Tag Archives: YHWH

Let all that I am praise the Lord.
²     I will praise the Lord as long as I live.
    I will sing praises to my God with my dying breath.

³ Don’t put your confidence in powerful people;
    there is no help for you there.
⁴ When they breathe their last, they return to the earth,
    and all their plans die with them.
⁵ But joyful are those who have the God of Israel^[a] as their helper,
    whose hope is in the Lord their God.
⁶ He made heaven and earth,
    the sea, and everything in them.
    He keeps every promise forever.
⁷ He gives justice to the oppressed
    and food to the hungry.
The Lord frees the prisoners.
⁸     The Lord opens the eyes of the blind.
The Lord lifts up those who are weighed down.
    The Lord loves the godly.
⁹ The Lord protects the foreigners among us.
    He cares for the orphans and widows,
    but he frustrates the plans of the wicked.

¹⁰ The Lord will reign forever.
    He will be your God, O Jerusalem,^[b] throughout the generations.

Praise the Lord!

¹ I will exalt you, my God and King,
    and praise your name forever and ever.
² I will praise you every day;
    yes, I will praise you forever.
³ Great is the Lord! He is most worthy of praise!
    No one can measure his greatness.

⁴ Let each generation tell its children of your mighty acts;
    let them proclaim your power.
⁵ I will meditate on your majestic, glorious splendor
    and your wonderful miracles.
⁶ Your awe-inspiring deeds will be on every tongue;
    I will proclaim your greatness.
⁷ Everyone will share the story of your wonderful goodness;
    they will sing with joy about your righteousness.

⁸ The Lord is merciful and compassionate,
    slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love.
⁹ The Lord is good to everyone.
    He showers compassion on all his creation.
¹⁰ All of your works will thank you, Lord,
    and your faithful followers will praise you.
¹¹ They will speak of the glory of your kingdom;
    they will give examples of your power.
¹² They will tell about your mighty deeds
    and about the majesty and glory of your reign.
¹³ For your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom.
    You rule throughout all generations.

The Lord always keeps his promises;
    he is gracious in all he does.^[b]
14 The Lord helps the fallen
    and lifts those bent beneath their loads.
¹⁵ The eyes of all look to you in hope;
    you give them their food as they need it.
¹⁶ When you open your hand,
    you satisfy the hunger and thirst of every living thing.
¹⁷ The Lord is righteous in everything he does;
    he is filled with kindness.
¹⁸ The Lord is close to all who call on him,
    yes, to all who call on him in truth.
¹⁹ He grants the desires of those who fear him;
    he hears their cries for help and rescues them.
²⁰ The Lord protects all those who love him,
    but he destroys the wicked.

²¹ I will praise the Lord,
    and may everyone on earth bless his holy name
    forever and ever.

¹ Praise the Lord, who is my rock.
    He trains my hands for war
    and gives my fingers skill for battle.
² He is my loving ally and my fortress,
    my tower of safety, my rescuer.
He is my shield, and I take refuge in him.
    He makes the nations^[a] submit to me.

³ O Lord, what are human beings that you should notice them,
    mere mortals that you should think about them?
⁴ For they are like a breath of air;
    their days are like a passing shadow.

⁵ Open the heavens, Lord, and come down.
    Touch the mountains so they billow smoke.
⁶ Hurl your lightning bolts and scatter your enemies!
    Shoot your arrows and confuse them!
⁷ Reach down from heaven and rescue me;
    rescue me from deep waters,
    from the power of my enemies.
⁸ Their mouths are full of lies;
    they swear to tell the truth, but they lie instead.

⁹ I will sing a new song to you, O God!
    I will sing your praises with a ten-stringed harp.
¹⁰ For you grant victory to kings!
    You rescued your servant David from the fatal sword.
¹¹ Save me!
    Rescue me from the power of my enemies.
Their mouths are full of lies;
    they swear to tell the truth, but they lie instead.

¹² May our sons flourish in their youth
    like well-nurtured plants.
May our daughters be like graceful pillars,
    carved to beautify a palace.
¹³ May our barns be filled
    with crops of every kind.
May the flocks in our fields multiply by the thousands,
    even tens of thousands,
¹⁴     and may our oxen be loaded down with produce.
May there be no enemy breaking through our walls,
    no going into captivity,
    no cries of alarm in our town squares.
¹⁵ Yes, joyful are those who live like this!
    Joyful indeed are those whose God is the Lord.

¹ Hear my prayer, O Lord;
    listen to my plea!
    Answer me because you are faithful and righteous.
² Don’t put your servant on trial,
    for no one is innocent before you.
³ My enemy has chased me.
    He has knocked me to the ground
    and forces me to live in darkness like those in the grave.
⁴ I am losing all hope;
    I am paralyzed with fear.
⁵ I remember the days of old.
    I ponder all your great works
    and think about what you have done.
⁶ I lift my hands to you in prayer.
    I thirst for you as parched land thirsts for rain. Interlude

⁷ Come quickly, Lord, and answer me,
    for my depression deepens.
Don’t turn away from me,
    or I will die.
⁸ Let me hear of your unfailing love each morning,
    for I am trusting you.
Show me where to walk,
    for I give myself to you.
⁹ Rescue me from my enemies, Lord;
    I run to you to hide me.
¹⁰ Teach me to do your will,
    for you are my God.
May your gracious Spirit lead me forward
    on a firm footing.
¹¹ For the glory of your name, O Lord, preserve my life.
    Because of your faithfulness, bring me out of this distress.
¹² In your unfailing love, silence all my enemies
    and destroy all my foes,
    for I am your servant.

¹ O Lord, I am calling to you. Please hurry!
    Listen when I cry to you for help!
² Accept my prayer as incense offered to you,
    and my upraised hands as an evening offering.

³ Take control of what I say, O Lord,
    and guard my lips.
⁴ Don’t let me drift toward evil
    or take part in acts of wickedness.
Don’t let me share in the delicacies
    of those who do wrong.

⁵ Let the godly strike me!
    It will be a kindness!
If they correct me, it is soothing medicine.
    Don’t let me refuse it.

But I pray constantly
    against the wicked and their deeds.
⁶ When their leaders are thrown down from a cliff,
    the wicked will listen to my words and find them true.
⁷ Like rocks brought up by a plow,
    the bones of the wicked will lie scattered without burial.^[a]

⁸ I look to you for help, O Sovereign Lord.
    You are my refuge; don’t let them kill me.
⁹ Keep me from the traps they have set for me,
    from the snares of those who do wrong.
¹⁰ Let the wicked fall into their own nets,
    but let me escape.

¹ O Lord, you have examined my heart
    and know everything about me.
² You know when I sit down or stand up.
    You know my thoughts even when I’m far away.
³ You see me when I travel
    and when I rest at home.
    You know everything I do.
⁴ You know what I am going to say
    even before I say it, Lord.
⁵ You go before me and follow me.
    You place your hand of blessing on my head.
⁶ Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
    too great for me to understand!

⁷ I can never escape from your Spirit!
    I can never get away from your presence!
⁸ If I go up to heaven, you are there;
    if I go down to the grave,^[a] you are there.
⁹ If I ride the wings of the morning,
    if I dwell by the farthest oceans,
¹⁰ even there your hand will guide me,
    and your strength will support me.
¹¹ I could ask the darkness to hide me
    and the light around me to become night—
¹²     but even in darkness I cannot hide from you.
To you the night shines as bright as day.
    Darkness and light are the same to you.

¹³ You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body
    and knit me together in my mother’s womb.
¹⁴ Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!
    Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.
¹⁵ You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion,
    as I was woven together in the dark of the womb.
¹⁶ You saw me before I was born.
    Every day of my life was recorded in your book.
Every moment was laid out
    before a single day had passed.

¹⁷ How precious are your thoughts about me,^[b] O God.
    They cannot be numbered!
¹⁸ I can’t even count them;
    they outnumber the grains of sand!
And when I wake up,
    you are still with me!

¹⁹ O God, if only you would destroy the wicked!
    Get out of my life, you murderers!
²⁰ They blaspheme you;
    your enemies misuse your name.
²¹ O Lord, shouldn’t I hate those who hate you?
    Shouldn’t I despise those who oppose you?
²² Yes, I hate them with total hatred,
    for your enemies are my enemies.

²³ Search me, O God, and know my heart;
    test me and know my anxious thoughts.
²⁴ Point out anything in me that offends you,
    and lead me along the path of everlasting life.

¹ I give you thanks, O Lord, with all my heart;
    I will sing your praises before the gods.
² I bow before your holy Temple as I worship.
    I praise your name for your unfailing love and faithfulness;
for your promises are backed
    by all the honor of your name.
³ As soon as I pray, you answer me;
    you encourage me by giving me strength.

⁴ Every king in all the earth will thank you, Lord,
    for all of them will hear your words.
⁵ Yes, they will sing about the Lord’s ways,
    for the glory of the Lord is very great.
⁶ Though the Lord is great, he cares for the humble,
    but he keeps his distance from the proud.

⁷ Though I am surrounded by troubles,
    you will protect me from the anger of my enemies.
You reach out your hand,
    and the power of your right hand saves me.
⁸ The Lord will work out his plans for my life—
    for your faithful love, O Lord, endures forever.
    Don’t abandon me, for you made me.