Bless the Lord, O My Soul
Of David.
1 yBless the Lord, O my soul,
and all that is within me,
bless his holy name!
2 yBless the Lord, O my soul,
and zforget not all his benefits,
3 who aforgives all your iniquity,
who bheals all your diseases,
4 who credeems your life from the pit,
who dcrowns you with steadfast love and mercy,
5 who esatisfies you with good
so that your youth is renewed like fthe eagle’s.
6 The Lord works grighteousness
and justice for all who are oppressed.
7 He made known his hways to Moses,
his iacts to the people of Israel.
8 The Lord is jmerciful and gracious,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
9 kHe will not always chide,
nor will he lkeep his anger forever.
10 He does not deal with us maccording to our sins,
nor repay us according to our iniquities.
11 For nas high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is his osteadfast love toward pthose who fear him;
12 as far as the east is from the west,
so far does he qremove our transgressions from us.
13 As ra father shows compassion to his children,
so the Lord shows compassion pto those who fear him.
14 For he knows our frame;1
he sremembers that we are dust.
15 As for man, his days are like tgrass;
he flourishes like ua flower of the field;
16 for vthe wind passes over it, and wit is gone,
and xits place knows it no more.
17 But ythe steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on pthose who fear him,
and his righteousness to zchildren’s children,
18 to those who akeep his covenant
and bremember to do his commandments.
19 The Lord has cestablished his throne in the heavens,
and his dkingdom rules over all.
20 Bless the Lord, O you ehis angels,
you fmighty ones who gdo his word,
obeying the voice of his word!
21 Bless the Lord, all his hhosts,
his iministers, who do his will!
22 jBless the Lord, all his works,
in all places of his dominion.
kBless the Lord, O my soul!
Jonah’s Anger and the Lord’s Compassion
1 But it displeased Jonah exceedingly,1 and yhe was angry. 2 And he prayed to the Lord and said, “O Lord, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? zThat is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a agracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and arelenting from disaster. 3 bTherefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, cfor it is better for me to die than to live.” 4 And the Lord said, d“Do you do well to be angry?”
5 Jonah went out of the city and sat to the east of the city and emade a booth for himself there. He sat under it in the shade, till he should see what would become of the city. 6 Now the Lord God appointed a plant2 and made it come up over Jonah, that it might be a shade over his head, to save him from his discomfort.3 So Jonah was exceedingly glad because of the plant. 7 But when dawn came up the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the plant, so that it withered. 8 When the sun rose, God appointed a scorching feast wind, gand the sun beat down on the head of Jonah so that he hwas faint. And he asked that he might die and said, c“It is better for me to die than to live.” 9 But God said to Jonah, i“Do you do well to be angry for the plant?” And he said, “Yes, I do well to be angry, angry enough to die.” 10 And the Lord said, “You pity the plant, for which you did not labor, nor did you make it grow, which came into being in a night and perished in a night. 11 And should not I pity jNineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much kcattle?”
