Praise to Yahweh for His Creation and Providence

¹ Bless Yahweh, O my soul. O Yahweh my God, you are very great. You clothe yourself with splendor and majesty,

² you who cover yourself with light as with a garment, who stretch out the heavens like a tent curtain,

³ the one who sets beams in the waters for his upper chambers, who makes clouds his chariot, who rides¹ on the wings of the wind,

1. Hebrew “goes”

⁴ who makes his messengers the winds, his attendants a flame of fire.

⁵ He established the earth on her foundations, so that it will not be moved forever and ever.

⁶ You covered it with the deep as with a garment. The waters stood above the mountains.

⁷ At your rebuke they fled; at the sound of your thunder they ran off.

⁸ They ascended the mountains and drained though the valleys to the place that you established¹ for them.

1. Or “appointed”

⁹ You set a boundary that they may not cross over, so that they would not return to cover the earth.

¹⁰ You are the one who sends forth springs into the valleys; they flow between the mountains.

¹¹ They give drink for every beast of the field. The wild donkeys ⌞quench⌟¹ their thirst.

1. Literally “break”

¹² Along them the birds of the heavens abide. From among the branches they ⌞sing⌟.¹

1. Literally “give voice”

¹³ You are the one who ⌞waters⌟¹ the mountains from his upper chambers. The earth is full² with the fruit of your labors:

1. Literally “give drink”
2. Or “is sated”

¹⁴ who causes grass to grow for the cattle and herbs for the service of humankind, to bring forth food from the earth,

¹⁵ and wine that makes glad the heart of man, so that their faces shine from oil, and bread that strengthens the heart of man.

¹⁶ The trees of Yahweh drink their fill, the cedars of Lebanon that he planted,

¹⁷ where birds make their nest. The stork has its home in the fir trees.

¹⁸ The high mountains are for the wild goats; the cliffs are a refuge for the rock badgers.

¹⁹ He made the moon for appointed times; the sun knows its time for setting.

²⁰ You make darkness, and it is night, when¹ all the animals of the forest creep about.

1. Hebrew “in it”

²¹ The young lions are roaring for the prey and seeking their food from God.

²² When the sun rises, they gather together and lie down in their dens.

²³ Humankind goes out to its work, and to its labor until evening.

²⁴ How many are your works, O Yahweh; all of them you have done in wisdom. The earth is full of your creatures.

²⁵ This is the great and ⌞wide⌟¹ sea, in which are moving animals without number, living things small and great.

1. Literally “broad of hands”

²⁶ There the ships sail. Leviathan is there that you formed to play with.¹

1. For this construction meaning “to play with,” see Job 40:29 (Eng: 41:5)

²⁷ They all wait for you to give them their food ⌞at the proper time⌟.¹

1. Literally “in its season”

²⁸ You give to them; they gather it. You open your hand, they are filled with what is good.

²⁹ You hide your face, they are terrified. You take away their breath, they die and return to their dust.

³⁰ You send forth your Spirit,¹ they are created, and you renew the face of the ground.

1. Or “breath”

³¹ May the glory of Yahweh endure forever. May Yahweh be glad in his works,

³² the one who looks at the earth and it quakes, and touches the mountains and they smoke.

³³ I will sing to Yahweh throughout my life; I will sing praise to my God while ⌞I remain alive⌟.¹

1. Literally “while I am still”

³⁴ May my meditation be pleasing to him. I will be glad in Yahweh.

³⁵ Let sinners perish completely from the earth, and the wicked ⌞not remain alive⌟.¹ Bless Yahweh, O my soul. Praise Yah.²

1. Literally “they are not still”
2. Hebrew hallelujah