Psalm 103 T.S.
Words: Sternhold and Hopkins, The Whole Book of Psalms Collected into English Metre
1 My soul, give praise unto the Lord,
my spirit, do the same;
And all the secrets of my heart,
praise ye his holy Name:
2 Praise thou the Lord, my soul, who hath
to thee been very kind;
And suffer not his benefits
to slip out of thy mind:
3 That gave thee pardon for thy faults,
and thee restored again
From all thy weak and frail disease,
and healed thee of thy pain;
4 That did redeem thy life from death,
from which thou could'st not flee,
His mercy and compassion both
he did extend to thee;
5 That filled with goodness thy desire,
and did thy youth prolong,
Like as the eagle casts her bill,
again becoming young.
6 The Lord with justice, doth repay
all such as are oppressed
So that their sufferings and wrongs
Are turnèd to the best.
7 His ways and his commandments all
to Moses he did show,
His counsels and his valiant acts
the Israelites did know.
8 The Lord is kind and merciful,
when sinners do him grieve,
The slowest to conceive a wrath,
and readiest to forgive:
9 He will not always chiding be,
though we be full of strife;
Nor keep our faults in memory,
for all our sinful life.
10 According to our sins also
he doth us not regard,
And after our iniquities
he doth us not reward:
11 But as the space is wondrous great
'twixt earth and heav'n above;
So is his goodness much more large
to them that do him love.
12 He doth remove our sins from us,
and our offences all,
As far as the sun-rising is
full distant from his fall.
The Second Part.
13 Behold, what pity parents do
unto their children bear,
Like pity beareth God to such
as worship him in fear.
14 The Lord that made us knows our shape,
our mould and fashion just,
How weak and frail our nature is,
and that we are but dust:
15 And now the time of mortal men
is like the with'ring hay,
Or like the flow'r right fair in field,
that fadeth soon away;
16 Whose gloss and beauty stormy winds
do utterly deface,
And make that after their assaults
such blossoms have no place.
17 But yet the goodness of the Lord
with his shall ever stand;
Their children's children do receive
his righteousness at hand:
18 I mean who keep his covenant
with all their whole desire,
And not forget to do the thing
that he doth them require.
19 The heav'ns most high are made the seat
and footstool of the Lord;
And by his pow'r imperial
he governs all the world.
20 Ye angels that are great in pow'r,
praise ye, and bless the Lord,
Who to obey and do his will
immediately accord.
21 Ye noble hosts and ministers,
cease not to praise him still,
Who ready are to execute
his pleasure and his will:
22 Yea, all his works in ev'ry place,
praise ye his holy Name;
My thankful heart, my mind and soul,
praise ye also the same.
