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Psalm 104

1  Bless the Lord, O my soul. ♦︎
   O Lord my God, how excellent is your greatness!
2  You are clothed with majesty and honour, ♦︎
   wrapped in light as in a garment.
3  You spread out the heavens like a curtain ♦︎
   and lay the beams of your dwelling place in the waters above.
4  You make the clouds your chariot ♦︎
   and ride on the wings of the wind.
5  You make the winds your messengers ♦︎
   and flames of fire your servants.
6  You laid the foundations of the earth, ♦︎
   that it never should move at any time.
7  You covered it with the deep like a garment; ♦︎
   the waters stood high above the hills.
8  At your rebuke they fled; ♦︎
   at the voice of your thunder they hastened away.
9  They rose up to the hills and flowed down to the valleys beneath, ♦︎
   to the place which you had appointed for them.
10  You have set them their bounds that they should not pass, ♦︎
   nor turn again to cover the earth.
11  You send the springs into the brooks, ♦︎
   which run among the hills.
12  They give drink to every beast of the field, ♦︎
   and the wild asses quench their thirst.
13  Beside them the birds of the air make their nests ♦︎
   and sing among the branches.
14  You water the hills from your dwelling on high; ♦︎
   the earth is filled with the fruit of your works.
15  You make grass to grow for the cattle ♦︎
   and plants to meet our needs,
16  Bringing forth food from the earth ♦︎
   and wine to gladden our hearts,
17  Oil to give us a cheerful countenance ♦︎
   and bread to strengthen our hearts.
18  The trees of the Lord are full of sap, ♦︎
   the cedars of Lebanon which he planted,
19  In which the birds build their nests, ♦︎
   while the fir trees are a dwelling for the stork.
20  The mountains are a refuge for the wild goats ♦︎
   and the stony cliffs for the conies.
21  You appointed the moon to mark the seasons, ♦︎
   and the sun knows the time for its setting.
22  You make darkness that it may be night, ♦︎
   in which all the beasts of the forest creep forth.
23  The lions roar for their prey ♦︎
   and seek their food from God.
24  The sun rises and they are gone ♦︎
   to lay themselves down in their dens.
25  People go forth to their work ♦︎
   and to their labour until the evening.
26  O Lord, how manifold are your works! ♦︎
   In wisdom you have made them all;
      the earth is full of your creatures.
27  There is the sea, spread far and wide, ♦︎
   and there move creatures beyond number, both small and great.
28  There go the ships, and there is that Leviathan ♦︎
   which you have made to play in the deep.
29  All of these look to you ♦︎
   to give them their food in due season.
30  When you give it them, they gather it; ♦︎
   you open your hand and they are filled with good.
31  When you hide your face they are troubled; ♦︎
   when you take away their breath,
      they die and return again to the dust.
32  When you send forth your spirit, they are created, ♦︎
   and you renew the face of the earth.
33  May the glory of the Lord endure for ever; ♦︎
   may the Lord rejoice in his works;
34  He looks on the earth and it trembles; ♦︎
   he touches the mountains and they smoke.
35  I will sing to the Lord as long as I live; ♦︎
   I will make music to my God while I have my being.
36  So shall my song please him ♦︎
   while I rejoice in the Lord.
37  Let sinners be consumed out of the earth
      and the wicked be no more. ♦︎
   Bless the Lord, O my soul.
      Alleluia.

32Give ear, O heavens, and I will speak;
   let the earth hear the words of my mouth.
² May my teaching drop like the rain,
   my speech condense like the dew;
like gentle rain on grass,
   like showers on new growth.
³ For I will proclaim the name of the Lord;
   ascribe greatness to our God!

⁴ The Rock, his work is perfect,
   and all his ways are just.
A faithful God, without deceit,
   just and upright is he;
⁵ yet his degenerate children have dealt falsely with him,^*
   a perverse and crooked generation.
⁶ Do you thus repay the Lord,
   O foolish and senseless people?
Is not he your father, who created you,
   who made you and established you?
⁷ Remember the days of old,
   consider the years long past;
ask your father, and he will inform you;
   your elders, and they will tell you.
⁸ When the Most High^* apportioned the nations,
   when he divided humankind,
he fixed the boundaries of the peoples
   according to the number of the gods;^*
9 the Lord’s own portion was his people,
   Jacob his allotted share.

¹⁰ He sustained^* him in a desert land,
   in a howling wilderness waste;
he shielded him, cared for him,
   guarded him as the apple of his eye.
¹¹ As an eagle stirs up its nest,
   and hovers over its young;
as it spreads its wings, takes them up,
   and bears them aloft on its pinions,
¹² the Lord alone guided him;
   no foreign god was with him.
¹³ He set him upon the heights of the land,
   and fed him with^* produce of the field;
he nursed him with honey from the crags,
   with oil from flinty rock;
¹⁴ curds from the herd, and milk from the flock,
   with fat of lambs and rams;
Bashan bulls and goats,
   together with the choicest wheat—
   you drank fine wine from the blood of grapes.

32 But recall those earlier days when, after you had been enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, ³³sometimes being publicly exposed to abuse and persecution, and sometimes being partners with those so treated. ³⁴For you had compassion for those who were in prison, and you cheerfully accepted the plundering of your possessions, knowing that you yourselves possessed something better and more lasting. ³⁵Do not, therefore, abandon that confidence of yours; it brings a great reward. ³⁶For you need endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised. ³⁷For yet
‘in a very little while,
   the one who is coming will come and will not delay;
³⁸ but my righteous one will live by faith.
   My soul takes no pleasure in anyone who shrinks back.’
³⁹But we are not among those who shrink back and so are lost, but among those who have faith and so are saved.