The heavens are telling the glory of God; they are a marvelous display of his craftsmanship. Day and night they keep on telling about God. Without a sound or word, silent in the skies, their message reaches out to all the world. The sun lives in the heavens where God placed it and moves out across the skies as radiant as a bridegroom going to his wedding, or as joyous as an athlete looking forward to a race! The sun crosses the heavens from end to end, and nothing can hide from its heat.

I bless the Lord: O Lord my God, how great you are! You are robed with honor and with majesty and light! You stretched out the starry curtain of the heavens, and hollowed out the surface of the earth to form the seas. The clouds are his chariots. He rides upon the wings of the wind. The angels are his messengers—his servants of fire!

He bound the world together so that it would never fall apart. He clothed the earth with floods of waters covering up the mountains. He spoke, and at the sound of his shout the water collected into its vast ocean beds, and mountains rose and valleys sank to the levels you decreed. And then He set a boundary for the seas so that they would never again cover the earth.

O Lord our God, the majesty and glory of your name fills all the earth and overflows the heavens. You have taught the little children to praise you perfectly. May their example shame and silence your enemies!

When I look up into the night skies and see the work of your fingers—the moon and the stars you have made—I cannot understand how you can bother with mere puny man, to pay any attention to him!

And yet you have made him only a little lower than the angels and placed a crown of glory and honor upon his head.

You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit them together in my mother’s womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! It is amazing to think about. Your workmanship is marvelous—and how well I know it.

My strength evaporated like water on a sunny day until I finally admitted all my sins to you and stopped trying to hide them. I said to myself, "I will confess them to the Lord." And you forgave me! All my guilt is gone.

The Lord is close to those whose hearts are breaking; he rescues those who are humbly sorry for their sins. The good man does not escape all troubles—he has them too. But the Lord helps him in each and every one.

I have been young and now I am old. And in all my years I have never seen the Lord forsake a man who loves him; nor have I seen the children of the godly go hungry.

He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.

Protect me as you would the pupil of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings as you hover over me.

For you are my refuge, a high tower where my enemies can never reach me. I shall live forever in your tabernacle; oh, to be safe beneath the shelter of your wings! I lie awake at night thinking of you—of how much you have helped me—and how I rejoice through the night beneath the protecting shadow of your wings. He will shield you with his wings! They will shelter you. His faithful promises are your armor. The clouds are his chariots. He rides upon the wings of the wind. The angels are his messengers—his servants of fire!