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Psalms 103
David turns inward, commanding his own soul to bless the LORD and not forget the list of benefits that follows: pardon, healing, redemption, mercy. The poem then widens from one man's gratitude to the whole human condition. Watch the images of distance and scale: forgiveness measured "as far as the east is from the west," mercy "as high" as the heavens, set against human life as grass and a flower the wind erases. The closing verses summon angels, armies, and all his works to join the praise.
- 1
Praise the LORD, my soul! All that is within me, praise his holy name!
- 2
Praise the LORD, my soul, and don’t forget all his benefits,
- 3
who forgives all your sins, who heals all your diseases,
- 4
who redeems your life from destruction, who crowns you with loving kindness and tender mercies,
- 5
who satisfies your desire with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
- 6
The LORD executes righteous acts, and justice for all who are oppressed.
- 7
He made known his ways to Moses, his deeds to the children of Israel.
- 8
The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness.
- 9
He will not always accuse; neither will he stay angry forever.
- 10
He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor repaid us for our iniquities.
- 11
For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is his loving kindness toward those who fear him.
- 12
As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
- 13
Like a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him.
- 14
For he knows how we are made. He remembers that we are dust.
- 15
As for man, his days are like grass. As a flower of the field, so he flourishes.
- 16
For the wind passes over it, and it is gone. Its place remembers it no more.
- 17
But the LORD’s loving kindness is from everlasting to everlasting with those who fear him, his righteousness to children’s children,
- 18
to those who keep his covenant, to those who remember to obey his precepts.
- 19
The LORD has established his throne in the heavens. His kingdom rules over all.
- 20
Praise the LORD, you angels of his, who are mighty in strength, who fulfill his word, obeying the voice of his word.
- 21
Praise the LORD, all you armies of his, you servants of his, who do his pleasure.
- 22
Praise the LORD, all you works of his, in all places of his dominion. Praise the LORD, my soul!
Why God remembers we are dust
The hinge is verse 14: "he knows how we are made; he remembers that we are dust." God's compassion here is not blindness to frailty but precise knowledge of it, compared to a father's pity for his children (v. 13).
That mortal frailty (vv. 15-16) is answered by a love described as "from everlasting to everlasting" toward those who keep his covenant, so the brevity of a life is set inside an unbroken faithfulness.
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