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Book Four

From Everlasting to Everlasting

A Prayer of Moses, the man of God.

1  Lord, you have been our dwelling place ^{1 90:1 Some Hebrew manuscripts (compare Septuagint) our refuge}
    in all generations.
2  Before the mountains were brought forth,
    or ever you had formed the earth and the world,
    from everlasting to everlasting you are God.

3  You return man to dust
    and say, “Return, O children of man!” ^{2 90:3 Or of Adam}
4  For a thousand years in your sight
    are but as yesterday when it is past,
    or as a watch in the night.

5  You sweep them away as with a flood; they are like a dream,
    like grass that is renewed in the morning:
6  in the morning it flourishes and is renewed;
    in the evening it fades and withers.

7  For we are brought to an end by your anger;
    by your wrath we are dismayed.
8  You have set our iniquities before you,
    our secret sins in the light of your presence.

9  For all our days pass away under your wrath;
    we bring our years to an end like a sigh.
10  The years of our life are seventy,
    or even by reason of strength eighty;
yet their span ^{3 90:10 Or pride} is but toil and trouble;
    they are soon gone, and we fly away.
11  Who considers the power of your anger,
    and your wrath according to the fear of you?

12  So teach us to number our days
    that we may get a heart of wisdom.
13  Return, O LORD! How long?
    Have pity on your servants!
14  Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love,
    that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.
15  Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us,
    and for as many years as we have seen evil.
16  Let your work be shown to your servants,
    and your glorious power to their children.
17  Let the favor ^{4 90:17 Or beauty} of the Lord our God be upon us,
    and establish the work of our hands upon us;
    yes, establish the work of our hands!

My Refuge and My Fortress

1  He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High
    will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.
2  I will say ^{5 91:2 Septuagint He will say} to the LORD, “My refuge and my fortress,
    my God, in whom I trust.”

3  For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler
    and from the deadly pestilence.
4  He will cover you with his pinions,
    and under his wings you will find refuge;
    his faithfulness is a shield and buckler.
5  You will not fear the terror of the night,
    nor the arrow that flies by day,
6  nor the pestilence that stalks in darkness,
    nor the destruction that wastes at noonday.

7  A thousand may fall at your side,
    ten thousand at your right hand,
    but it will not come near you.
8  You will only look with your eyes
    and see the recompense of the wicked.

9  Because you have made the LORD your dwelling place—
    the Most High, who is my refuge ^{6 91:9 Or For you, O LORD, are my refuge! You have made the Most High your dwelling place} —
10  no evil shall be allowed to befall you,
    no plague come near your tent.

11  For he will command his angels concerning you
    to guard you in all your ways.
12  On their hands they will bear you up,
    lest you strike your foot against a stone.
13  You will tread on the lion and the adder;
    the young lion and the serpent you will trample underfoot.

14  “Because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him;
    I will protect him, because he knows my name.
15  When he calls to me, I will answer him;
    I will be with him in trouble;
    I will rescue him and honor him.
16  With long life I will satisfy him
    and show him my salvation.”

How Great Are Your Works

A Psalm. A Song for the Sabbath.

1  It is good to give thanks to the LORD,
    to sing praises to your name, O Most High;
2  to declare your steadfast love in the morning,
    and your faithfulness by night,
3  to the music of the lute and the harp,
    to the melody of the lyre.
4  For you, O LORD, have made me glad by your work;
    at the works of your hands I sing for joy.

5  How great are your works, O LORD!
    Your thoughts are very deep!
6  The stupid man cannot know;
    the fool cannot understand this:
7  that though the wicked sprout like grass
    and all evildoers flourish,
they are doomed to destruction forever;
8      but you, O LORD, are on high forever.
9  For behold, your enemies, O LORD,
    for behold, your enemies shall perish;
    all evildoers shall be scattered.

10  But you have exalted my horn like that of the wild ox;
    you have poured over me ^{7 92:10 Compare Syriac; the meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain} fresh oil.
11  My eyes have seen the downfall of my enemies;
    my ears have heard the doom of my evil assailants.

12  The righteous flourish like the palm tree
    and grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
13  They are planted in the house of the LORD;
    they flourish in the courts of our God.
14  They still bear fruit in old age;
    they are ever full of sap and green,
15  to declare that the LORD is upright;
    he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.

The LORD Reigns

1  The LORD reigns; he is robed in majesty;
    the LORD is robed; he has put on strength as his belt.
Yes, the world is established; it shall never be moved.
2  Your throne is established from of old;
    you are from everlasting.

3  The floods have lifted up, O LORD,
    the floods have lifted up their voice;
    the floods lift up their roaring.
4  Mightier than the thunders of many waters,
    mightier than the waves of the sea,
    the LORD on high is mighty!

5  Your decrees are very trustworthy;
    holiness befits your house,
    O LORD, forevermore.

The LORD Will Not Forsake His People

1  O LORD, God of vengeance,
    O God of vengeance, shine forth!
2  Rise up, O judge of the earth;
    repay to the proud what they deserve!
3  O LORD, how long shall the wicked,
    how long shall the wicked exult?
4  They pour out their arrogant words;
    all the evildoers boast.
5  They crush your people, O LORD,
    and afflict your heritage.
6  They kill the widow and the sojourner,
    and murder the fatherless;
7  and they say, “The LORD does not see;
    the God of Jacob does not perceive.”

8  Understand, O dullest of the people!
    Fools, when will you be wise?
9  He who planted the ear, does he not hear?
He who formed the eye, does he not see?
10  He who disciplines the nations, does he not rebuke?
He who teaches man knowledge—
11      the LORD—knows the thoughts of man,
    that they are but a breath. ^{8 94:11 Septuagint they are futile}

12  Blessed is the man whom you discipline, O LORD,
    and whom you teach out of your law,
13  to give him rest from days of trouble,
    until a pit is dug for the wicked.
14  For the LORD will not forsake his people;
    he will not abandon his heritage;
15  for justice will return to the righteous,
    and all the upright in heart will follow it.

16  Who rises up for me against the wicked?
    Who stands up for me against evildoers?
17  If the LORD had not been my help,
    my soul would soon have lived in the land of silence.
18  When I thought, “My foot slips,”
    your steadfast love, O LORD, held me up.
19  When the cares of my heart are many,
    your consolations cheer my soul.
20  Can wicked rulers be allied with you,
    those who frame ^{9 94:20 Or fashion} injustice by statute?
21  They band together against the life of the righteous
    and condemn the innocent to death. ^{10 94:21 Hebrew condemn innocent blood}
22  But the LORD has become my stronghold,
    and my God the rock of my refuge.
23  He will bring back on them their iniquity
    and wipe them out for their wickedness;
    the LORD our God will wipe them out.

Let Us Sing Songs of Praise

1  Oh come, let us sing to the LORD;
    let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!
2  Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;
    let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!
3  For the LORD is a great God,
    and a great King above all gods.
4  In his hand are the depths of the earth;
    the heights of the mountains are his also.
5  The sea is his, for he made it,
    and his hands formed the dry land.

6  Oh come, let us worship and bow down;
    let us kneel before the LORD, our Maker!
7  For he is our God,
    and we are the people of his pasture,
    and the sheep of his hand.
Today, if you hear his voice,
8      do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah,
    as on the day at Massah in the wilderness,
9  when your fathers put me to the test
    and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work.
10  For forty years I loathed that generation
    and said, “They are a people who go astray in their heart,
    and they have not known my ways.”
11  Therefore I swore in my wrath,
    “They shall not enter my rest.”