Psalm 115

⁹Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of Your name; deliver us and atone for our sins, for the sake of Your name.

¹⁰Why should the nations ask, “Where is their God?” Before our eyes, make known among the nations Your vengeance for the bloodshed of Your servants.

¹¹For My own sake, My very own sake, I will act; for how can I let Myself be defamed? I will not yield My glory to another.

⁸Ascribe to the Lord the glory due His name; bring an offering and enter His courts.

¹⁴But I acted for the sake of My name, so that it would not be profaned in the eyes of the nations in whose sight I had brought them out.

³²It is not for your sake that I will act, declares the Lord God—let it be known to you. Be ashamed and disgraced for your ways, O house of Israel!

⁶to the praise of His glorious grace, which He has freely given us in the Beloved One.

¹⁰Why should the nations ask, “Where is their God?” Before our eyes, make known among the nations Your vengeance for the bloodshed of Your servants.

³My tears have been my food both day and night, while men ask me all day long, “Where is your God?”

¹⁰Like the crushing of my bones, my enemies taunt me, while they say to me all day long, “Where is your God?”

¹²Why should the Egyptians declare, ‘He brought them out with evil intent, to kill them in the mountains and wipe them from the face of the earth’? Turn from Your fierce anger and relent from doing harm to Your people.

²⁶I would have said that I would cut them to pieces and blot out their memory from mankind,

²⁷if I had not dreaded the taunt of the enemy, lest their adversaries misunderstand and say: ‘Our own hand has prevailed; it was not the Lord who did all this.’”

¹⁵If You kill this people as one man, the nations who have heard of Your fame will say,

¹⁶‘Because the Lord was unable to bring this people into the land He swore to give them, He has slaughtered them in the wilderness.’

⁶The Lord does all that pleases Him in the heavens and on the earth, in the seas and in all their depths.

³⁵All the peoples of the earth are counted as nothing, and He does as He pleases with the army of heaven and the peoples of the earth. There is no one who can restrain His hand or say to Him, ‘What have You done?’”

¹⁰I declare the end from the beginning, and from ancient times what is still to come. I say, ‘My purpose will stand, and all My good pleasure I will accomplish.’

¹¹In Him we were also chosen as God’s own, having been predestined according to the plan of Him who works out everything by the counsel of His will,

¹⁹The Lord has established His throne in heaven, and His kingdom rules over all.

¹⁹One of you will say to me, “Then why does God still find fault? For who can resist His will?”

²⁸And there you will serve man-made gods of wood and stone, which cannot see or hear or eat or smell.

⁶They pour out their bags of gold and weigh out silver on scales; they hire a goldsmith to fashion it into a god, so they can bow down and worship.

⁷They lift it to their shoulder and carry it along; they set it in its place, and there it stands, not budging from that spot. They cry out to it, but it does not answer; it saves no one from his troubles.

³For the customs of the peoples are worthless; they cut down a tree from the forest; it is shaped with a chisel by the hands of a craftsman.

⁴They adorn it with silver and gold and fasten it with hammer and nails, so that it will not totter.

¹⁹To an idol that a craftsman casts and a metalworker overlays with gold and fits with silver chains?

²⁰One lacking such an offering chooses wood that will not rot. He seeks a skilled craftsman to set up an idol that will not topple.

¹⁸What use is an idol, that a craftsman should carve it—or an image, a teacher of lies? For its maker trusts in his own creation; he makes idols that cannot speak.

¹⁹Woe to him who says to wood, ‘Awake!’ or to silent stone, ‘Arise!’ Can it give guidance? Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver, yet there is no breath in it at all.”

¹⁰Who fashions a god or casts an idol which profits him nothing?

⁵Like scarecrows in a cucumber patch, their idols cannot speak. They must be carried because they cannot walk. Do not fear them, for they can do no harm, and neither can they do any good.”

¹⁸Those who make them become like them, as do all who trust in them.

⁸But they are altogether senseless and foolish, instructed by worthless idols made of wood!

¹⁸What use is an idol, that a craftsman should carve it—or an image, a teacher of lies? For its maker trusts in his own creation; he makes idols that cannot speak.

¹⁹Woe to him who says to wood, ‘Awake!’ or to silent stone, ‘Arise!’ Can it give guidance? Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver, yet there is no breath in it at all.”

⁸Those who cling to worthless idols forsake His loving devotion.

⁹All makers of idols are nothing, and the things they treasure are worthless. Their witnesses fail to see or comprehend, so they are put to shame.

¹⁰Who fashions a god or casts an idol which profits him nothing?

⁸Trust in Him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts before Him. God is our refuge. Selah

³Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness.

⁵Every word of God is flawless; He is a shield to those who take refuge in Him.

²Let Israel say, “His loving devotion endures forever.”

³Let the house of Aaron say, “His loving devotion endures forever.”

¹⁹O house of Israel, bless the Lord; O house of Aaron, bless the Lord;

²⁰O house of Levi, bless the Lord; you who fear the Lord, bless the Lord!

⁵Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord his God,

⁶the Maker of heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them. He remains faithful forever.

³Let the house of Aaron say, “His loving devotion endures forever.”

¹“Next, have your brother Aaron brought to you from among the Israelites, along with his sons Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar, to serve Me as priests.

⁵Then he said to Korah and all his followers, “Tomorrow morning the Lord will reveal who belongs to Him and who is holy, and He will bring that person near to Himself. The one He chooses He will bring near to Himself.

⁷But only you and your sons shall attend to your priesthood for everything concerning the altar and what is inside the veil, and you are to perform that service. I am giving you the work of the priesthood as a gift, but any outsider who comes near the sanctuary must be put to death.”

⁴⁰just as the Lord commanded him through Moses. This was to be a reminder to the Israelites that no outsider who is not a descendant of Aaron should approach to offer incense before the Lord, lest he become like Korah and his followers.

²⁶He who fears the Lord is secure in confidence, and his children shall have a place of refuge.

³⁵but welcomes those from every nation who fear Him and do what is right.

¹¹The Lord is pleased with those who fear Him, who hope in His loving devotion.

⁵Every word of God is flawless; He is a shield to those who take refuge in Him.

¹¹For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His loving devotion for those who fear Him.

⁵Then a voice came from the throne, saying: “Praise our God, all you who serve Him, and those who fear Him, small and great alike!”

³Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms.

²³He remembered us in our low estate His loving devotion endures forever.

²¹Remember these things, O Jacob, for you are My servant, O Israel. I have made you, and you are My servant; O Israel, I will never forget you.

²I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.

³I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you; and all the families of the earth will be blessed through you.”

¹⁴But Zion said, “The Lord has forsaken me; the Lord has forgotten me!”

¹⁵“Can a woman forget her nursing child, or lack compassion for the son of her womb? Even if she could forget, I will not forget you!

⁷Remember not the sins of my youth, nor my rebellious acts; remember me according to Your loving devotion, because of Your goodness, O Lord.

¹Hallelujah! Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who greatly delights in His commandments.

⁵⁰His mercy extends to those who fear Him, from generation to generation.

¹A song of ascents. Blessed are all who fear the Lord, who walk in His ways!

⁵Then a voice came from the throne, saying: “Praise our God, all you who serve Him, and those who fear Him, small and great alike!”

¹¹The Lord gives His people strength; the Lord blesses His people with peace.

⁴In this way indeed shall blessing come to the man who fears the Lord.

⁵May the Lord bless you from Zion, that you may see the prosperity of Jerusalem all the days of your life,

¹¹May the Lord, the God of your fathers, increase you a thousand times over and bless you as He has promised.

³⁹This promise belongs to you and your children and to all who are far off—to all whom the Lord our God will call to Himself.”

²⁵And you are sons of the prophets and of the covenant God made with your fathers when He said to Abraham, ‘Through your offspring all the families of the earth will be blessed.’

²²As the hosts of heaven cannot be counted and as the sand on the seashore cannot be measured, so too will I multiply the descendants of My servant David and the Levites who minister before Me.”

⁷I will establish My covenant as an everlasting covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you.

³But Joab replied to the king, “May the Lord your God multiply the troops a hundred times over, and may the eyes of my lord the king see it. But why does my lord the king want to do such a thing?”

³May the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth, bless you from Zion.

⁷And he said in a loud voice, “Fear God and give Him glory, because the hour of His judgment has come. Worship the One who made the heavens and the earth and the sea and the springs of waters.”

¹⁹and he blessed Abram and said: “Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth,

¹In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

²My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.

⁵For all the gods of the nations are idols, but it is the Lord who made the heavens.

⁶You made him ruler of the works of Your hands; You have placed everything under his feet:

¹¹The heavens are Yours, and also the earth. The earth and its fullness You founded.

²⁸God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and every creature that crawls upon the earth.”

²⁹Then God said, “Behold, I have given you every seed-bearing plant on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit contains seed. They will be yours for food.

⁵By My great power and outstretched arm, I made the earth and the men and beasts on the face of it, and I give it to whom I please.

⁶So now I have placed all these lands under the authority of My servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. I have even made the beasts of the field subject to him.

¹And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.

²The fear and dread of you will fall on every living creature on the earth, every bird of the air, every creature that crawls on the ground, and all the fish of the sea. They are delivered into your hand.

⁸When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, when He divided the sons of man, He set the boundaries of the peoples according to the number of the sons of God.

⁵For there is no mention of You in death; who can praise You from Sheol?

¹⁸For Sheol cannot thank You; Death cannot praise You. Those who descend to the Pit cannot hope for Your faithfulness.

¹⁹The living, only the living, can thank You, as I do today; fathers will tell their children about Your faithfulness.

¹⁰Do You work wonders for the dead? Do departed spirits rise up to praise You? Selah

¹¹Can Your loving devotion be proclaimed in the grave, Your faithfulness in Abaddon?

⁹“What gain is there in my bloodshed, in my descent to the Pit? Will the dust praise You? Will it proclaim Your faithfulness?

¹⁷O Lord, let me not be ashamed, for I have called on You. Let the wicked be put to shame; let them lie silent in Sheol.

⁹He guards the steps of His faithful ones, but the wicked perish in darkness; for by his own strength shall no man prevail.

²Blessed be the name of the Lord both now and forevermore.

²⁰and declared: “Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, for wisdom and power belong to Him.

²¹My mouth will declare the praise of the Lord; let every creature bless His holy name forever and ever.

¹³And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying: “To Him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power forever and ever!”

²Every day I will bless You, and I will praise Your name forever and ever.

¹⁷I will not die, but I will live and proclaim what the Lord has done.

¹⁸The Lord disciplined me severely, but He has not given me over to death.