The Living Bible (193 page)

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Authors: Inc. Tyndale House Publishers

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BOOK: The Living Bible
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Psalm
103

I bless the holy name of God with all my heart.
2
 Yes, I will bless the Lord and not forget the glorious things he does for me.

    
3
 He forgives all my sins. He heals me.
4
 He ransoms me from hell. He surrounds me with loving-kindness and tender mercies.
5
 He fills my life with good things! My youth is renewed like the eagle’s!
6
 He gives justice to all who are treated unfairly.
7
 He revealed his will and nature to Moses and the people of Israel.

    
8
 He is merciful and tender toward those who don’t deserve it; he is slow to get angry and full of kindness and love.
9
 He never bears a grudge, nor remains angry forever.
10
 He has not punished us as we deserve for all our sins,
11
 for his mercy toward those who fear and honor him is as great as the height of the heavens above the earth.
12
 He has removed our sins as far away from us as the east is from the west.
13
 He is like a father to us, tender and sympathetic to those who reverence him.
14
 For he knows we are but dust
15
 and that our days are few and brief, like grass, like flowers,
16
 blown by the wind and gone forever.

    
17-18
 But the loving-kindness of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting to those who reverence him; his salvation is to children’s children of those who are faithful to his covenant and remember to obey him!

    
19
 The Lord has made the heavens his throne; from there he rules over everything there is.
20
 Bless the Lord, you mighty angels of his who carry out his orders, listening for each of his commands.
21
 Yes, bless the Lord, you armies of his angels who serve him constantly.

    
22
 Let everything everywhere bless the Lord. And how I bless him too!

Psalm
104

I bless the Lord: O Lord my God, how great you are! You are robed with honor and with majesty and light! You stretched out the starry curtain of the heavens,
3
 and hollowed out the surface of the earth to form the seas. The clouds are his chariots. He rides upon the wings of the wind.
4
 The angels
*
are his messengers—his servants of fire!

    
5
 You bound the world together so that it would never fall apart.
6
 You clothed the earth with floods of waters covering up the mountains.
7-8
 You spoke, and at the sound of your shout the water collected into its vast ocean beds, and mountains rose and valleys sank to the levels you decreed.
9
 And then you set a boundary for the seas so that they would never again cover the earth.

    
10
 He placed springs in the valleys and streams that gush from the mountains.
11
 They give water for all the animals to drink. There the wild donkeys quench their thirst,
12
 and the birds nest beside the streams and sing among the branches of the trees.
13
 He sends rain upon the mountains and fills the earth with fruit.
14
 The tender grass grows up at his command to feed the cattle, and there are fruit trees, vegetables, and grain for man to cultivate,
15
 and wine to make him glad, and olive oil as lotion for his skin, and bread to give him strength.
16
 The Lord planted the cedars of Lebanon. They are tall and flourishing.
17
 There the birds make their nests, the storks in the firs.
18
 High in the mountains are pastures for the wild goats, and rock badgers burrow in among the rocks and find protection there.

    
19
 He assigned the moon to mark the months and the sun to mark the days.
20
 He sends the night and darkness, when all the forest folk come out.
21
 Then the young lions roar for their food, but they are dependent on the Lord.
22
 At dawn they slink back into their dens to rest,
23
 and men go off to work until the evening shadows fall again.
24
 O Lord, what a variety you have made! And in wisdom you have made them all! The earth is full of your riches.

    
25
 There before me lies the mighty ocean, teeming with life of every kind, both great and small.
26
 And look! See the ships! And over there, the whale you made to play in the sea.
27
 Every one of these depends on you to give them daily food.
28
 You supply it, and they gather it. You open wide your hand to feed them, and they are satisfied with all your bountiful provision.

    
29
 But if you turn away from them, then all is lost. And when you gather up their breath, they die and turn again to dust.

    
30
 Then you send your Spirit, and new life is born
*
to replenish all the living of the earth.
31
 Praise God forever! How he must rejoice in all his work!
32
 The earth trembles at his glance; the mountains burst into flame at his touch.

    
33
 I will sing to the Lord as long as I live. I will praise God to my last breath!
34
 May he be pleased by all these thoughts about him, for he is the source of all my joy.
35
 Let all sinners perish—all who refuse to praise him. But I will praise him. Hallelujah!

Psalm
105

Thank the Lord for all the glorious things he does; proclaim them to the nations.
2
 Sing his praises and tell everyone about his miracles.
3
 Glory in the Lord; O worshipers of God, rejoice.

    
4
 Search for him and for his strength, and keep on searching!

    
5-6
 Think of the mighty deeds he did for us, his chosen ones—descendants of God’s servant Abraham, and of Jacob. Remember how he destroyed our enemies.
7
 He is the Lord our God. His goodness
*
is seen everywhere throughout the land.
8-9
 Though a thousand generations pass he never forgets his promise, his covenant with Abraham and Isaac
10-11
 and confirmed with Jacob. This is his never-ending treaty with the people of Israel:
“I will give you the land of Canaan as your inheritance.”
12
 He said this when they were but few in number, very few, and were only visitors in Canaan.
13
 Later they were dispersed among the nations and were driven from one kingdom to another;
14
 but through it all he would not let one thing be done to them apart from his decision.
*
He destroyed many a king who tried!
15
 “Touch not these chosen ones of mine,” he warned, “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 Joseph as a slave to Egypt to save his people from starvation.
18
 There in prison they hurt his feet with fetters and placed his neck in an iron collar
19
 until God’s time finally came—how God tested his patience!
20
 Then the king sent for him and set him free.
21
 He was put in charge of all the king’s possessions.
22
 At his pleasure he could imprison the king’s aides and teach the king’s advisors.

    
23
 Then Jacob (Israel) arrived in Egypt and lived there with his sons.
24
 In the years that followed, the people of Israel multiplied explosively until they were a greater nation than their rulers.
25
 At that point God turned the Egyptians against the Israelis; they hated and enslaved them.

    
26
 But God sent Moses as his representative, and Aaron with him,
27
 to call down miracles of terror upon the land of Egypt.
28
 They
*
followed his instructions. He sent thick darkness through the land
29
 and turned the nation’s water into blood, poisoning the fish.
30
 Then frogs invaded in enormous numbers; they were found even in the king’s private rooms.
31
 When Moses spoke, the flies and other insects swarmed in vast clouds from one end of Egypt to the other.
32
 Instead of rain he sent down murderous hail, and lightning flashes overwhelmed the nation.
33
 Their grapevines and fig trees were ruined; all the trees lay broken on the ground.
34
 He spoke, and hordes of locusts came
35
 and ate up everything green, destroying all the crops.
36
 Then he killed the oldest child in each Egyptian home, their pride and joy—
37
 and brought his people safely out from Egypt, loaded with silver and gold; there were no sick and feeble folk among them then.
38
 Egypt was glad when they were gone, for the dread of them was great.

    
39
 He spread out a cloud above them to shield them from the burning sun and gave them a pillar of flame at night to give them light.
40
 They asked for meat, and he sent them quail and gave them manna—bread from heaven.
41
 He opened up a rock, and water gushed out to form a river through the dry and barren land;
42
 for he remembered his sacred promises to Abraham his servant.

    
43
 So he brought his chosen ones singing into the Promised Land.
44
 He gave them the lands of the Gentiles, complete with their growing crops; they ate what others planted.
45
 This was done to make them faithful and obedient to his laws. Hallelujah!

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