Psalm 90-106
The Voice
Book Four
There are endless reasons to praise God, and many of them are included in the Book of Psalms. Book Four (Psalms 90–106) is made up of songs that praise and celebrate God for His creation, strength, work in history, and kingship. Although these songs are written to honor God, many require something from us. Throughout these psalms is the Hebrew word hallelujah, translated “Praise the Eternal!” That’s not just a passive verb, as in, “Praise be to the Eternal”; it’s an active imperative! We are commanded to praise Him. We are commanded to join angels above, people below, and all creatures in praising Him!
Psalm 90
A prayer of Moses, a man of God.
1 Lord, You have always been our refuge.
Our ancestors made You their home long ago.
2 Before mountains were born,
before You fashioned the earth and filled it with life,
from ages past to distant futures,
You are truly God.
3 You turn people back to dust,
saying, “Go back to the dust, children of Adam.”
4 For You a thousand years is like a day when it is over,
a watch during the night;
there is no difference to You.
5-6 You release the waters of death to sweep mankind away in his slumber.
In the morning, we are blades of grass,
Growing rapidly under the sun but withering quickly;
yet in the evening, we fade and die, soon to be cut down.
7 For Your anger has consumed us.
Your wrath has shaken us to the core
and left us deeply troubled.
8 You have written our offenses before You—
the light of Your presence shines brightly on our secret sins,
and we can’t run or hide.
9 For all our days are spent beneath Your wrath;
our youth gives way to old age, and then
one day our years come to an end with a sigh.
10 We may journey through life for 70 years;
some may live and breathe 80 years—if we are strong.
Yet our time here is only toil and trouble;
soon our days are gone, and we fly away.
11 Who can truly comprehend the power unleashed by Your anger?
Your wrath matches the fear that is due to You.
12 Teach us to number our days
so that we may truly live and achieve wisdom.
13 How long will we wait here alone?
Return, O Eternal One, with mercy.
Rescue Your servants with compassion.
14 With every sun’s rising, surprise us with Your love,
satisfy us with Your kindness.
Then we will sing with joy and celebrate every day we are alive.
15 You have spent many days afflicting us with pain and sorrow;
now match those with years of unspent joy.
16 Let Your work of love be on display for all Your servants;
let Your children see Your majesty.
17 And then let the beauty and grace of the Lord—our God—rest upon us
and bring success to all we do;
yes, bring success to all we do!
Psalm 91
1 He who takes refuge in the shelter of the Most High
will be safe in the shadow of the Almighty.
2 He will say to the Eternal, “My shelter, my mighty fortress,
my God, I place all my trust in You.”
3 For He will rescue you from the snares set by your enemies who entrap you
and from deadly plagues.
4 Like a bird protecting its young, God will cover you with His feathers,
will protect you under His great wings;
His faithfulness will form a shield around you, a rock-solid wall to protect you.
Psalm 91 is a beautiful psalm of trust in God. But how does God take care of all His people, all at the same time? Well, keep reading because Psalm 91 is one of just a few places in Scripture that describe what we might call “guardian angels” (Exodus 23:20; Psalm 43:3). Though rare, these passages teach that God is not alone in maintaining and protecting His creation and His people. He has made a host of heavenly messengers ready to do His bidding, and His bidding is often to guard His people throughout their lives and protect them—sometimes from dangers they are not even aware of.
5 You will not dread the terrors that haunt the night
or enemy arrows that fly in the day
6 Or the plagues that lurk in darkness
or the disasters that wreak havoc at noon.
7 A thousand may fall on your left,
ten thousand may die on your right,
but these horrors won’t come near you.
8 Only your eyes will witness
the punishment that awaits the evil,
but you will not suffer because of it.
9 For you made the Eternal [your][a] refuge,
the Most High your only home.
10 No evil will come to you;
plagues will be turned away at your door.
11 He will command His heavenly messengers to guard you,
to keep you safe in every way.
12 They will hold you up in their hands
so that you will not crash, or fall, or even graze your foot on a stone.[b]
13 You will walk on the lion and the cobra;
you will trample the lion and the serpent underfoot.
14 “Because he clings to Me in love,
I will rescue him from harm;
I will set him above danger.
Because he has known Me by name,
15 He will call on Me, and I will answer.
I’ll be with him through hard times;
I’ll rescue him and grant him honor.
16 I’ll reward him with many good years on this earth
and let him witness My salvation.”
Psalm 92
A song for the Sabbath Day.
Psalm 92 gives thanks to God for His salvation. The superscription provides the only reference to the Sabbath in the Book of Psalms.
1 How good it is to give thanks to the Eternal
and to praise Your name with song, O Most High;
2 To speak of Your unfailing love in the morning
and rehearse Your faithfulness as night begins to fall.
3 How good it is to praise to the sound of strings—lute and harp—
the stirring melodies of the lyre.
4 Because You, O Eternal One, thrill me with the things You have done,
I will sing with joy in light of Your deeds.
5 Your works are marvelous, O Eternal One!
Your thoughts are unfathomable.
6 But a weak-minded man can’t understand this;
foolish people are unable to see
7 That evil men sprout like grass
and wicked men flourish,
only so that they will be doomed forever.
8 But You, O Eternal One, are above all, forever.
9 As for Your enemies, O Eternal One,
their fate is obvious:
those who hate You will not survive;
those who practice evil will be broken in pieces.
10 But You have made me strong as a wild ox,
anointed me with the refreshing oil of Your blessing.
11 And I have seen with my own eyes my enemies defeated;
I have heard with my own ears my attackers cut down.
12 Those who are devoted to God will flourish like budding date-palm trees;
they will grow strong and tall like cedars in Lebanon.
13 Those planted in the house of the Eternal
will thrive in the courts of our God.
14 They will bear fruit into old age;
even in winter, they will be green and full of sap
15 To display that the Eternal is righteous.
He is my rock, and there is no shadow of evil in Him.
Psalm 93
1 The Eternal reigns, clothed in majesty;
He is dressed in power;
He has surrounded Himself with strength.
He has established the world, and it will never be toppled.
2 Your throne was established from the beginning of the world, O God,
and You are everlasting.
3 The waters have risen, O Eternal One;
the sound of pounding waves is deafening.
The waters have roared with power.
4 More powerful than the thunder of mighty rivers,
more powerful than the mighty waves in the ocean
is the Eternal on high!
5 Your teachings are true;
Your decrees sure.
Sacredness adorns Your house, O Eternal One, forevermore.
Psalm 94
1 O Eternal God of vengeance,
O God who sets things right, shine upon us.
2 Rise, O Judge who presides over the earth,
and pronounce Your sentence upon the proud.
Give them what they deserve!
3 How long, O Eternal One, how long
will the guilty revel in their prosperity?
4 Arrogance pours from their mouths;
all these troublemakers brag of their exploits.
5 They have broken Your people to pieces, O Eternal One,
and brought ruin to Your future generations.
6 They slay a widow, kill a newcomer,
and murder an orphan.
7 Then they say, “The Eternal can’t see what we’re up to;
the God of Jacob’s people pays no attention to us.”
8 Think, brainless people;
stupid people, when will you get it?
9 Does the God who set the ear in its place not hear?
Does the God who made the eye not see?
10 Does the God who teaches the nations
and guides humanity to knowledge,
not exercise just correction?
11 The Eternal knows the highest thoughts of the wise,
and they are worthless.[c]
12 How fortunate are those You discipline, O Eternal One,
those You train by Your divine law;
13 You relieve them in times of distress,
until a grave is dug for evildoers.
14 The Eternal will not abandon His people;
He will not turn away from those He redeemed
15 Because justice is coming for those who do what is right
and all the good-hearted will pursue it.
16 Who will back me up when evildoers come against me?
Who is willing to take my side against the wicked?
17 If the Eternal had not come to my rescue,
my soul would have descended to the land where death silences every voice.
18 When I said, “My foot is slipping!”
Your unfailing love, O Eternal One, held me up.
19 When anxiety overtakes me and worries are many,
Your comfort lightens my soul.
20 Can wicked tyrants be Your allies?
Will You align with rulers who create havoc with unjust decrees?
21 They have joined forces against the life of the just-living, the right-seeking,
and have sentenced the innocent to death.
22 But the Eternal has been my citadel;
my God, a sure safe haven.
23 He will fold their wickedness back upon them,
and because they are malicious, He will silence them.
The Eternal, our True God, will scatter them.
Psalm 95
1 Come, let us worship in song, a joyful offering to the Eternal.
Shout! Shout with joy to the rock of our liberation.
2 Come face-to-face with God, and give thanks;
with loud and joyful voices, praise Him in songs.
3 For the Eternal is a great God,
and a great King, supreme over all gods.
4 Within His control are the very depths of the earth;
the mountaintops too—they all belong to Him.
5 The sea belongs to Him, for He created it—scooped and filled it—
with His hands He made the dry land—every valley and mountain.
6 Come, let us worship Him. Everyone bow down;
kneel before the Eternal who made us.
7 For He is our God
and we are His people, the flock of His pasture,
His sheep protected and nurtured by His hand.
Today, if He speaks, hear His voice.
8 “Don’t harden your hearts the way they did in the bitter uprising at Meribah
or like that day they complained in the wilderness of Massah.
9 Your ancestors tested Me,
wanted Me to prove Myself though they had seen that nothing was too great for Me.
10 For 40 years I despised that grumbling generation
and said, ‘Their hearts are unfaithful;
they no longer walk in My ways; though I call, they do not listen to My voice.’
11 That is why in My anger I swore,
‘They will never enter into My rest.’”
Psalm 96
1 Sing a new song to the Eternal;
sing in one voice to the Eternal, all the earth.
2 Sing to the Eternal of all the good things He’s done.
Bless His name;
broadcast the good news of His salvation each and every day.
3 Enlighten the nations to His splendor;
describe His wondrous acts to all people.
4 For the Eternal is great indeed and praiseworthy;
feared and reverenced above all gods, the True God shall be.
5 For all human-made, lifeless gods are worthless idols,
but the Eternal plotted the vast heavens, shaped every last detail.
6 Honor and majesty precede Him;
strength and beauty infuse His holy sanctuary.
One of the great themes of Scripture and Psalms is the kingship of God. While lesser kings come and go, God is the One who ultimately rules and reigns over His people, and by extension over the rest of creation. Psalm 96 and others in the collection are often referred to as “enthronement” psalms because they declare boldly and unequivocally that the Eternal is King. There is evidence to suggest that an annual festival at the beginning of the year provided an opportunity to reaffirm the people’s loyalty to the one True God. Psalm 96 calls for new songs to be composed and sung to God and about God as a witness. The enthronement psalms call the world and all its inhabitants to come and recognize His beauty and majesty.
7 Give all credit to the Eternal, families of the world!
Credit Him with glory, honor, and strength!
8 Credit Him with the glory worthy of His magnificent name;
gather your sacrifice, and present it at His temple.
9 Bow down to the Eternal, adorned in holiness;
lay awestruck before Him, trembling, all people of the earth.
10 Shout out to the nations, “The Eternal reigns!
Yes, indeed, the world is anchored and will not shake loose.
He governs all people with a fair hand.”
11 And so, let the heavens resound in gladness!
Let joy be the earth’s rhythm as the sea and all its creatures roar.
12 Let the fields grow in triumph, a grand jubilee for all that live there.
Let all the trees of the forest dig in and reach high with songs of joy before the Eternal,
13 For the Eternal is on His way:
yes, He is coming to judge the earth.
He will set the world right by His standards,
and by His faithfulness, He will examine the people.
Psalm 97
1 The Eternal reigns powerful over all;
let the earth sing with joy;
let the distant islands celebrate.
2 Clouds and deep darkness encircle Him;
righteousness and justice are the bedrock of His rule.
3 Fire precedes Him;
it burns away His opponents on all sides.
4 With His lightning flashing about, He illuminates the world;
the earth watches and trembles.
5 Like wax before the flame, mountains melt when the Eternal appears,
the Master of the whole earth.
6 The heavens display His order and perfect justice;
all peoples witness His magnificence.
7 Those who worship idols,
who boast in the impotent creations of human hands, will be shamed.
Worship Him, all you gods.
8 Zion heard and was glad,
and the daughters of Judah celebrated
because they saw Your justice, O Eternal One.
9 For You are the Eternal, the Most High, over the entire world;
You far exceed all gods.
10 Hate evil, you lovers of the Eternal.
He protects the souls of those who follow Him;
He rescues them from the devices of the wicked.
11 Light is sown in the just;
as it grows, it brings joy to the pure of heart.
12 Celebrate the Eternal God, all you who are faithful;
offer thanks to His holy name.
Psalm 98
A song.
1 Compose a new song, and sing it to the Eternal
because of the unbelievable things He has done;
He has won the victory
with the skill of His right hand and strength of His holy arm.
2 The Eternal has made it clear that He saves,
and He has shown the nations that He does what is right.
3 He has been true to His promises;
fresh in His mind is His unfailing love
for all of Israel.
Even the ends of the earth have witnessed how our God saves.
This hymn invites all the people on earth and creation itself to join in singing a new song of “beautiful noise” celebrating God’s justice and victories.
4 Raise your voices; make a beautiful noise to the Eternal, all the earth.
Let your joy explode into song and praise;
5 Make music to the Eternal with the harp;
sing a beautiful melody with the harp and chorus.
6 With trumpets and horns,
fill the air with joyful sounds to the King, the Eternal.
7 Let the sea rumble and roar, and all the creatures it holds shout praise;
let the whole world and all those who live in it join the celebration.
8 Let the rivers applaud
and the mountains join in joyful song
9 In the presence of the Eternal because He is coming
to judge the earth.
He is coming,
and His judgment will be what is right for the world
and just to all people.
Psalm 99
1 The Eternal is the king ruling over all;
let all people shake in fear.
He sits on His throne, settled between winged guardians;[d]
let the planet tremble.
2 The Eternal is great in the hearts of His people;
He has made Zion His sacred mountain,
and He reigns majestic over all people.
3 Let them express praise and gratitude to Your amazing and awesome name—
because He is holy, perfect and exalted in His power.
4 The King who rules with strength also treasures justice.
You created order and established what is right.
You have carried out justice
and done what is right to the people of Jacob.
5 Lift up the Eternal our God in your heart;
bow down to the earth where He rests His feet.
He is holy, perfect and exalted in His power.
6 Moses and Aaron were two of His priests;
Samuel was among those who called out to Him.
They asked the Eternal for help, and He answered them.
7 He answered them from a column of cloud;
they heeded His testimonies
and lived by the laws He gave them.
8 You answered them, Eternal our God;
You were, to them, a God who forgives,
yet You did not ignore what they did wrong
and punished them fairly as well.
9 Lift up the Eternal our God in your hearts,
and celebrate His goodness at His holy mountain,
for the Eternal our God is holy, perfect and exalted in His power.
Psalm 100
A song of thanks.
Psalm 100 is one of the best known and most loved psalms. This hymn of thanksgiving invites the whole world to come to God’s temple in Jerusalem and enter its sacred spaces with unbridled joy and hearts filled with gratitude. And why should we? The psalm provides the answer. Not only has God created us—a gracious act of love in and of itself—but He has made us His own people. He has chosen us and loved us. As with Psalm 23, God’s people are cast in the role as sheep living well in His pasture.
The psalm ends on a high note of confidence and hope. At all times—but perhaps more in times of difficulty—we need to be reminded of what is true. Regardless of what seems to be happening around us, the Eternal is good; His love and faithfulness will endure forever.
1 Raise your voices;
make a beautiful noise to the Eternal, all the earth.
2 Serve the Eternal gladly;
enter into His presence singing songs of joy!
3 Know this: the Eternal One Himself is the True God.
He is the One who made us;
we have not made ourselves;
we are His people, like sheep grazing in His fields.
4 Go through His gates, giving thanks;
walk through His courts, giving praise.
Offer Him your gratitude and praise His holy name.
5 Because the Eternal is good,
His loyal love and mercy will never end,
and His truth will last throughout all generations.
Psalm 101
A song of David.
1 I will sing of God’s unsparing love and justice;
to You, O Eternal One, I will sing praises.
2 I will seek to live a life of integrity;
when will You come to me?
I will walk in my house
with an honest and true heart.
3 I will refuse to look
on any sordid thing;
I detest the worthless deeds of those who stray;
evil will not get a hold on me.
4 I will rid my heart of all perversion;
I will not flirt with any evil.
5 Whoever secretly slanders his neighbor,
I will silence;
I will not tolerate
a condescending smirk, an arrogant heart.
6 I will look for those who are loyal in the land
so that they may live with me and know my pleasure.
Whoever walks with integrity
will enter my service.
7 The one who makes a habit of deceit
will not be welcome in my house;
The one who lies
will not remain in my presence for long.
8 Every morning I will purge
all the wicked from the land
So as to rid the city of the Eternal
of those who practice evil.
Psalm 102
A prayer of the weak and oppressed, when he turns his complaints to the Eternal.
1 Hear me, O Eternal One, hear my prayer!
Hear my lonely desperate cry for help.
2 Do not hide from me
when my days are filled with anguish;
Lend Your ear to my wailing,
and answer me quickly when I call.
3 For my days come and go, vanishing like smoke,
and my bones are charred like bricks of a hearth.
4 My heart is beaten down like grass withered and scorched in the summer heat;
I can’t even remember to eat.
5 My body is shaken by my groans;
my bones cling to my skin, holding on for dear life.
6 I am like a solitary owl in the wilderness;
I am a lost and lonely screech owl at home in the rubble.
7 I stare at the ceiling, awake in my bed;
I am alone, a defenseless sparrow perched on a roof.
8 All day long my enemies chide me;
those who mock me spit out my name as a curse.
9 For ashes have become my bread;
my tears fall into my drink
10 Because of the depth of Your wrath.
You have brought me up
and then hurled me aside.
11 My days go by like a long shadow—stretched thin and disappearing—
I shrivel up like grass baked in the hot sun.
12 But You, O Eternal One, remain forever,
and Your name endures to all generations.
13 You will rise up once again and remember Your love for Zion;
it is time to have mercy on Your city;
yes, it is the divinely appointed time.
14 Your faithful servants take pleasure in her every stone;
they even delight in the dust of her streets.
15 Days are coming when nations will tremble at the name of the Eternal;
all the rulers of the earth will bow down to Your glory.
16 For He will return to rebuild His city, Zion;
He will be seen in His splendor.
17 He will listen to the prayer of the impoverished
and welcome their prayers.
18 Let this record be kept for posterity
so that people not yet born may praise the Eternal.
19 Tell them that He looked down from holy heights, His heavenly sanctuary;
the Eternal looked down from heaven and closely watched the earth,
20 Hearing the prisoners’ groans—
releasing those awaiting execution—
21 That the name of the Eternal would resound in Zion,
and His praise would be proclaimed in Jerusalem
22 When the peoples gather
and the nations’ leaders assemble to worship the Eternal.
23 Along my way He has sapped my strength;
He has shortened my days here on earth.
24 I said, “O my True God, don’t take me away
in the middle of my life;
Unlike me, Your years continually unfold
throughout all generations.”
25 In the beginning, You laid the foundation of the earth
and set the skies above us with Your own hands.
26 But while they will someday pass away, You remain forever;
when they wear out like old clothes,
You will roll them up and change them into something new, and they will pass away.
27 But You are the same, You will never change;
Your years will never come to an end.[e]
28 The children of those who serve You will enjoy a good, long life;
their offspring will stand strong before You.
Psalm 103
A song of David.
1 O my soul, come, praise the Eternal
with all that is in me—body, emotions, mind, and will—every part of who I am—
praise His holy name.
2 O my soul, come, praise the Eternal;
sing a song from a grateful heart;
sing and never forget all the good He has done.
3 Despite all your many offenses, He forgives and releases you.
More than any doctor, He heals your diseases.
4 He reaches deep into the pit to deliver you from death.
He crowns you with unfailing love and compassion like a king.
5 When your soul is famished and withering,
He fills you with good and beautiful things, satisfying you as long as you live.
He makes you strong like an eagle, restoring your youth.
6 When people are crushed, wronged, enslaved, raped, murdered,
the Eternal is just;
He makes the wrongs right.
7 He showed Moses His ways;
He allowed His people Israel to see His wonders and acts of power.
8 The Eternal is compassionate and merciful.
When we cross all the lines, He is patient with us.
When we struggle against Him, He lovingly stays with us—changing, convicting, prodding;
9 He will not constantly criticize,
nor will He hold a grudge forever.
10 Thankfully, God does not punish us for our sins and depravity as we deserve.
In His mercy, He tempers justice with peace.
11 Measure how high heaven is above the earth;
God’s wide, loving, kind heart is greater for those who revere Him.
12 You see, God takes all our crimes—our seemingly inexhaustible sins—and removes them.
As far as east is from the west, He removes them from us.
13 An earthly father expresses love for his children;
it is no different with our heavenly Father;
The Eternal shows His love for those who revere Him.
14 For He knows what we are made of;
He knows our frame is frail, and He remembers we came from dust.
15 The children of Adam are like grass;
their days are few;
they flourish for a time like flowers in a meadow.
16 As the wind blows over the field and the bloom is gone,
it doesn’t take much to blow us out of the memory of that place.
17 But the unfailing love of the Eternal is always and eternal
for those who reverently run after Him.
He extends His justice on and on to future generations,
18 To those who will keep His bond of love
and remember to walk in the guidance of His commands.
19 The Eternal has established His throne up in the heavens.
He rules over every seen and unseen realm and creature.
20 Adore Him! Give Him praise, you heavenly messengers,
you powerful creatures who listen to
and act on His every word.
21 Give praise to the Eternal, all armies of heaven—
you servants who stand ready to do His will.
22 Give praise to the Eternal, all that He has made
in all corners of His creation.
O my soul, come, praise the Eternal!
Psalm 104
1 Call Him good, my soul, and praise the Eternal.
I am here to declare my affection for You, Eternal One, my God.
You are indeed great—
You who are wrapped in glory and dressed in greatness.
2 For covering, You choose light—Your clothes, sunset and moonrise.
For a tent, You stretch out the heavens; for Your roof, You pitch the sky.
3 Your upper chamber is built on beams that lie in the waters overhead,
and the clouds, Your chariot;
You are held aloft by the wind.
4 You make Your messengers like the winds;
the breeze whispers Your words,
Your servants are like the fire and flame.
5 You made the earth,
and You made its frame stable forever.
Never will it be shaken.
6 You wrapped it in a gown of waters—
ancient mountains under layers of sky.
7 But when You reprimanded those waters, they fled;
the thunder of Your voice sent them running away.
8-9 They hammered out new depths, heaved up new heights,
and swallowed up whatever You commanded.
At first, they covered the earth,
but now You have bound them,
and they know their appointed place.
10 You send fresh streams that spring up in the valleys,
in the cracks between hills.
11 Every animal of the open field makes its journey there for drink:
wild donkeys lap at the brooks’ edges.
12 Birds build their nests by the streams,
singing among the branches.
13 And the clouds, too, drink up their share,
raining it back down on the mountains from the upper reaches of Your home,
Sustaining the whole earth with what comes from You.
And the earth is satisfied.
14-15 Thus You grow grain for bread, grapes for wine, grass for cattle—
all of this for us.
And so we have bread to make our bodies strong,
wine to make our hearts happy,
oil to make our faces shine.
Every good thing we need, Your earth provides;
our faces grow flush with Your life in them.
16 The forests are Yours, Eternal One—stout hardwoods watered deeply, swollen with sap—
like the great cedars of Lebanon You planted,
17 Where many birds nest.
There are fir trees for storks,
18 High hills for wild goats,
stony cliffs for rock badgers.
For each place, a resident,
and for each resident, a home.
19 The moon strides through her phases, marking seasons as she goes.
The sun hides at his appointed time,
20 And with the darkness You bring, so comes night—
when the prowling animals of the forest move about.
21 It is then that lions seek the food You, the True God, give them,
roaring after their prey.
22 At sunrise, they disappear
and sleep away the day in their dens.
23 Meanwhile, the people take to the fields and to the shops and to the roads,
to all the places that people work, until evening when they rest.
24 There is so much here, O Eternal One, so much You have made.
By the wise way in which You create, riches and creatures fill the earth.
25 Of course, the sea is vast and stretches like the heavens beyond view,
and numberless creatures inhabit her.
From the tiny to the great, they swarm beneath her waves.
26 Our ships skim her surface
while the monsters of the sea play beneath.
27 And all of these look to You
to give them food when the time is right.
28 When You feed, they gather what You supply.
When You open Your hand, they are filled with good food.
29 When You withdraw Your presence, they are dismayed.
When You revoke their breath, the life goes out of them,
and they become, again, the dust of the earth from which You formed them at the start.
30 When You send out Your breath, life is created,
and the face of the earth is made beautiful and is renewed.
31 May the glorious presence of the Eternal linger among us forever.
And may He rejoice in the greatness of His own works—
32 He, who rattles the earth with a glance;
He, who sets mountains to smoking with a touch.
33 I will sing to the Eternal all of my life;
I will call my God good as long as I live.
The last phrase of Psalm 104, “Praise the Eternal,” gives us a clear picture of the use of these songs in Israel. This phrase, which not only ends Psalm 104 but often opens and closes other psalms (for example, Psalms 146–150), is not part of the song itself. It is a direction for worship.
The Bible indicates that praise is the natural response to God’s gifts to His people. When David brought the covenant chest to Jerusalem, he appointed Asaph and his relatives to lead in praise. After the Levites chanted a marvelous psalm, the people responded in praise to the Eternal (1 Chronicles 16:36). In John’s vision of the final destruction of Babylon—a symbol for God’s enemies throughout all the ages—a vast number of creatures in heaven, the 24 elders and the 4 living creatures offer praise and adoration to the Lord (Revelation 18 and 19). Praise is simply the inevitable response of God’s people to all He is and all He has done.
34 May the thoughts of my mind be pleasing to Him,
for the Eternal has become my happiness.
35 But may those who hate Him, who act against Him,
disappear from the face of this beautiful planet.
As for the Eternal, call Him good, my soul.
Praise the Eternal!
Psalm 105
1 Come, offer thanks to the Eternal; invoke His holy name.
Tell other people about the things He has done.
2 Sing songs of praise to Him;
tell stories of all His miracles.
3 Revel in His holy name.
May the hearts of the people who seek the Eternal celebrate and experience great joy.
4 Seek the Eternal and His power;
look to His face constantly.
5 Remember the wonderful things He has done,
His miracles and the wise decisions He has made,
6 O children of Abraham, His servant;
O children of Jacob, His chosen people!
7 He is the Eternal, our True God;
His justice extends to every corner of the earth.
8 He keeps His covenant promises forever
and remembers the word He spoke to a thousand generations—
9 The covenant He made with Abraham
and His sworn oath to Isaac, his son.
10 Then God confirmed it to Jacob—decreed it so—
to Israel He promised a never-ending covenant,
11 Saying, “I will give you the land of Canaan
as your part; it will be your inheritance.”
12 When God’s people were only a few in number—
indeed, very few—they were strangers in a foreign land.
13 They roamed from place to place,
from one kingdom to another.
14 God didn’t allow anyone to tyrannize them;
He rebuked kings in order to protect His people:
15 “Do not lay a hand on My anointed people;
do not do any harm to My prophets.”
16 He ordered famine to grip the land and
cut them off from their supply of bread.
17 But long before, He had sent a man ahead of them:
Joseph, who had been sold into slavery.[f]
18 At first, his masters shackled his feet with chains,
placed his neck into a collar of iron.
19 That was until the Eternal’s promises came to pass;
His word tested Joseph and proved him worthy.
20 The king sent out the order to release him from prison;
the ruler of Egypt liberated him from the chains.
21 Then he put Joseph in charge of the royal household,
made him ruler of all the royal possessions,
22 Allowed him to imprison the royal officials whenever he saw fit
and impart wisdom to the elders in the land.
23 Then, when the time was right, Israel also went to Egypt;
Jacob resided as an alien in the land of Ham.
24 And while they were there, the Eternal made His people prosperous;
He made them stronger than their enemies.
25 He turned the Egyptians’ hearts against His people[g]
to cheat and scheme against His servants.
26 Then, He sent His servant Moses
and Aaron, the men He had chosen.
27 They did all the signs He planned for them to do among the Egyptians,
and they performed miracles in the land of Ham.
28 He sent darkness to cover the land;
they did not stray from His word.
29 At His command, their waters turned to blood;
their fish began to die.
30 Throngs of frogs covered the land,
invading even in the chambers of their kings.
31 At His command, a swarm of flies arrived,
and gnats came over all their land.
32 He caused hail to fall instead of rain;
lightning flashed over all their land.
33 He struck their vines and their fig trees;
He destroyed the trees over all their land.
34 At His command, locusts came;
young locusts marched beyond number,
35 And they ate up all the plants that grew
and all the fruits over their land.
36 He also brought death to the firstborn in all their land,
the first offspring of each man.
37 Then He brought His people out of slavery, weighed down with silver and gold;
and of all His tribes,
not one of them stumbled, not one was left behind.
38 Egypt was glad to see them go,
for Pharaoh’s people had been overcome with fear of them.
39 He spread out a cloud to cover His people
and sent a fire to light their way at night.
40 They asked, and He sent them coveys of quail,
satisfying their hunger with the food of heaven.
41 He split the rock and water poured out;
it flowed like a river through the desert.
42 For He remembered His holy covenant
with Abraham, His servant.
43 That’s why He rescued His people joyously
and why His chosen ones celebrated with shouts and singing.
44 When the time was right, He gave them land from other nations
so that they might possess the works of their hands,
45 So that they would be able to keep His commands
and obey His laws.
Praise the Eternal!
Psalm 106
1 Praise the Eternal!
Thank Him because He is good
and His loyal love will never end.
2 Who could find words to tell of the Eternal’s mighty deeds
or give Him all the praise He deserves?
3 Blessed are those who work for justice,
who always do what they know to be right!
4 Remember me, O Eternal One, when You show kindness to Your people;
don’t forget me when You are saving them.
5 That way I can know how good it is to be Your chosen people;
that way I can celebrate the joy of Your nation;
that way I can join those who belong to You in unending praise.
Psalm 106 was composed during the exile offering a historical review of the ways God’s people rebelled against Him. It is a fitting closure to Book Four of Psalms. After this liturgy of failure on the part of the people, the psalmist cries out in thanksgiving for God’s faithfulness and in the final verse proclaims praise “from everlasting to everlasting.”
6 Like our ancestors, we have sinned;
we have done wicked things.
7 When our ancestors were leaving Egypt,
they did not consider Your marvelous acts.
They forgot Your overwhelming kindness to them
and instead rebelled at the Red Sea.[h]
8 Nevertheless, God saved them for the honor of His name
so He could show His power to the world.
9 He gave the order, and the waters of the Red Sea dried up,
and He led the people across the sea floor as though it were the wilderness.
10 That’s how He liberated them from their enemies
and rescued them from the hand of their oppressors.
11 After that the sea surged and covered their foes,
and every one of them drowned in its waters.
12 When God’s people saw what He did, they believed what He said
and they sang praises to Him.
13 But it didn’t take long for them to forget what He had done.
They moved on without waiting for His instructions,
14 So our ancestors became very hungry in the wilderness
and the rabble grumbled and complained, testing God’s patience in the desert.
15 Although He granted their request,
He also sent a disease that caused them to waste away.
16 While they were camped in the desert, some began to be jealous of Moses
and Aaron, the holy priest of the Eternal.
17 The earth opened up, and a deep fissure swallowed Dathan
and buried Abiram’s group.
18 A blaze ignited where they were gathered;
the fire consumed the wicked mob.
19 The people made a golden calf in Horeb
and bowed to worship an image they had made.
20 They traded the glory of God
for the likeness of an ox that eats grass.
21 They forgot about God, their True Savior,
who had done great things for them in Egypt—
22 Miracles in the land of Ham
and amazing deeds at the Red Sea.
23 Therefore, He declared in His anger that He would wipe them away.
If Moses, His chosen one,
Had not pleaded for the people,
His anger would have destroyed them.
24 At the edge of the beautiful land God had promised them,
they didn’t trust His words, so they refused to enter.
25 They complained when they were gathered in their tents;
they ignored the voice of the Eternal.
26 Because of their attitude, He swore,
“I’ll leave you where you fall in the desert.
27 I’ll scatter your children—whoever is left—
throughout the nations all over the earth.”
28 Then they aligned themselves with the god of Peor,
and they ate sacrifices that had been made to lifeless gods.
29 Through their actions, they stirred up His anger,
and a plague broke out in their midst.
30 Then Phinehas took a stand and intervened,
so the plague was stopped.
31 And God saw what he did and considered him righteous,
a man to be honored by all generations forever.
32 Again they stirred up His anger at the waters of Meribah,
and serious trouble came to Moses because of them;
33 Because they stood against the Spirit,
Moses spoke rashly with them.
34 Later, after they entered the promised land, they did not eradicate the peoples,
as the Eternal had ordered them to do,
35 But they mixed and married with the outsider nations,
adopted their practices,
36 And worshiped their idols,
which entrapped them.
37 They even offered their sons
and daughters as sacrifices to the demons.
38 The promised land was corrupted by the innocent blood
they offered to the idols of Canaan,
The blood of their very own sons and daughters.
39 They became impure because of their unfaithful works;
by their actions, they prostituted themselves to other gods.
40 Therefore the Eternal’s anger was ignited against His people;
He came to despise the people of His inheritance.
41 So He handed them over to the control of foreign nations,
to be ruled by people who hated them.
42 Their enemies exploited them, victimized them,
and restrained them by abusive power.
43 He delivered them over and over again;
however, they were slow to learn and deliberately rebelled.
Their sins humbled them and nearly destroyed them.
44 Nevertheless, He saw their great struggle, took pity on them,
and heard their prayers;
45 He did not forget His covenant promises to them
but reversed their fortune and released them from their punishment
because of His loyal love.
46 He changed the hearts of all who held them captive
so that they would show compassion on them.
47 Save us, O Eternal One our God,
and gather us who are scattered among all the nations,
That we may give thanks to Your holy name
and celebrate Your amazing greatness with praise.
48 Blessed be the Eternal, the God of Israel,
from everlasting to everlasting.
And let everyone say, “Amen!”
Praise the Eternal!
Footnotes
- 91:9 Hebrew manuscripts read, “who is my.”
- 91:11–12 Matthew 4:6; Luke 4:10–11
- 94:11 1 Corinthians 3:20
- 99:1 Literally, cherubim
- 102:25–27 Hebrews 1:10–12
- 105:17 Genesis 37; 39–50
- 105:25 Exodus 1–15
- 106:7 Literally, Sea of Reeds
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
