Psalm 103:1-22

Praise God for his great love

1 I say to myself, ‘ Praise the Lord!’

Everything that is in me, praise his holy name!

2 I say to myself, ‘Praise the Lord!’

Never forget all the good things that he has done for you!

3 He forgives all my sins.

He makes me well again when I am ill.

4 He saves me from the deep hole of death's power.

He always loves me and he is kind to me.

That is how he blesses me so much!

5 He gives me many good things for my life here.

So I become strong again,

with the strength of a young eagle.

6 The Lord does what is right and fair.

He helps poor people who suffer.

7 He showed Moses how he works to help his people.

He showed the Israelites the great things that he could do.

8 The Lord is kind to people and he forgives them.

He is slow to become angry

and his faithful love always continues.

9 He will not always tell us that we are wrong.

He will not always continue to be angry.

10 We should receive much punishment for the bad things that we do.

But the Lord does not punish us so much.

11 For people who worship him,

his faithful love is very great.

How far is the sky above the earth?

His love is greater than that!

12 How far is the east from the west?

The Lord has taken our sins further away than that!

He no longer says that we are guilty.

13 As a father is kind to his children,

the Lord is kind to us.

He is kind to people who worship him.

14 He knows that we are weak humans.

He remembers that he used dust to make us.

15 A person's life is like grass that quickly dies.

He is strong only for a short time,

like wild flowers in a field.

16 A hot wind blows over flowers and they die!

Nobody even remembers where they were growing.

17 But the faithful love of the Lord

will always be with people who worship him.

He promises to be kind to their descendants for ever.

18 He continues to love people who obey his covenant.

Those are the people who obey his laws.

19 The Lord rules from his throne in heaven.

He rules as king over everything.

20 You who are the Lord's angels,

you strong angels who do what he tells you to do,

praise the Lord!

21 All of you who belong to his armies in heaven,

his servants who do what he wants,

praise the Lord!

22 Yes, everything that the Lord has made,

in all the places that he rules over,

praise the Lord!

I say to myself, ‘Praise the Lord!’