Psalm 103

1 To David.
Bless Our God, my soul!
With everything that is within me, bless God’s holy Name!
2 Bless Our God, my soul,
and never forget all the things God has done in loving us back!
3 He forgives all our unfaithfulness to Torah,
he cures of of all our sicknesses of body, mind, and soul;
4 She sets us free from the corruption of death,
she garlands us with covenant love and TLC.
5 He causes our violent lusts to meet up with goodness,
he will renew our youth the way he renews the phoenix.

6 Our God does works of compassion,
and pronounces sentence on all those who are unjust.
7 She made her ways known to Moses and Miriam,
and her purposes to the heirs of Israel.
8 Our God brims over with TLC and covenant love,
full of forbearance and freeing of the entangled;
9 He will not be provoked into sending us to our ultimate destiny —
not into the age of the new moon.
10 She does not treat us according to our sins;
she does not make our punishment correspond to our failures of torah.
11 As high as heaven is exalted above the earth,
So greatly does Our God show covenant love to those in awe below;
12 As far as the rising sun is from the setting sun,
that far from us does God make our failures of torah.
13 The same way that parents favor their own children,
Our God showers TLC upon the ones in awe below.
14 For he has known us as intimately as a potter his pot,
remembering that we are clay.
15 Mortal, God’s days are like pasturage —
like a flower of the field, so God blossoms forth —
16 God’s Spirit blows over the pasture, then is gone,
and the flowers perceive God no more.
17 And Our God’s covenant love shines from age to age on those in awe,
and her justice upon the children’s children
18 Who defend his Covenant
and remember to obey his commandments.

19 Our God in heaven has established her throne,
and her kindom extends over the Universe.
20 Bless Our God, all you angels, you powers who do God’s word,
who hear the voice of his Word;
21 Bless Our God, all you spiritual powers,
you faithful ones who are doing God’s will!
22 Bless Our God, all creation,
to the far reaches of her sovereignty!
Bless Our God, my soul!

 

Bibliography

Augustine of Hippo
ca. 390? Sermons on the Psalms. Found on the Internet on the Christian Classics Ethereal Library server, at Wheaton College.
Barker, Kenneth, et al., editors
1985 The NIV Study Bible: New International Version. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House.
Bible Gateway
1611 King James Version of the Bible.
Darby translation of the Bible.
1952 Revised Standard Version of the Bible.
? New American Standard translation of the Bible.
? Young’s Literal Translation of the Bible.
Brueggeman, Walter
1984 The Message of the Psalms: A Theological Commentary. Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg Publishing House.
The Church of England
?* The Book of Common Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments, and other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church. Oxford: Printed at the University Press . . . Amen Corner. *There is no publication date given, but the inscription on the flyleaf reads, “Mary MacBride, from her friend, M.W.L. Jerusalem. March 13th 1895. Genesis 31:49. Psalm 125.2.” Coverdale’s psalms were first published in Matthew’s Bible in 1537.
The Goshen Online Study Bible
1901 American Standard Version of the Bible.
? Bible in Basic English translation of the Bible.
Henry, Matthew
? Matthew Henry’s Commentary on Psalms. Found on the Internet at
the linked address; there are many other addresses where Matthew Henry may be found.
Liddell, H.G.
1968 Liddell and Scott’s Greek-English Lexicon, Seventh Intermediate Edition. Oxford University Press.
Metzger, Bruce M. And Michael D. Coogan, editors
1993 The Oxford Companion to the Bible. New York: Oxford University Press.
Metzger, Bruce M. and Roland E. Murphy, editors
1991 The New Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocryphal / Deuterocanonical Books. New York: Oxford University Press.
Perschbacher, Wesley J., editor
1990 The New Analytical Greek Lexicon. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, Inc.
Priests for Equality
1997 The Inclusive Psalms. W. Hyattsville, MD: Priests for Equality.
Rahlfs, Alfred
1979 Septuaginta: id est vetus testamentum graece iuxta LXX interpretes edidit Alfred Rahlfs. Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft. Stuttgart: Biblia-Druck.
Smith, Sir William, L.L.D.
1986 A Dictionary of the Bible. Revised and edited by F.N. and M.A. Peloubet. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers.
Tiffany, Frederick C. and Sharon H. Ringe
1996 Biblical Interpretation: A Roadmap. Nashville: Abingdon Press.