2  Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth!

For your love is ^bbetter than wine;

3  your anointing oils are fragrant;

your name is oil poured out;

therefore virgins love you.

4  ^cDraw me after you; let us run.

The king has ^dbrought me into his chambers.

We will exult and rejoice in you;

we will extol your love more than wine;

rightly do they love you.

5  I am very dark, but lovely,

O ^edaughters of Jerusalem,

like the ^ftents of Kedar,

like the curtains of Solomon.

6  Do not gaze at me because I am dark,

because the sun has looked upon me.

My mother’s sons were angry with me;

they made me ^gkeeper of the vineyards,

but ^hmy own vineyard I have not kept!

7  Tell me, you ⁱwhom my soul loves,

where you pasture your flock,

where you make it lie down at noon;

for why should I be like one who veils herself

beside the flocks of your ^jcompanions?

8  If you do not know,

^kO most beautiful among women,

follow in the tracks of the flock,

and pasture your young goats

beside the shepherds’ tents.

9  I compare you, ^lmy love,

to a mare among Pharaoh’s ^mchariots.

10  Your cheeks are lovely with ornaments,

your neck with strings of jewels.

11  We will make for you² ornaments of gold,

studded with silver.

12  While the king was on his couch,

my ⁿnard gave forth its fragrance.

13  My beloved is to me a sachet of myrrh

that lies between my breasts.

14  My beloved is to me a cluster of ^ohenna blossoms

in the vineyards of Engedi.

15  ^pBehold, ^qyou are beautiful, my love;

behold, you are beautiful;

^ryour eyes are doves.

16  Behold, you are beautiful, my beloved, truly delightful.

Our couch is green;

17  the beams of our house are cedar;

our rafters are pine.

1  The Lord ^ureigns, ^vlet the earth rejoice;

let the many coastlands be glad!

2  ^wClouds and thick darkness are all around him;

^xrighteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne.

3  ^yFire goes before him

and burns up his adversaries all around.

4  His ^zlightnings light up the world;

the earth sees and trembles.

5  The ^amountains melt like wax before the Lord,

before the ^bLord of all the earth.

6  The ^cheavens proclaim his righteousness,

and ^dall the peoples see his glory.

7  All worshipers of images are ^eput to shame,

who make their boast in worthless idols;

^fworship him, all you gods!

8  Zion hears and is ^gglad,

and the daughters of Judah rejoice,

because of your judgments, O Lord.

9  For you, O Lord, are ^hmost high over all the earth;

you are exalted far ⁱabove all gods.

10  O you who love the Lord, ^jhate evil!

He ^kpreserves the lives of his saints;

he delivers them from the hand of the wicked.

11  Light is sown¹ for the righteous,

and joy for the upright in heart.

12  Rejoice in the Lord, O you righteous,

and ^lgive thanks to his holy name!

1  Oh ^msing to the Lord a new song,

for he has done marvelous things!

His right hand and his holy arm

have worked salvation for him.

2  The Lord has ⁿmade known his salvation;

he has ^orevealed his righteousness in the sight of the nations.

3  He has ^premembered his steadfast love and faithfulness

to the house of Israel.

All the ends of the earth have ^qseen

the salvation of our God.

4  ^rMake a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth;

^sbreak forth into joyous song and sing praises!

5  Sing praises to the Lord with the lyre,

with the lyre and the sound of melody!

6  ^tWith trumpets and the sound of the horn

make a joyful noise before the King, the Lord!

7  ^uLet the sea roar, and all that fills it;

^vthe world and those who dwell in it!

8  Let the rivers clap their hands;

let the hills ^wsing for joy together

9  ^xbefore the Lord, for he comes

to judge the earth.

He will judge the world with righteousness,

and the peoples with equity.

1  The Lord ^yreigns; let the peoples tremble!

He sits ^zenthroned upon the cherubim; let the earth quake!

2  The Lord is great in Zion;

he is exalted ^aover all the peoples.

3  Let them praise your great and awesome name!

^bHoly is he!

4  The King in his might loves justice.²

You have established equity;

you have executed ^cjustice

and righteousness in Jacob.

5  Exalt the Lord our God;

^dworship at his footstool!

Holy is he!

6  ^eMoses and Aaron were among his priests,

^fSamuel also was among those who ^gcalled upon his name.

^hThey called to the Lord, and he answered them.

7  ⁱIn the pillar of the cloud he spoke to them;

they kept his testimonies

and the statute that he gave them.

8  O Lord our God, you answered them;

you were a forgiving God to them,

but an avenger of their wrongdoings.

9  Exalt the Lord our God,

and worship at his holy mountain;

for the Lord our God is holy!

1  ^jMake a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth!

2  Serve the Lord with gladness!

Come into his presence with singing!

3  Know that ^kthe Lord, he is God!

It is he who made us, and we are his;³

we are his people, and the ^lsheep of his pasture.

4  Enter his gates ^mwith thanksgiving,

and ⁿhis courts with praise!

Give thanks to him; ^obless his name!

5  ^pFor the Lord is good;

his steadfast love endures forever,

and his faithfulness to all generations.

1  I will sing of steadfast love and justice;

to you, O Lord, ^qI will make music.

2  I will ponder the way that is blameless.

Oh when will you come to me?

I will ^rwalk ^swith integrity of heart

within my house;

3  I will not set before my eyes

anything that is worthless.

I hate the work of those who fall away;

it shall not cling to me.

4  A ^tperverse heart shall be far from me;

I will know nothing of evil.

5  Whoever slanders his neighbor secretly

I will destroy.

^uWhoever has a haughty look and an arrogant heart

I will not endure.

6  I will look with favor on the faithful in the land,

that they may dwell with me;

he who walks in the way that is blameless

shall minister to me.

7  No one who practices deceit

shall dwell in my house;

no one who utters lies

shall continue before my eyes.

8  Morning by morning I will destroy

all the wicked in the land,

cutting off all the evildoers

from the ^vcity of the Lord.

1  ^yHear my prayer, O Lord;

let my cry come to you!

2  Do not ^zhide your face from me

in the day of my distress!

Incline your ear to me;

^aanswer me speedily in the day when I call!

3  For my days pass away like ^bsmoke,

and my ^cbones burn like a furnace.

4  My heart is struck down like grass and has withered;

I forget to eat my bread.

5  Because of my loud groaning

^dmy bones cling to my flesh.

6  I am like a desert owl of the wilderness,

like an owl⁴ of the waste places;

7  I lie awake;

I am like a lonely sparrow on the housetop.

8  All the day my enemies taunt me;

those who deride me use my name for a curse.

9  For ^eI eat ashes like bread

and mingle tears with my drink,

10  because of your indignation and anger;

for you have taken me up and thrown me down.

11  My days are like an evening ^fshadow;

I wither away like grass.

12  But you, O Lord, are ^genthroned forever;

you are remembered throughout all generations.

13  You will arise and have pity on Zion;

it is the time to favor her;

the appointed time has come.

14  For your servants hold her stones dear

and have pity on her dust.

15  Nations will ^hfear the name of the Lord,

and ⁱall the kings of the earth will fear your glory.

16  For ^jthe Lord builds up Zion;

^khe appears in his glory;

17  he regards the prayer of the destitute

and does not despise their prayer.

18  Let this be recorded for a generation to come,

so that a people ^lyet to be created may praise the Lord:

19  that he looked down from his holy height;

from heaven the Lord looked at the earth,

20  to ^mhear the groans of the prisoners,

to set free those who were doomed to die,

21  that they may declare in Zion the name of the Lord,

and in Jerusalem his praise,

22  when peoples gather together,

and ⁿkingdoms, to worship the Lord.

23  He has broken my strength in midcourse;

he has ^oshortened my days.

24  “O my God,” I say, “take me not away

in the midst of my days—

you ^pwhose years endure

throughout all generations!”

25  ^qOf old you laid the foundation of the earth,

and the heavens are the work of your hands.

26  ^rThey will perish, but you will remain;

they will all wear out like a garment.

You will change them like a robe, and they will pass away,

27  but ^syou are the same, and your years have no end.

28  The children of your servants shall dwell secure;

their offspring shall be established before you.

1  ^tBless the Lord, O my soul,

and all that is within me,

bless his holy name!

2  Bless the Lord, O my soul,

and forget not all his benefits,

3  who ^uforgives all your iniquity,

who ^vheals all your diseases,

4  who redeems your life from the pit,

who ^wcrowns you with steadfast love and mercy,

5  who ^xsatisfies you with good

so that your youth is renewed ^ylike the eagle’s.

6  The Lord works righteousness

and ^zjustice for all who are oppressed.

7  He ^amade known his ways to Moses,

his acts to the people of Israel.

8  The Lord is ^bmerciful and gracious,

slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.

9  ^cHe will not always chide,

nor will he keep his anger forever.

10  He does not deal with us according to our sins,

nor repay us according to our iniquities.

11  For ^das high ^eas the heavens are above the earth,

so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him;

12  as far as the east is from the west,

so far does he remove our transgressions from us.

13  ^fAs a father shows compassion to his children,

so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him.

14  For he knows our frame;⁵

he ^gremembers that we are ^hdust.

15  As for man, his days are like grass;

he flourishes like a flower of the field;

16  for the wind passes over it, and it is gone,

and its place knows it no more.

17  But the ⁱsteadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him,

and his righteousness to children’s children,

18  to those who keep his covenant

and remember to do his commandments.

19  The Lord has established his ^jthrone in the heavens,

and his kingdom rules over all.

20  Bless the Lord, O you his angels,

you mighty ones who do his word,

obeying the voice of his word!

21  Bless the Lord, all his hosts,

his ^kministers, who do his will!

22  Bless the Lord, ^lall his works,

in all places of his dominion.

^mBless the Lord, O my soul!

1  ⁿBless the Lord, O my soul!

O Lord my God, ^oyou are very great!

You are ^pclothed with splendor and majesty,

2  ^qcovering yourself with light as with a garment,

^rstretching out the heavens like a tent.

3  He lays the beams of his ^schambers on the waters;

he makes the clouds his chariot;

he rides on the wings of the wind;

4  ^the makes his messengers winds,

his ministers a flaming fire.

5  He set the earth on its foundations,

so that it should never be moved.

6  You covered it with the deep as with a garment;

the waters stood ^uabove the mountains.

7  At your rebuke they fled;

at the ^vsound of your thunder they took to flight.

8  ^wThe mountains rose, the valleys sank down

to the place that you appointed for them.

9  You ^xset a boundary that they may not pass,

^yso that they might not again cover the earth.

10  You make springs gush forth in the valleys;

they flow between the hills;

11  they ^zgive drink to every beast of the field;

the wild donkeys quench their thirst.

12  Beside them the birds of the heavens dwell;

they sing among the branches.

13  From your lofty abode you water the mountains;

the earth is satisfied with the fruit of your work.

14  You cause the grass to grow for the livestock

and ^aplants for man to cultivate,

that he may bring forth food from the earth

15  and wine to gladden the heart of man,

oil to make his face shine

and bread to strengthen man’s heart.

16  The trees of the Lord are watered abundantly,

the cedars of Lebanon that he planted.

17  In them the birds build their nests;

the stork has her home in the fir trees.

18  The high mountains are for the wild goats;

the rocks are a refuge for the rock badgers.

19  He made the moon ^bto mark the seasons;⁶

the sun knows its time for setting.

20  You make darkness, and it is night,

when all the beasts of the forest creep about.

21  The young lions roar for their prey,

^cseeking their food from God.

22  When the sun rises, they steal away

and lie down in their dens.

23  Man goes out to his work

and to his ^dlabor until the evening.

24  O Lord, how manifold are your works!

^eIn wisdom have you made them all;

the earth is full of your creatures.

25  Here is the sea, great and wide,

which teems with creatures innumerable,

living things both small and ^fgreat.

26  There go the ships,

and ^gLeviathan, which you formed to play in it.⁷

27  ^hThese all look to you,

to give them their food in due season.

28  When you give it to them, they gather it up;

when you ⁱopen your hand, they are ^jfilled with good things.

29  When you ^khide your face, they are dismayed;

when you ^ltake away their breath, they die

and ^mreturn to their dust.

30  When you send forth your Spirit,⁸ they are created,

and you renew the face of the ground.

31  May the glory of the Lord endure forever;

may the Lord ⁿrejoice in his works,

32  who looks on the earth and it trembles,

who ^otouches the mountains and they smoke!

33  I will sing to the Lord as long as I live;

^pI will sing praise to my God while I have being.

34  ^qMay my meditation be pleasing to him,

for I rejoice in the Lord.

35  Let sinners be consumed from the earth,

and let the wicked be no more!

^rBless the Lord, O my soul!

Praise the Lord!

1  Oh ^kgive thanks to the Lord, for he is good,

for his steadfast love endures forever!

2  Let ^lthe redeemed of the Lord say so,

whom he has ^mredeemed from trouble¹

3  and ⁿgathered in from the lands,

from the east and from the west,

from the north and from the south.

4  Some ^owandered in desert wastes,

finding no way to a city to dwell in;

5  hungry and thirsty,

their soul fainted within them.

6  ^pThen they cried to the Lord in their trouble,

and he delivered them from their distress.

7  He led them by a straight way

till they reached a city to dwell in.

8  ^qLet them thank the Lord for his steadfast love,

for his wondrous works to the children of man!

9  For he ^rsatisfies the longing soul,

and ^sthe hungry soul he fills with good things.

10  Some ^tsat in ^udarkness and in the shadow of death,

prisoners in affliction and in irons,

11  for they had rebelled against the words of God,

and spurned the ^vcounsel of the Most High.

12  So he bowed their hearts down with hard labor;

they fell down, with ^wnone to help.

13  Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble,

and he delivered them from their distress.

14  He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death,

and burst their bonds apart.

15  Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love,

for his wondrous works to the children of man!

16  For he ^xshatters the doors of bronze

and cuts in two the bars of iron.

17  Some were fools through their sinful ways,

and because of their iniquities suffered affliction;

18  they ^yloathed any kind of food,

and they drew near to the gates of death.

19  Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble,

and he delivered them from their distress.

20  He sent out his word and healed them,

and delivered them from their destruction.

21  Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love,

for his wondrous works to the children of man!

22  And let them offer ^zsacrifices of thanksgiving,

and ^atell of his deeds in songs of joy!

23  Some went down to the sea in ships,

doing business on the great waters;

24  they saw the deeds of the Lord,

his wondrous works in the deep.

25  For ^bhe commanded and raised the stormy wind,

which lifted up the waves of the sea.

26  They mounted up to heaven; they went down to the depths;

^ctheir courage melted away in their evil plight;

27  they reeled and staggered like drunken men

and were at their wits’ end.²

28  Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble,

and he delivered them from their distress.

29  ^dHe made the ^estorm be still,

and the waves of the sea were hushed.

30  Then they were glad that the waters³ were quiet,

and he brought them to their desired haven.

31  Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love,

for his wondrous works to the children of man!

32  Let them extol him in the congregation of the people,

and praise him in the assembly of the elders.

33  He turns rivers into a desert,

springs of water into thirsty ground,

34  a fruitful land into a salty waste,

because of the evil of its inhabitants.

35  He turns a desert into pools of water,

a parched land into springs of water.

36  And there he lets the hungry dwell,

and they establish a city to live in;

37  they sow fields and plant vineyards

and get a fruitful yield.

38  By his ^fblessing they multiply greatly,

and he does not let their livestock diminish.

39  When they are diminished and brought low

through oppression, evil, and sorrow,

40  ^ghe pours contempt on princes

and ^hmakes them wander in trackless wastes;

41  but he raises up the needy out of affliction

and makes their families like flocks.

42  ⁱThe upright see it and are glad,

and ^jall wickedness shuts its mouth.

43  Whoever is wise, let him attend to these things;

let them consider the steadfast love of the Lord.