Psalm 111

Praise be to Jehovah! --- Heartily will I give him thanks
Whenever good men gather, in private or in public.
Wondrous and awesome are Jehovah's many works and deeds,
A source of much delight to those who will examine them,
For there is glory in them and majesty and beauty.
His justice is everlasting; his mercy, eternal.
His miracles are memorials; he has made them so,
To remind us of his grace, his mercy, and compassion.
Food and sustenance he provides to those who revere him.
For all time will he remember the contract he has made.
To his chosen people he proved his power and his might
By turning over to them the lands of other peoples.
His handiwork is sound and true, his precepts are certain,
Made with integrity, enacted with fidelity,
Devised to last ages, destined to endure forever.
He redeemed his people by freeing them from their bondage
And assuring them his promise would be forever kept.
How his reputation commands our reverence and awe!

Respect for the divine is the well-spring of all wisdom.
By following divine law one gains understanding.

May the praise of Jehovah last forever and ever!

Psalm 110

A Psalm of David

Jehovah bid my master, “Sit at my right hand,
Until I will make your enemies your footstool.”
Jehovah will extend your scepter from Zion,
And you will rule in the midst of your enemies.
Your troops will be ready on the day of battle.
Arrayed in the magnificence of holiness,
From the womb of dawn, they are like the morning     dew.
Jehovah has sworn and will not go back on his word,
“Forever you are a priest, like Melchizedek.”

God the Master will stand at your right hand.
He will strike down kings on the day of his wrath.
He will pass judgment on the heathen nations,
Filling their lands with bodies of the dead
And crushing rulers throughout the whole earth.
He will take a drink from the wayside brook,
And, because of it, hold his head up high.

Psalm 109

A Psalm of  David

O God, whom I praise, do not be silent.
For the mouths of the evil and deceitful
Are speaking against me with lying tongues.
They have surrounded me with words of hatred
And fight against me without any cause.
They return my friendship by accusing me,
Even as I give myself to pray for them.
They repay me evil for good, hate for love.

Find an evil man to betray him,
An adversary to be his counsel.
When he is tried, let him be guilty,
May his prayer be counted an offence.
Let his days in office be few
And another take his position.
May his children be fatherless,
And his wife become a widow.
May his children be vagabonds,
Driven far from their ruined homes
And reduced to beg for their bread.
May the creditor seize all he owns
And strangers loot his property.
Let there be none to show him kindness
Or pity his fatherless children.
Let his line be cut off and his name
Not passed to the next generation.
Let his father’s iniquities
Be remembered by Jehovah.
Erase not the sins of his mother.
Let them be forever recalled
By Jehovah that he may blot out
The memory of them on earth.

Because he never thought to show kindness:
He persecuted the poor and the needy,
Broke their spirits, even drove them to their graves.
He loved cursings; may they fall upon him.
He hated blessings; may they be far from him.
He wore cursings as if they were a garment.
May they soak into his body like water
And seep into his bones like olive oil.
May they be like a robe clinging to him,
Like a belt girded round him forever.
May these curses be Jehovah’s punishment
For accusers who speak evil of me.

You, O Jehovah, Sovereign Master,
Treat me kindly for the sake of your name,
Deliver me through the goodness of your love,
For I am afflicted and destitute,
And my heart within me is full of pain.
I fade away like an evening shadow.
I have been shaken away like a locust.
My knees are weak and shaky from fasting.
My body is gaunt; I am skin and bones.
I have become an object of scorn to them;
When they look upon me, they shake their heads.

Help me, O Jehovah, my god!
Save me with your loving kindness.
Let them know this is your handiwork,
That you, Jehovah, have done it.
They may curse me, but you will bless me.
Let those who attack me be disgraced,
But your servant, he will rejoice.
Let my accusers be robed with shame,
And may disgrace be their mantle.

With my mouth I give thanks to Jehovah,
And in the midst of many I praise him.
For he stands at the right hand of the needy
To save his soul from his persecutors.

Psalm 108

A Psalm of  David

My heart is steadfast in its faith in you, O God,
I will sing and give praise to you with all my soul.
Awaken, O harp and lyre, and bring up the dawn.
I will extol you among the people, Jehovah
And sing your praises among the heathen nations.
For great is your devotion, higher than the heavens,
And your faithfulness reaches to the firmament.
Be exalted, O God, above the highest heavens
And may your glory be spread across the whole world
That those who are your beloved may be delivered.
Answer me and save me with your divine power.

God has spoken from his sanctuary,
“With pleasure will I apportion Shechem
And divide up the Valley of Succoth.
Gilead is mine; Manasseh is mine;
Ephraim, my helmet; Judah, my scepter;
Moab will I use as my washbasin;
Upon Edom do I toss my sandal;
Over Philistia I shout in triumph.”

Who will bring me into the fortress?
Who will lead me into Edom?
Have you not rejected us, O God?
Will you not go out to battle
With our armies any more, O God?
Give us aid against the enemy,
For human help is of no avail.
With God we will fight with valor,
And he will trample down our foes.

Psalm 107

Give thanks to Jehovah, for he is good,
And his constant love endures forever.
Let those redeemed by Jehovah speak out,
Those he rescued from the hand of the foe,
Gathered from east and west, from north and south,
Some wandering in the desert wastes, finding no way
To a city that they might inhabit.
Hungry and thirsty, they were perishing.
In their troubles; they cried out to Jehovah,
And he delivered them from their distress.

He set them aright and put them on the path
To a city that they might inhabit.
Let them thank Jehovah for his devotion
And for the wondrous deeds he has done for them.
He satisfies the thirst of the body
And fills the hungry with good things to eat.
Some sat in darkness, in the shadow of death,
Prisoners in misery, bound by chains,
For they rebelled against the commands of God
And despised the counsel of the Most High.
And so he broke their spirit in hard labor.
When they stumbled, there was no one to help them.
In their troubles, they cried out to Jehovah,
And he delivered them from their distress.

He brought them out of the place of darkness
And death’s shadow and broke their chains apart.
Let them thank Jehovah for his devotion
And for the wondrous deeds he has done for them,
For he has broken down the gates of bronze
And has cut asunder the bars of iron.
Some, made fools because of their transgressions
And afflicted for their iniquities,
Shunned all food and were drawing near to death’s door.
In their troubles, they cried out to Jehovah,
And he delivered them from their distress.

He sent forth his message and thus healed them,
Delivering them from their destruction.
Let them thank Jehovah for his devotion
And for the wondrous deeds he has done for them.
Let them make sacrifices of thanksgiving
And proclaim his acts with songs of rejoicing.

Those that have gone down to the sea in ships,
Engaging in commerce on the oceans,
Have witnessed the handiwork of Jehovah,
The deeds of wonder performed on the deep.
For at his command he would raise a tempest
That would lift high the waves of the ocean.
They would rise to the sky and sink to the depths,
Their courage dissolving in their terror.
They reeled about, staggering like drunken men,
And found all their knowledge useless to them.
In their troubles, they cried out to Jehovah,
And he delivered them from their distress.

He stilled the tempest to a mere whisper
And hushed to silence the waves of the sea.
They rejoiced in the quiet of the waters.
He guided them to the port they were bound for.
Let them thank Jehovah for his devotion
And for the wondrous deeds he has done for them.
Exalt him before the congregation
And praise him in the council of the elders.

He turns rivers into wasteland,
Springs of water into dry ground,
Fruitful land into a salt marsh,
Owing to the sins of its dwellers.
He turns a desert into a pool,
Dry land into springs of water.
He brought the hungry to settle there
And build a city in which to live.
They sowed their fields, planted their vineyards,
Providing a fruitful harvest.
He blessed them and they multiplied,
Nor did he let their herds decrease.
When they were diminished and humbled
By oppression, evil, and sorrow,
He poured out his scorn and disdain
Upon their princes and forced them
To wander in the trackless wastes.

But he lifts the needy from poverty
And, like flocks, increases their families.
The upright will witness it and rejoice,
While all who are wicked will be silenced.
Let he who is wise take heed of these things
And ponder the loving acts of Jehovah.

Psalm 106

Hallelujah, give thanks to Jehovah!
He is good, and his mercy endures always.
Who can proclaim the great deeds of Jehovah
Or give to him his full measure of praise?

Blessed are they who uphold justice
And practice righteousness at all times.
Please remember me, O Jehovah.
When you give favor to your people,
Come to me with your salvation
That I may know the prosperity
Of those who are your chosen ones,
Share in the gladness of your nation,
And celebrate your inheritance.
We have sinned as our fathers have.
We have done wrong, acted wickedly.
Our fathers, when they were in Egypt,
Understood not your miracles,
Remembered not your acts of mercy,
But rebelled by the sea, the Red Sea.

Yet he saved them for the sake of his name,
That he might make his mighty power known.
He rebuked the Red Sea and it dried up;
He led them through its deeps as through a desert.
From the power of their foe he saved them;
From their enemy’s might he rescued them.
The waters covered their adversaries,
So that not one of them was left alive.
Then they believed his word and sang his praise.
But quickly did they forget what he had done
And waited not for his plans to be fulfilled.
In the wilderness they gave way to their lusts;
In the desert they tested God’s patience.
He relented and gave them what they wanted —
But sent them a debilitating disease.
In camp they envied Moses and Aaron,
Who were consecrated by Jehovah.
The earth opened up and swallowed Dathan;
It covered the company of Abiram.
A fire broke out amid their assembly
And conflagration consumed the wicked.
At Mount Sinai the people made a calf
And worshiped an idol cast of metal.
They traded the magnificence of their god
For an image of a grass-eating bull.
They forgot the god who was their savior,
Who had achieved such great things in Egypt,
Wondrous miracles in the land of Ham,
And awe-inspiring acts at the Red Sea.
He would have wiped them out had not Moses,
His chosen one, stood before him in the breach,
Averting the wrath that would have destroyed them.
They refused to enter the pleasing land,
Having no faith in the promise he gave them.
Instead they groused and grumbled in their tents
And did not obey the voice of Jehovah.
He lifted up his hand and swore an oath
That he would let them perish in the desert,
Disperse their offspring among foreign nations,
And scatter them throughout the lands of the earth.
They devoted themselves to the baal of Peor
And ate sacrifices made to dead gods.
They aroused the anger of Jehovah
With these acts, and a plague broke out among them.
But Phinehas made a stand and intervened.
The plague was suppressed and he was honored
For his righteousness through the generations.
They, as well, at the waters of Meribah,
Did provoke the anger of Jehovah,
And trouble came to Moses because of them:
Their rebellion made him lose his temper 
And he berated them with rash language.
They did not destroy the heathen nations
As Jehovah commanded them to do;
Instead they mingled with other peoples
And they adopted their pagan customs,
Being tricked into worshiping their idols
And sacrificing their sons and daughters
To be slaughtered before devilish idols.
They shed innocent blood, even the blood
Of their sons and daughters they sacrificed,
So that the land was poluted with their blood.
They defiled themselves with their practices
And prostituted themselves by their acts.
Thus Jehovah was angry with his people
And came to abhor his own inheritance.
He delivered them to heathen nations
To have those who hate them rule over them.
Their foes oppressed and crushed them with their power.
Many times he rescued them, but they rebelled
And were sunk by their own iniquity.
Nevertheless, he took note of their distress
Whenever he did hear their cries for help.
For their sake he remembered his covenant
And because of his kindness, he relented.
He caused their captors to treat them with mercy.

Rescue us, Jehovah, our god!
Bring us back from heathen nations
That we may thank your holy name
And glory in your song of praise.

Blessed is Jehovah, god of Israel,
From everlasting to everlasting.
Let all proclaim, “Amen!” and “Hallelujah!”

Psalm 105

Give thanks to Jehovah and proclaim his name.
Make known his achievements among the nations.

Sing to him, yea, sing your praises.
Contemplate all his miracles.
Take glory in his holy name.

Let the hearts of those who seek Jehovah be glad.

Turn to Jehovah and his holy power.
Strive continually to worship him.
Remember the wonders he has performed,
His miracles, the judgments he has pronounced,
You, offspring of Abraham, his servant,
You, sons of Jacob, his chosen people.
He is Jehovah, our god.  His divine law
Has jurisdiction over all the earth.
He will keep forever his covenant,
A vow made to a thousand generations,
Pledged to Abraham, an oath swore to Isaac,
Confirmed to Jacob as a divine decree,
An everlasting pact with Israel:
“I set aside for you the land of Canaan,
As the portion of  your inheritance.”
This said when they were but few in number,
Just a few strangers dwelling in the land,
Wandering from one nation to another,
From one kingdom to another people’s land.
But he allowed no one to oppress them,
And he rebuked monarchs on their behalf.
“Lay no hand upon my anointed ones
And do no injury to my prophets.”
He brought famine to the land of Canaan
And brought destruction upon their crops of grain.
He sent someone to Egypt ahead of them,
This was Joseph who was sold as a slave.
His feet bruised with shackles, his neck in irons
Until the time his prophecy came to pass
And Jehovah’s word proved that Joseph was true.
The Pharaoh sent for him and set him free;
The ruler of his people released him.
He made him the master of his household
To be in charge of all that he possessed.
To command officials at his pleasure
And to give instructions to his elders.
The sons of Israel entered Egypt,
And Jacob sojourned in the land of Ham.
Jehovah made his people prolific,
So they were more numerous than their foes,
Whose hearts he turned to abhor his people
And deviously deal with his servants.

He sent to them his servant Moses
And Aaron, whom he had chosen.
They performed miracles among them
And wonders in the land of Ham.
He sent darkness, made the land dark,
For had they not defied his words?
He turned their water into blood
And caused all of their fish to die.
Their land was overrun with frogs
Even the chambers of the Pharaoh.
He spoke and throughout the country
There swarmed midges and stable flies.
He gave them hail instead of rain
And lightning flashed all over the land.
He struck down their vines and fig trees
And splintered the trees of the country.
He spoke and grasshoppers appeared,
Hopping locusts without number
That devoured the vegetation,
Every green thing in the land
And consumed the fruits of the soil.
Then he struck down the land’s firstborn,
Firstfruits of all their manly vigor.
Jehovah then brought out Israel,
Carrying with them silver and gold,
And none from his tribes straggling behind.
Egypt was glad of their going,
For dread of Israel had seized them.
He spread a cloud as a covering
And fire to light up the night sky.
They asked for food, he brought them quails
And filled them with the bread of Heaven.
He split a rock and water gushed out,
Flowing like a desert river.
For he remembered his holy vow
Made to Abraham, his servant.
He brought out his people with joy,
His chosen ones with rejoicing.
He gave them lands in foreign nations,
To claim the fruit of other’s labor
That they might observe his statutes
And keep his laws.  Praise Jehovah!