Psalm 101-105

New King James Version

² I will behave wisely in a ^[a]perfect way.
Oh, when will You come to me?
I will ^(A)walk within my house with a perfect heart.

³ I will set nothing ^[b]wicked before my eyes;
^(B)I hate the work of those ^(C)who fall away;
It shall not cling to me.
⁴ A perverse heart shall depart from me;
I will not ^(D)know wickedness.

⁵ Whoever secretly slanders his neighbor,
Him I will destroy;
^(E)The one who has a haughty look and a proud heart,
Him I will not endure.

⁶ My eyes shall be on the faithful of the land,
That they may dwell with me;
He who walks in a ^[c]perfect way,
He shall serve me.
⁷ He who works deceit shall not dwell within my house;
He who tells lies shall not ^[d]continue in my presence.
^8 (F)Early I will destroy all the wicked of the land,
That I may cut off all the evildoers ^(G)from the city of the Lord.

³ For my days ^[e]are ^(J)consumed like smoke,
And my bones are burned like a hearth.
⁴ My heart is stricken and withered like grass,
So that I forget to eat my bread.
⁵ Because of the sound of my groaning
My bones cling to my ^[f]skin.
⁶ I am like a pelican of the wilderness;
I am like an owl of the desert.
⁷ I lie awake,
And am like a sparrow alone on the housetop.

⁸ My enemies reproach me all day long;
Those who deride me swear an oath against me.
⁹ For I have eaten ashes like bread,
And mingled my drink with weeping,
¹⁰ Because of Your indignation and Your wrath;
For You have lifted me up and cast me away.
¹¹ My days are like a shadow that lengthens,
And I wither away like grass.

¹² But You, O Lord, shall endure forever,
And the remembrance of Your name to all generations.
¹³ You will arise and have mercy on Zion;
For the time to favor her,
Yes, the set time, has come.
¹⁴ For Your servants take pleasure in her stones,
And show favor to her dust.
¹⁵ So the ^[g]nations shall ^(K)fear the name of the Lord,
And all the kings of the earth Your glory.
¹⁶ For the Lord shall build up Zion;
^(L)He shall appear in His glory.
^17 (M)He shall regard the prayer of the destitute,
And shall not despise their prayer.

¹⁸ This will be ^(N)written for the generation to come,
That ^(O)a people yet to be created may praise the Lord.
¹⁹ For He ^(P)looked down from the height of His sanctuary;
From heaven the Lord viewed the earth,
^20 (Q)To hear the groaning of the prisoner,
To release those appointed to death,
²¹ To ^(R)declare the name of the Lord in Zion,
And His praise in Jerusalem,
^22 (S)When the peoples are gathered together,
And the kingdoms, to serve the Lord.

²³ He weakened my strength in the way;
He ^(T)shortened my days.
^24 (U)I said, “O my God,
Do not take me away in the midst of my days;
^(V)Your years are throughout all generations.
^25 (W)Of old You laid the foundation of the earth,
And the heavens are the work of Your hands.
^26 (X)They will perish, but You will ^[h]endure;
Yes, they will all grow old like a garment;
Like a cloak You will change them,
And they will be changed.
²⁷ But ^(Y)You are the same,
And Your years will have no end.
^28 (Z)The children of Your servants will continue,
And their descendants will be established before You.”

⁶ The Lord executes righteousness
And justice for all who are oppressed.
^7 (AF)He made known His ways to Moses,
His acts to the children of Israel.
^8 (AG)The Lord is merciful and gracious,
Slow to anger, and abounding in mercy.
^9 (AH)He will not always strive with us,
Nor will He keep His anger forever.
^10 (AI)He has not dealt with us according to our sins,
Nor punished us according to our iniquities.

¹¹ For as the heavens are high above the earth,
So great is His mercy toward those who fear Him;
¹² As far as the east is from the west,
So far has He ^(AJ)removed our transgressions from us.
^13 (AK)As a father pities his children,
So the Lord pities those who fear Him.
¹⁴ For He ^[i]knows our frame;
He remembers that we are dust.

¹⁵ As for man, ^(AL)his days are like grass;
As a flower of the field, so he flourishes.
^16 (AM)For the wind passes over it, and it is ^[j]gone,
And ^(AN)its place remembers it no more.
¹⁷ But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting
On those who fear Him,
And His righteousness to children’s children,
^18 (AO)To such as keep His covenant,
And to those who remember His commandments to do them.

¹⁹ The Lord has established His throne in heaven,
And ^(AP)His kingdom rules over all.

^20 (AQ)Bless the Lord, you His angels,
Who excel in strength, who ^(AR)do His word,
Heeding the voice of His word.
²¹ Bless the Lord, all you His hosts,
^(AS)You ^[k]ministers of His, who do His pleasure.
²² Bless the Lord, all His works,
In all places of His dominion.

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 (AV)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 ^[l]ministers a flame of fire.

⁵ You who ^[m]laid the foundations of the earth,
So that it should not be moved forever,
⁶ You ^(AW)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 [n]They went up over the mountains;
They went down into the valleys,
To the place which You founded for them.
⁹ You have ^(AX)set a boundary that they may not pass over,
^(AY)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 (AZ)He waters the hills from His upper chambers;
The earth is satisfied with ^(BA)the fruit of Your works.

^14 (BB)He causes the grass to grow for the cattle,
And vegetation for the service of man,
That he may bring forth ^(BC)food from the earth,
¹⁵ And ^(BD)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 ^(BE)rock^[o] badgers.

^19 (BF)He appointed the moon for seasons;
The ^(BG)sun knows its going down.
^20 (BH)You make darkness, and it is night,
In which all the beasts of the forest creep about.
^21 (BI)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 ^(BJ)his work
And to his labor until the evening.

^24 (BK)O Lord, how manifold are Your works!
In wisdom You have made them all.
The earth is full of Your ^(BL)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 ^(BM)Leviathan^[p]
Which You have ^[q]made to play there.

^27 (BN)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;
^(BO)You take away their breath, they die and return to their dust.
^30 (BP)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 ^(BQ)rejoice in His works.
³² He looks on the earth, and it ^(BR)trembles;
^(BS)He touches the hills, and they smoke.

^33 (BT)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 ^(BU)meditation be sweet to Him;
I will be glad in the Lord.
³⁵ May ^(BV)sinners be consumed from the earth,
And the wicked be no more.

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

⁷ He is the Lord our God;
^(CC)His judgments are in all the earth.
⁸ He ^(CD)remembers His covenant forever,
The word which He commanded, for a thousand generations,
^9 (CE)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, ^(CF)“To you I will give the land of Canaan
As the allotment of your inheritance,”
^12 (CG)When they were few in number,
Indeed very few, ^(CH)and strangers in it.

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

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

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

^26 (CW)He sent Moses His servant,
And Aaron whom He had chosen.
²⁷ They ^(CX)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 (CY)He turned their waters into blood,
And killed their fish.
^30 (CZ)Their land abounded with frogs,
Even in the chambers of their kings.
^31 (DA)He spoke, and there came swarms of flies,
And lice in all their territory.
^32 (DB)He gave them hail for rain,
And flaming fire in their land.
^33 (DC)He struck their vines also, and their fig trees,
And splintered the trees of their territory.
^34 (DD)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 (DE)He also ^[u]destroyed all the firstborn in their land,
^(DF)The first of all their strength.

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

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

^[x]Praise the Lord!