Psalms 147
1 Give praise to the Lord; for it is good to make melody to our God; praise is pleasing and beautiful.
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 The Lord is building up Jerusalem; he makes all the outlaws of Israel come together.
[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 makes the broken-hearted well, and puts oil on their wounds.
He enables those who were very discouraged to be encouraged again; [it is as though] they have wounds and he bandages them.
4 He sees the number of the stars; he gives them all their names.
He has determined how many stars there will be, and he gives names to all of them.
5 Great is our Lord, and great his power; there is no limit to his wisdom.
Yahweh is great and very powerful, and no one can measure how much he understands.
6 The Lord gives help to the poor in spirit; but he sends sinners down in shame.
Yahweh lifts up those who have been oppressed, and he throws the wicked down to the ground.
7 Make songs of praise to the Lord; make melody to our God with instruments of music.
Thank Yahweh while you are singing to him to praise him; on the harps, play music to our God.
8 By his hand the heaven is covered with clouds and rain is stored up for the earth; he makes the grass tall on the mountains.
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 food to every beast, and to the young ravens in answer to their cry.
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 has no delight in the strength of a horse; he takes no pleasure in the legs of a man.
He is not pleased with strong horses or with men who can run [MTY] fast.
11 The Lord takes pleasure in his worshippers, and in those whose hope is in his mercy.
Instead, what pleases him are those who revere him, those who confidently expect him to continue to faithfully love them.
12 Give praise to the Lord, O Jerusalem; give praise to your God, O Zion.
[You people of] [APO] Jerusalem, praise Yahweh! Praise your God!
13 He has made strong the iron bands of your doors; he has sent blessings on your children inside your walls.
He [guards your city] by keeping its gates strong. He blesses the people who live there.
14 He gives peace in all your land, making your stores full of fat grain.
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 out his orders to the earth; his word goes out quickly.
He commands what he wants to be done on the earth, and his words quickly come to the place to which he sends them.
16 He gives snow like wool; he sends out ice-drops like dust.
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 down ice like raindrops: water is made hard by his cold.
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 At the outgoing of his word, the ice is turned to water; when he sends out his wind, there is a flowing of waters.
[But] he commands the wind to blow, and it blows. [Then the hail] melts and [the water] flows [into the streams].
19 He makes his word clear to Jacob, teaching Israel his laws and his decisions.
He sent his message to [the descendants of] Jacob; [he tells to his] Israeli people the laws and regulations that he had decreed.
20 He has not done these things for any other nation: and as for his laws, they have no knowledge of them. Let the Lord be praised.
He has not done that for any other nation; the other nations do not know his laws. Praise Yahweh!
