147
1 Praise Yahweh!
It is good to sing to praise our God.
It is a delightful thing to do and the right thing to do.
2 Jerusalem was destroyed, but Yahweh is enabling us to build Jerusalem again.
He is bringing back the people who were taken to Babylonia.
3 He enables those who were very discouraged to be encouraged again;
it is as though they have wounds and he bandages them.
4 He has determined how many stars there will be,
and gives names to all of them.
5 Yahweh is great and very powerful,
and no one can measure how much he understands.
6 Yahweh lifts up those who have been oppressed,
and he throws the wicked down to the ground.
7 Thank Yahweh while you are singing to him to praise him;
on the harps, play music to our God.
8 He covers the sky with clouds,
and then he sends rain to the earth
and causes grass to grow on the hills.
9 He gives to animals the food that they need,
and gives food to young crows/birds when they cry out because they are hungry.
10 He is not pleased with strong horses
or with men who can run [MTY] fast.
11 Instead, what pleases him are those who have an awesome respect for him,
those who confidently expect him to continue to faithfully love them.
12 You people of [APO] Jerusalem, praise Yahweh!
Praise your God!
13 He guards your city by keeping its gates strong.
He blesses the people who live there.
14 He protects the borders of your country, so that enemies from other countries cannot attack you.
He gives you plenty of very good wheat/grain to eat.
15 He ◄sends his commands down/commands what he wants to be done► on the earth,
and his words quickly reach the place to which he sends them.
16 He sends snow which covers the ground like a white wool blanket [SIM],
and he scatters frost on the ground like wind scatters ashes [SIM].
17 He sends hail down like ◄pebbles/tiny stones►;
when that happens, ◄it is very difficult to endure because the air becomes very cold./who can endure because the air becomes very cold?► [RHQ]
18 But he commands the wind to blow and it blows.
Then the hail melts and the water flows into the streams.
19 He sends his message to the descendants of Jacob;
he tells to his Israeli people the things that he has decreed and what he has decided.
20 He has not done that for any other nation;
the other nations do not know his laws.
Praise Yahweh!
Note: The Old Testament in this translation is still being worked on, and is in draft form. Updates will be posted at eBible.org/t4t/.