Lord my God, you are very great;
you are clothed with splendor and majesty.

² The Lord wraps himself in light as with a garment;
he stretches out the heavens like a tent
³  and lays the beams of his upper chambers on their waters.
He makes the clouds his chariot
and rides on the wings of the wind.
⁴ He makes winds his messengers,^[a]
flames of fire his servants.

⁵ He set the earth on its foundations;
it can never be moved.
⁶ You covered it with the watery depths as with a garment;
the waters stood above the mountains.
⁷ But at your rebuke the waters fled,
at the sound of your thunder they took to flight;
⁸ they flowed over the mountains,
they went down into the valleys,
to the place you assigned for them.
⁹ You set a boundary they cannot cross;
never again will they cover the earth.

¹⁰ He makes springs pour water into the ravines;
it flows between the mountains.
¹¹ They give water to all the beasts of the field;
the wild donkeys quench their thirst.
¹² The birds of the sky nest by the waters;
they sing among the branches.
¹³ He waters the mountains from his upper chambers;
the land is satisfied by the fruit of his work.
¹⁴ He makes grass grow for the cattle,
and plants for people to cultivate−
bringing forth food from the earth:
¹⁵ wine that gladdens human hearts,
oil to make their faces shine,
and bread that sustains their hearts.
¹⁶ The trees of the Lord are well watered,
the cedars of Lebanon that he planted.
¹⁷ There the birds make their nests;
the stork has its home in the junipers.
¹⁸ The high mountains belong to the wild goats;
the crags are a refuge for the hyrax.

¹⁹ He made the moon to mark the seasons,
and the sun knows when to go down.
²⁰ You bring darkness, it becomes night,
and all the beasts of the forest prowl.
²¹ The lions roar for their prey
and seek their food from God.
²² The sun rises, and they steal away;
they return and lie down in their dens.
²³ Then people go out to their work,
to their labor until evening.

²⁴ How many are your works, Lord!
In wisdom you made them all;
the earth is full of your creatures.
²⁵ There is the sea, vast and spacious,
teeming with creatures beyond number−
living things both large and small.
²⁶ There the ships go to and fro,
and Leviathan, which you formed to frolic there.

²⁷ All creatures look to you
to give them their food at the proper time.
²⁸ When you give it to them,
they gather it up;
when you open your hand,
they are satisfied with good things.
²⁹ When you hide your face,
they are terrified;
when you take away their breath,
they die and return to the dust.
³⁰ When you send your Spirit,
they are created,
and you renew the face of the ground.

³¹ May the glory of the Lord endure forever;
may the Lord rejoice in his works−
³² he who looks at the earth, and it trembles,
who touches the mountains, and they smoke.

³³ I will sing to the Lord all my life;
I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.
³⁴ May my meditation be pleasing to him,
as I rejoice in the Lord.
³⁵ But may sinners vanish from the earth
and the wicked be no more.

Praise the Lord, my soul.

Praise the Lord.^[b]

This man’s utterance to Ithiel:

"I am weary, God,
but I can prevail.^[a]
2 Surely I am only a brute, not a man;
I do not have human understanding.
³ I have not learned wisdom,
nor have I attained to the knowledge of the Holy One.
⁴ Who has gone up to heaven and come down?
Whose hands have gathered up the wind?
Who has wrapped up the waters in a cloak?
Who has established all the ends of the earth?
What is his name, and what is the name of his son?
Surely you know!

⁵ "Every word of God is flawless;
he is a shield to those who take refuge in him.
⁶ Do not add to his words,
or he will rebuke you and prove you a liar.

⁷ "Two things I ask of you, Lord;
do not refuse me before I die:
⁸ Keep falsehood and lies far from me;
give me neither poverty nor riches,
but give me only my daily bread.
⁹ Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you
and say, ’Who is the Lord?’
Or I may become poor and steal,
and so dishonor the name of my God.

¹⁰ "Do not slander a servant to their master,
or they will curse you, and you will pay for it.

¹¹ "There are those who curse their fathers
and do not bless their mothers;
¹² those who are pure in their own eyes
and yet are not cleansed of their filth;
¹³ those whose eyes are ever so haughty,
whose glances are so disdainful;
¹⁴ those whose teeth are swords
and whose jaws are set with knives
to devour the poor from the earth
and the needy from among mankind.

¹⁵ "The leech has two daughters.
’Give! Give!’ they cry.

"There are three things that are never satisfied,
four that never say, ’Enough!’:
¹⁶ the grave, the barren womb,
land, which is never satisfied with water,
and fire, which never says, ’Enough!’

¹⁷ "The eye that mocks a father,
that scorns an aged mother,
will be pecked out by the ravens of the valley,
will be eaten by the vultures.

¹⁸ "There are three things that are too amazing for me,
four that I do not understand:
¹⁹ the way of an eagle in the sky,
the way of a snake on a rock,
the way of a ship on the high seas,
and the way of a man with a young woman.

²⁰ "This is the way of an adulterous woman:
She eats and wipes her mouth
and says, ’I’ve done nothing wrong.’

²¹ "Under three things the earth trembles,
under four it cannot bear up:
²² a servant who becomes king,
a godless fool who gets plenty to eat,
²³ a contemptible woman who gets married,
and a servant who displaces her mistress.

²⁴ "Four things on earth are small,
yet they are extremely wise:
²⁵ Ants are creatures of little strength,
yet they store up their food in the summer;
²⁶ hyraxes are creatures of little power,
yet they make their home in the crags;
²⁷ locusts have no king,
yet they advance together in ranks;
²⁸ a lizard can be caught with the hand,
yet it is found in kings’ palaces.

²⁹ "There are three things that are stately in their stride,
four that move with stately bearing:
³⁰ a lion, mighty among beasts,
who retreats before nothing;
³¹ a strutting rooster, a he-goat,
and a king secure against revolt.^[b]

³² "If you play the fool and exalt yourself,
or if you plan evil,
clap your hand over your mouth!
³³ For as churning cream produces butter,
and as twisting the nose produces blood,
so stirring up anger produces strife."

² Listen, my son! Listen, son of my womb!
Listen, my son, the answer to my prayers!
³ Do not spend your strength^[c] on women,
your vigor on those who ruin kings.

⁴ It is not for kings, Lemuel−
it is not for kings to drink wine,
not for rulers to crave beer,
⁵ lest they drink and forget what has been decreed,
and deprive all the oppressed of their rights.
⁶ Let beer be for those who are perishing,
wine for those who are in anguish!
⁷ Let them drink and forget their poverty
and remember their misery no more.

⁸ Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves,
for the rights of all who are destitute.
⁹ Speak up and judge fairly;
defend the rights of the poor and needy.