Why read Psalm 103?
Read Psalm 103 to praise God for creation and give thanks for life. Its descriptions of light, water, living creatures and nature's rhythms encourage wonder and care for the created world.
You can read this psalm when its themes speak to your circumstances, or as part of your regular reading of the Psalter. This explanation draws on the text itself; the psalm is not reserved for one particular need.
Psalm 103 opens the heart with the call “Bless the Lord, my soul!...”. It is one of the 36-verse psalms in Kathisma 14 and is recited both in church services and in prayer at home — the Psalter being the Orthodox Christian’s essential book.
Text of Psalm 103
1. Bless the Lord, my soul! Lord my God, You have been greatly magnified.
2. You have clothed Yourself in brightness and great splendor; You who clothe Yourself with light as with a garment;
3. You who stretch out heaven like a tent; You who cover its uppermost parts with waters;
4. You who make the clouds Your ascent; You who walk upon the wings of the winds;
5. You who make Your angels spirits and Your servants a flame of fire;
6. You who founded the earth upon its firm support, and it will not be shaken forever and ever.
7. The deep is its covering like a garment; waters will stand above the mountains.
8. At Your rebuke they will flee; at the voice of Your thunder they will be afraid.
9. Mountains rise and valleys descend to the place where You founded them.
10. You set a boundary they will not cross, nor will they return to cover the earth.
11. You who send springs into the valleys; waters will pass between the mountains;
12. All the beasts of the field will drink; the wild donkeys will quench their thirst.
13. Above them the birds of heaven will dwell; from among the rocks they will utter their voices.
14. You who water the mountains from Your uppermost heights; the earth will be satisfied with the fruit of Your works.
15. You who make grass grow for the beasts and greenery for the service of people;
16. That they may bring bread out of the earth, and wine gladdens the heart of man;
17. That oil may gladden the face, and bread strengthens the heart of man.
18. The trees of the field will be satisfied, the cedars of Lebanon that You planted; there the birds will make their nests.
19. The stork's dwelling is in cypresses. The high mountains are a shelter for deer; the rocks a refuge for hares.
20. You made the moon for the appointed times; the sun knew its setting.
21. You set darkness, and it became night, when all the beasts of the forest will come out;
22. The young lions roar to seize prey and to ask God for their food.
23. The sun rose, and they gathered together, and they will lie down in their lairs.
24. Man will go out to his work and to his labor until evening.
25. How great Your works have become, Lord; You made them all with wisdom! The earth has been filled with Your creation.
26. This sea is great and wide; there are creeping things without number, small and great creatures.
27. There the ships go; this dragon You created to play in it.
28. All wait upon You, that You may give them food at the proper time.
29. When You give to them, they will gather; when You open Your hand, all will be filled with good things;
30. But when You turn Your face away, they will be troubled; You will take their spirit, and they will come to an end and return to dust.
31. You will send Your spirit, and they will be created, and You will renew the face of the earth.
32. May the glory of the Lord be forever! The Lord will rejoice in His works.
33. He who looks toward the earth and makes it tremble; He who touches the mountains, and they smoke.
34. I will sing to the Lord throughout my life; I will sing to my God as long as I exist.
35. May my words be pleasing to Him, and I will rejoice in the Lord.
36. Let sinners perish from the earth, and the lawless, that they may be no more. Bless the Lord, my soul.
When Psalm 103 is read
- the psalm of creation — it opens Vespers.
- At the end of each psalm, the tradition adds: "Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, both now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen."
Neighboring psalms
Read also
The numbering follows the Orthodox Psalter (Septuagint). The same psalm may have a different number in other Bible editions.
