Psalm 102 - 104

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Do Not Hide Your Face from Me

A Prayer of the afflicted when he is faint and pours out his complaint before Yahweh.

O Yahweh, hear my prayer!

And let my cry for help come to You.

Do not hide Your face from me in the day of my distress;

Incline Your ear to me;

In the day when I call answer me quickly.

For my days have vanished in smoke,

And my bones have been scorched like a hearth.

My heart has been stricken like grass and it has dried up,

Indeed, I forget to eat my bread.

Because of the sound of my groaning

My bones cling to my flesh.

I resemble a pelican of the wilderness;

I have become like an owl of the waste places.

I lie awake,

I have become like a lonely bird on a roof.

My enemies have reproached me all day long;

Those who ridicule me swear against me.

For I have eaten ashes like bread

And mixed my drinks with weeping

Because of Your indignation and Your wrath,

For You have lifted me up and cast me away.

My days are like an outstretched shadow,

And as for me, I dry up like grass.

But You, O Yahweh, abide forever,

And the remembrance of Your name from generation to generation.

You will arise and have compassion on Zion—

For it is time to be gracious to it,

For the appointed time has come.

For Your slaves find pleasure in its stones

And show grace to its dust—

So the nations will fear the name of Yahweh

And all the kings of the earth Your glory.

For Yahweh has built up Zion;

He has appeared in His glory.

He has turned toward the prayer of the destitute

And has not despised their prayer.

This will be written for the generation to come,

And a people yet to be created will praise Yah.

For He looked down from His holy height;

From heaven Yahweh gazed upon the earth,

To hear the groaning of the prisoner,

To set free those who were doomed to death,

To recount the name of Yahweh in Zion

And His praise in Jerusalem,

When the peoples are gathered together,

And the kingdoms, to serve Yahweh.

He has afflicted my strength in the way;

He has shortened my days.

I say, “O my God, do not take me away in the midst of my days,

Your years are from generation to all generations.

Of old You founded the earth,

And the heavens are the work of Your hands.

Even they will perish, but You will remain;

And all of them will wear out like a garment;

Like clothing You will change them and they will be changed.

But You are the same,

And Your years will not come to an end.

The children of Your slaves will dwell securely,

And their seed will be established before You.”

Bless Yahweh, O My Soul

Of David.

Bless Yahweh, O my soul,

And all that is within me, bless His holy name.

Bless Yahweh, O my soul,

And forget none of His benefits;

Who pardons all your iniquities,

Who heals all your diseases;

Who redeems your life from the pit,

Who crowns you with lovingkindness and compassion;

Who satisfies your years with good things,

So that your youth is renewed like the eagle.

Yahweh performs righteous deeds

And judgments for all who are oppressed.

He made known His ways to Moses,

His acts to the sons of Israel.

Yahweh is compassionate and gracious,

Slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness.

He will not always contend with us,

And He will not keep His anger forever.

He has not dealt with us according to our sins,

And He has not rewarded us according to our iniquities.

For as high as the heavens are above the earth,

So great is His lovingkindness toward those who fear Him.

As far as the east is from the west,

So far has He removed our transgressions from us.

As a father has compassion on his children,

So Yahweh has compassion on those who fear Him.

For He Himself knows our form;

He remembers that we are but dust.

As for man, his days are like grass;

As a flower of the field, so he flowers.

When the wind has passed over it, it is no more,

And its place acknowledges it no longer.

But the lovingkindness of Yahweh is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him,

And His righteousness to children’s children,

To those who keep His covenant

And remember His precepts to do them.

Yahweh has established His throne in the heavens,

And His kingdom rules over all.

Bless Yahweh, you His angels,

Mighty in strength, who perform His word,

Obeying the voice of His word!

Bless Yahweh, all you His hosts,

You who serve Him, doing His will.

Bless Yahweh, all you works of His,

In all places of His rule;

Bless Yahweh, O my soul!

The Glory of Yahweh Endures Forever

Bless Yahweh, O my soul!

O Yahweh my God, You are very great;

You are clothed with splendor and majesty,

Wrapping Yourself with light as with a cloak,

Stretching out the heavens like a tent curtain.

He lays the beams of His upper chambers in the waters;

He sets up the clouds to be His chariot;

He walks upon the wings of the wind;

He makes His angels the winds,

His ministers flaming fire.

He founded the earth upon its place,

So that it will not shake forever and ever.

You covered it with the deep as with a garment;

The waters were standing above the mountains.

At Your rebuke they fled,

At the sound of Your thunder they hurried away in alarm.

The mountains went up; the valleys went down

To the place which You founded for them.

You set a boundary that they may not pass over,

So that they will not return to cover the earth.

He sends forth springs in the valleys;

They flow between the mountains;

They give water to every beast of the field;

The wild donkeys quench their thirst.

Above them the birds of the heavens dwell;

They give forth their voices among the branches.

He gives water to the mountains from His upper chambers;

The earth is satisfied with the fruit of His works.

He causes the grass to grow for the cattle,

And vegetation for man’s cultivation,

To bring forth food from the earth,

And wine which makes man’s heart glad,

To make his face glisten more than oil,

And food which sustains man’s heart.

The trees of Yahweh are satisfied,

The cedars of Lebanon which He planted,

Where the birds build their nests,

The stork’s home is in the fir trees.

The high mountains are for the wild goats;

The cliffs are a refuge for the shephanim.

He made the moon for the seasons;

The sun knows the place of its setting.

You appoint darkness so that it becomes night,

In which all the beasts of the forest creep about.

The young lions roar to go after their prey

And to seek their food from God.

When the sun rises they gather together

And lie down in their dens.

Man goes forth to his work

And to his labor until evening.

How numerous are Your works, O Yahweh!

In wisdom You have made them all;

The earth is full of Your possessions.

This is the sea, great and broad,

There the creeping things are without number,

Creatures both small and great.

There the ships move along,

And Leviathan, which You have formed to play in it.

They all wait for You

To give them their food in due season.

You give to them, they gather it up;

You open Your hand, they are satisfied with good.

You hide Your face, they are dismayed;

You take away their spirit, they breathe their last

And return to their dust.

You send forth Your Spirit, they are created;

And You renew the face of the ground.

Let the glory of Yahweh endure forever;

Let Yahweh be glad in His works;

He looks at the earth, and it trembles;

He touches the mountains, and they smoke.

I will sing to Yahweh throughout my life;

I will sing praise to my God while I have my being.

Let my musing be pleasing to Him;

As for me, I shall be glad in Yahweh.

Let sinners be consumed from the earth

And let the wicked be no more.

Bless Yahweh, O my soul.

Praise Yah!

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