Psalms 89; Psalms 96; Psalms 100; Psalms 101; Psalms 105; Psalms 132

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Psalms 89

1 Your love, God, is my song, and I'll sing it! I'm forever telling everyone how faithful you are.

2 I'll never quit telling the story of your love - how you built the cosmos and guaranteed everything in it. Your love has always been our lives' foundation, your fidelity has been the roof over our world.

3 You once said, "I joined forces with my chosen leader, I pledged my word to my servant, David, saying,

4 'Everyone descending from you is guaranteed life; I'll make your rule as solid and lasting as rock.'"

5 God! Let the cosmos praise your wonderful ways, the choir of holy angels sing anthems to your faithful ways!

6 Search high and low, scan skies and land, you'll find nothing and no one quite like God.

7 The holy angels are in awe before him; he looms immense and august over everyone around him.

8 God of the Angel Armies, who is like you, powerful and faithful from every angle?

9 You put the arrogant ocean in its place and calm its waves when they turn unruly.

10 You gave that old hag Egypt the back of your hand, you brushed off your enemies with a flick of your wrist.

11 You own the cosmos - you made everything in it, everything from atom to archangel.

12 You positioned the North and South Poles; the mountains Tabor and Hermon sing duets to you.

13 With your well-muscled arm and your grip of steel - nobody trifles with you!

14 The Right and Justice are the roots of your rule; Love and Truth are its fruits.

15 Blessed are the people who know the passwords of praise, who shout on parade in the bright presence of God.

16 Delighted, they dance all day long; they know who you are, what you do - they can't keep it quiet!

17 Your vibrant beauty has gotten inside us - you've been so good to us! We're walking on air!

18 All we are and have we owe to God, Holy God of Israel, our King!

19 A long time ago you spoke in a vision, you spoke to your faithful beloved: "I've crowned a hero, I chose the best I could find;

20 I found David, my servant, poured holy oil on his head,

21 And I'll keep my hand steadily on him, yes, I'll stick with him through thick and thin.

22 No enemy will get the best of him, no scoundrel will do him in.

23 I'll weed out all who oppose him, I'll clean out all who hate him.

24 I'm with him for good and I'll love him forever; I've set him on high - he's riding high!

25 I've put Ocean in his one hand, River in the other;

26 he'll call out, 'Oh, my Father - my God, my Rock of Salvation!'

27 Yes, I'm setting him apart as the First of the royal line, High King over all of earth's kings.

28 I'll preserve him eternally in my love, I'll faithfully do all I so solemnly promised.

29 I'll guarantee his family tree and underwrite his rule.

30 If his children refuse to do what I tell them, if they refuse to walk in the way I show them,

31 If they spit on the directions I give them and tear up the rules I post for them

32 - I'll rub their faces in the dirt of their rebellion and make them face the music.

33 But I'll never throw them out, never abandon or disown them.

34 Do you think I'd withdraw my holy promise? or take back words I'd already spoken?

35 I've given my word, my whole and holy word; do you think I would lie to David?

36 His family tree is here for good, his sovereignty as sure as the sun,

37 Dependable as the phases of the moon, inescapable as weather."

38 But God, you did walk off and leave us, you lost your temper with the one you anointed.

39 You tore up the promise you made to your servant, you stomped his crown in the mud.

40 You blasted his home to kingdom come, reduced his city to a pile of rubble

41 Picked clean by wayfaring strangers, a joke to all the neighbors.

42 You declared a holiday for all his enemies, and they're celebrating for all they're worth.

43 Angry, you opposed him in battle, refused to fight on his side;

44 You robbed him of his splendor, humiliated this warrior, ground his kingly honor in the dirt.

45 You took the best years of his life and left him an impotent, ruined husk.

46 How long do we put up with this, God? Are you gone for good? Will you hold this grudge forever?

47 Remember my sorrow and how short life is. Did you create men and women for nothing but this?

48 We'll see death soon enough. Everyone does. And there's no back door out of hell.

49 So where is the love you're so famous for, Lord? What happened to your promise to David?

50 Take a good look at your servant, dear Lord; I'm the butt of the jokes of all nations,

51 The taunting jokes of your enemies, God, as they dog the steps of your dear anointed.

52 Blessed be God forever and always! Yes. Oh, yes.

Psalms 96

1 Sing God a brand-new song! Earth and everyone in it, sing!

2 Sing to God - worship God! Shout the news of his victory from sea to sea,

3 Take the news of his glory to the lost, News of his wonders to one and all!

4 For God is great, and worth a thousand Hallelujahs. His terrible beauty makes the gods look cheap;

5 Pagan gods are mere tatters and rags. God made the heavens -

6 Royal splendor radiates from him, A powerful beauty sets him apart.

7 Bravo, God, Bravo! Everyone join in the great shout: Encore! In awe before the beauty, in awe before the might.

8 Bring gifts and celebrate,

9 Bow before the beauty of God, Then to your knees - everyone worship!

10 Get out the message - God Rules! He put the world on a firm foundation; He treats everyone fair and square.

11 Let's hear it from Sky, With Earth joining in, And a huge round of applause from Sea.

12 Let Wilderness turn cartwheels, Animals, come dance, Put every tree of the forest in the choir -

13 An extravaganza before God as he comes, As he comes to set everything right on earth, Set everything right, treat everyone fair.

Psalms 100

1 On your feet now - applaud God!

2 Bring a gift of laughter, sing yourselves into his presence.

3 Know this: God is God, and God, God. He made us; we didn't make him. We're his people, his well-tended sheep.

4 Enter with the password: "Thank you!" Make yourselves at home, talking praise. Thank him. Worship him.

5 For God is sheer beauty, all-generous in love, loyal always and ever.

Psalms 101

1 My theme song is God's love and justice, and I'm singing it right to you, God.

2 I'm finding my way down the road of right living, but how long before you show up? I'm doing the very best I can, and I'm doing it at home, where it counts.

3 I refuse to take a second look at corrupting people and degrading things. I reject made-in-Canaan gods, stay clear of contamination.

4 The crooked in heart keep their distance; I refuse to shake hands with those who plan evil.

5 I put a gag on the gossip who bad-mouths his neighbor; I can't stand arrogance.

6 But I have my eye on salt-of-the-earth people - they're the ones I want working with me; Men and women on the straight and narrow - these are the ones I want at my side.

7 But no one who traffics in lies gets a job with me; I have no patience with liars. I've rounded up all the wicked like cattle and herded them right out of the country.

8 I purged God's city of all who make a business of evil. A prayer of one whose life is falling to pieces, and who lets God know just how bad it is.

Psalms 105

1 Hallelujah! Thank God! Pray to him by name! Tell everyone you meet what he has done!

2 Sing him songs, belt out hymns, translate his wonders into music!

3 Honor his holy name with Hallelujahs, you who seek God. Live a happy life!

4 Keep your eyes open for God, watch for his works; be alert for signs of his presence.

5 Remember the world of wonders he has made, his miracles, and the verdicts he's rendered -

6 O seed of Abraham, his servant, O child of Jacob, his chosen.

7 He's God, our God, in charge of the whole earth.

8 And he remembers, remembers his Covenant - for a thousand generations he's been as good as his word.

9 It's the Covenant he made with Abraham, the same oath he swore to Isaac,

10 The very statute he established with Jacob, the eternal Covenant with Israel,

11 Namely, "I give you the land. Canaan is your hill-country inheritance."

12 When they didn't count for much, a mere handful, and strangers at that,

13 Wandering from country to country, drifting from pillar to post,

14 He permitted no one to abuse them. He told kings to keep their hands off:

15 "Don't you dare lay a hand on my anointed, don't hurt a hair on the heads of my prophets."

16 Then he called down a famine on the country, he broke every last blade of wheat.

17 But he sent a man on ahead: Joseph, sold as a slave.

18 They put cruel chains on his ankles, an iron collar around his neck,

19 Until God's word came to the Pharaoh, and God confirmed his promise.

20 God sent the king to release him. The Pharaoh set Joseph free;

21 He appointed him master of his palace, put him in charge of all his business

22 To personally instruct his princes and train his advisors in wisdom.

23 Then Israel entered Egypt, Jacob immigrated to the Land of Ham.

24 God gave his people lots of babies; soon their numbers alarmed their foes.

25 He turned the Egyptians against his people; they abused and cheated God's servants.

26 Then he sent his servant Moses, and Aaron, whom he also chose.

27 They worked marvels in that spiritual wasteland, miracles in the Land of Ham.

28 He spoke, "Darkness!" and it turned dark - they couldn't see what they were doing.

29 He turned all their water to blood so that all their fish died;

30 He made frogs swarm through the land, even into the king's bedroom;

31 He gave the word and flies swarmed, gnats filled the air.

32 He substituted hail for rain, he stabbed their land with lightning;

33 He wasted their vines and fig trees, smashed their groves of trees to splinters;

34 With a word he brought in locusts, millions of locusts, armies of locusts;

35 They consumed every blade of grass in the country and picked the ground clean of produce;

36 He struck down every firstborn in the land, the first fruits of their virile powers.

37 He led Israel out, their arms filled with loot, and not one among his tribes even stumbled.

38 Egypt was glad to have them go - they were scared to death of them.

39 God spread a cloud to keep them cool through the day and a fire to light their way through the night;

40 They prayed and he brought quail, filled them with the bread of heaven;

41 He opened the rock and water poured out; it flowed like a river through that desert -

42 All because he remembered his Covenant, his promise to Abraham, his servant.

43 Remember this! He led his people out singing for joy; his chosen people marched, singing their hearts out!

44 He made them a gift of the country they entered, helped them seize the wealth of the nations

45 So they could do everything he told them - could follow his instructions to the letter. Hallelujah!

Psalms 132

1 O God, remember David, remember all his troubles!

2 And remember how he promised God, made a vow to the Strong God of Jacob,

3 "I'm not going home, and I'm not going to bed,

4 I'm not going to sleep, not even take time to rest,

5 Until I find a home for God, a house for the Strong God of Jacob."

6 Remember how we got the news in Ephrathah, learned all about it at Jaar Meadows?

7 We shouted, "Let's go to the shrine dedication! Let's worship at God's own footstool!"

8 Up, God, enjoy your new place of quiet repose, you and your mighty covenant ark;

9 Get your priests all dressed up in justice; prompt your worshipers to sing this prayer:

10 "Honor your servant David; don't disdain your anointed one."

11 God gave David his word, he won't back out on this promise: "One of your sons I will set on your throne;

12 If your sons stay true to my Covenant and learn to live the way I teach them, Their sons will continue the line - always a son to sit on your throne.

13 Yes - I, God, chose Zion, the place I wanted for my shrine;

14 This will always be my home; this is what I want, and I'm here for good.

15 I'll shower blessings on the pilgrims who come here, and give supper to those who arrive hungry;

16 I'll dress my priests in salvation clothes; the holy people will sing their hearts out!

17 Oh, I'll make the place radiant for David! I'll fill it with light for my anointed!

18 I'll dress his enemies in dirty rags, but I'll make his crown sparkle with splendor."