    and sing among the branches of the trees.
¹³ You send rain on the mountains from your heavenly home,
    and you fill the earth with the fruit of your labor.
¹⁴ You cause grass to grow for the livestock
    and plants for people to use.
You allow them to produce food from the earth—
¹⁵     wine to make them glad,
olive oil to soothe their skin,
    and bread to give them strength.
¹⁶ The trees of the Lord are well cared for—
    the cedars of Lebanon that he planted.
¹⁷ There the birds make their nests,
    and the storks make their homes in the cypresses.
¹⁸ High in the mountains live the wild goats,
    and the rocks form a refuge for the hyraxes.^[h]

¹⁹ You made the moon to mark the seasons,
    and the sun knows when to set.
²⁰ You send the darkness, and it becomes night,
    when all the forest animals prowl about.
²¹ Then the young lions roar for their prey,
    stalking the food provided by God.
²² At dawn they slink back
    into their dens to rest.
²³ Then people go off to their work,
    where they labor until evening.

²⁴ O Lord, what a variety of things you have made!
    In wisdom you have made them all.
    The earth is full of your creatures.
²⁵ Here is the ocean, vast and wide,
    teeming with life of every kind,
    both large and small.
²⁶ See the ships sailing along,
    and Leviathan,^[i] which you made to play in the sea.

²⁷ They all depend on you
    to give them food as they need it.
²⁸ When you supply it, they gather it.
    You open your hand to feed them,
    and they are richly satisfied.
²⁹ But if you turn away from them, they panic.
    When you take away their breath,
    they die and turn again to dust.
³⁰ When you give them your breath,^[j] life is created,
    and you renew the face of the earth.

³¹ May the glory of the Lord continue forever!
    The Lord takes pleasure in all he has made!
³² The earth trembles at his glance;
    the mountains smoke at his touch.

³³ I will sing to the Lord as long as I live.
    I will praise my God to my last breath!
³⁴ May all my thoughts be pleasing to him,
    for I rejoice in the Lord.
³⁵ Let all sinners vanish from the face of the earth;
    let the wicked disappear forever.

Let all that I am praise the Lord.

Praise the Lord!

⁷ He is the Lord our God.
    His justice is seen throughout the land.
⁸ He always stands by his covenant—
    the commitment he made to a thousand generations.
⁹ This is the covenant he made with Abraham
    and the oath he swore to Isaac.
¹⁰ He confirmed it to Jacob as a decree,
    and to the people of Israel as a never-ending covenant:
¹¹ “I will give you the land of Canaan
    as your special possession.”

¹² He said this when they were few in number,
    a tiny group of strangers in Canaan.
¹³ They wandered from nation to nation,
    from one kingdom to another.
¹⁴ Yet he did not let anyone oppress them.
    He warned kings on their behalf:
¹⁵ “Do not touch my chosen people,
    and do not hurt my prophets.”

¹⁶ He called for a famine on the land of Canaan,
    cutting off its food supply.
¹⁷ Then he sent someone to Egypt ahead of them—
    Joseph, who was sold as a slave.
¹⁸ They bruised his feet with fetters
    and placed his neck in an iron collar.
¹⁹ Until the time came to fulfill his dreams,^[k]
    the Lord tested Joseph’s character.
²⁰ Then Pharaoh sent for him and set him free;
    the ruler of the nation opened his prison door.
²¹ Joseph was put in charge of all the king’s household;
    he became ruler over all the king’s possessions.
²² He could instruct^[l] the king’s aides as he pleased
    and teach the king’s advisers.

²³ Then Israel arrived in Egypt;
    Jacob lived as a foreigner in the land of Ham.
²⁴ And the Lord multiplied the people of Israel
    until they became too mighty for their enemies.
²⁵ Then he turned the Egyptians against the Israelites,
    and they plotted against the Lord’s servants.

²⁶ But the Lord sent his servant Moses,
    along with Aaron, whom he had chosen.
²⁷ They performed miraculous signs among the Egyptians,
    and wonders in the land of Ham.
²⁸ The Lord blanketed Egypt in darkness,
    for they had defied^[m] his commands to let his people go.
²⁹ He turned their water into blood,
    poisoning all the fish.
³⁰ Then frogs overran the land
    and even invaded the king’s bedrooms.
³¹ When the Lord spoke, flies descended on the Egyptians,
    and gnats swarmed across Egypt.
³² He sent them hail instead of rain,
    and lightning flashed over the land.
³³ He ruined their grapevines and fig trees
    and shattered all the trees.
³⁴ He spoke, and hordes of locusts came—
    young locusts beyond number.
³⁵ They ate up everything green in the land,
    destroying all the crops in their fields.
³⁶ Then he killed the oldest son in each Egyptian home,
    the pride and joy of each family.

³⁷ The Lord brought his people out of Egypt, loaded with silver and gold;
    and not one among the tribes of Israel even stumbled.
³⁸ Egypt was glad when they were gone,
    for they feared them greatly.
³⁹ The Lord spread a cloud above them as a covering
    and gave them a great fire to light the darkness.
⁴⁰ They asked for meat, and he sent them quail;
    he satisfied their hunger with manna—bread from heaven.
⁴¹ He split open a rock, and water gushed out
    to form a river through the dry wasteland.
⁴² For he remembered his sacred promise
    to his servant Abraham.
⁴³ So he brought his people out of Egypt with joy,
    his chosen ones with rejoicing.
⁴⁴ He gave his people the lands of pagan nations,
    and they harvested crops that others had planted.
⁴⁵ All this happened so they would follow his decrees
    and obey his instructions.

Praise the Lord!

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good!
    His faithful love endures forever.
² Who can list the glorious miracles of the Lord?
    Who can ever praise him enough?
³ There is joy for those who deal justly with others
    and always do what is right.

⁴ Remember me, Lord, when you show favor to your people;
    come near and rescue me.
⁵ Let me share in the prosperity of your chosen ones.
    Let me rejoice in the joy of your people;
    let me praise you with those who are your heritage.

⁶ Like our ancestors, we have sinned.
    We have done wrong! We have acted wickedly!
⁷ Our ancestors in Egypt
    were not impressed by the Lord’s miraculous deeds.
They soon forgot his many acts of kindness to them.
    Instead, they rebelled against him at the Red Sea.^[n]
8 Even so, he saved them—
    to defend the honor of his name
    and to demonstrate his mighty power.
⁹ He commanded the Red Sea^[o] to dry up.
    He led Israel across the sea as if it were a desert.
¹⁰ So he rescued them from their enemies
    and redeemed them from their foes.
¹¹ Then the water returned and covered their enemies;
    not one of them survived.
¹² Then his people believed his promises.
    Then they sang his praise.

¹³ Yet how quickly they forgot what he had done!
    They wouldn’t wait for his counsel!
¹⁴ In the wilderness their desires ran wild,
    testing God’s patience in that dry wasteland.
¹⁵ So he gave them what they asked for,
    but he sent a plague along with it.
¹⁶ The people in the camp were jealous of Moses
    and envious of Aaron, the Lord’s holy priest.
¹⁷ Because of this, the earth opened up;
    it swallowed Dathan
    and buried Abiram and the other rebels.
¹⁸ Fire fell upon their followers;
    a flame consumed the wicked.

¹⁹ The people made a calf at Mount Sinai^[p];
    they bowed before an image made of gold.
²⁰ They traded their glorious God
    for a statue of a grass-eating bull.
²¹ They forgot God, their savior,
    who had done such great things in Egypt—
²² such wonderful things in the land of Ham,
    such awesome deeds at the Red Sea.
²³ So he declared he would destroy them.
    But Moses, his chosen one, stepped between the Lord and the people.
    He begged him to turn from his anger and not destroy them.

²⁴ The people refused to enter the pleasant land,
    for they wouldn’t believe his promise to care for them.
²⁵ Instead, they grumbled in their tents
    and refused to obey the Lord.
²⁶ Therefore, he solemnly swore
    that he would kill them in the wilderness,
²⁷ that he would scatter their descendants^[q] among the nations,
    exiling them to distant lands.

²⁸ Then our ancestors joined in the worship of Baal at Peor;
    they even ate sacrifices offered to the dead!
²⁹ They angered the Lord with all these things,
    so a plague broke out among them.
³⁰ But Phinehas had the courage to intervene,
    and the plague was stopped.
³¹ So he has been regarded as a righteous man
    ever since that time.

³² At Meribah, too, they angered the Lord,
    causing Moses serious trouble.
³³ They made Moses angry,^[r]
    and he spoke foolishly.

³⁴ Israel failed to destroy the nations in the land,
    as the Lord had commanded them.
³⁵ Instead, they mingled among the pagans
    and adopted their evil customs.
³⁶ They worshiped their idols,
    which led to their downfall.
³⁷ They even sacrificed their sons
    and their daughters to the demons.
³⁸ They shed innocent blood,
    the blood of their sons and daughters.
By sacrificing them to the idols of Canaan,
    they polluted the land with murder.
³⁹ They defiled themselves by their evil deeds,
    and their love of idols was adultery in the Lord’s sight.

⁴⁰ That is why the Lord’s anger burned against his people,
    and he abhorred his own special possession.
⁴¹ He handed them over to pagan nations,
    and they were ruled by those who hated them.
⁴² Their enemies crushed them
    and brought them under their cruel power.
⁴³ Again and again he rescued them,
    but they chose to rebel against him,
    and they were finally destroyed by their sin.
⁴⁴ Even so, he pitied them in their distress
    and listened to their cries.
⁴⁵ He remembered his covenant with them
    and relented because of his unfailing love.
⁴⁶ He even caused their captors
    to treat them with kindness.

⁴⁷ Save us, O Lord our God!
    Gather us back from among the nations,
so we can thank your holy name
    and rejoice and praise you.

⁴⁸ Praise the Lord, the God of Israel,
    who lives from everlasting to everlasting!
Let all the people say, “Amen!”

Praise the Lord!