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Psalms 103
1Praise the LORD, my soul! All that is within me, praise his holy name!
2Praise the LORD, my soul, and don’t forget all his benefits,
3who forgives all your sins, who heals all your diseases,
4who redeems your life from destruction, who crowns you with loving kindness and tender mercies,
5who satisfies your with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
6The LORD executes acts, and justice for all who are oppressed.
7He made known his ways to Moses, his deeds to the children of Israel.
8The LORD is merciful and , slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness.
9He will not always accuse; neither will he stay angry forever.
10He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor repaid us for our iniquities.
11For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is his loving kindness toward those who fear him.
12As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
13Like a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him.
14For he knows how we are made. He remembers that we are dust.
15As for man, his days are like grass. As a flower of the field, so he flourishes.
16For the wind passes over it, and it is gone. Its place remembers it no more.
17But the LORD’s loving kindness is from to everlasting with those who fear him, his to children’s children,
18to those who keep his , to those who remember to obey his precepts.
19The LORD has established his in the heavens. rules over all.
20Praise the LORD, you angels of his, who are mighty in strength, who fulfill his word, obeying the voice of his word.
21Praise the LORD, all you armies of his, you servants of his, who do his pleasure.
22Praise the LORD, all you works of his, in all places of his dominion. Praise the LORD, my soul!
Slow reading
Read Psalms 103 three times
Guided passes through short verse groups: read it whole, watch the words, then pray it back. Phrases to stop on along the way, with deeper explanation held back until you have read the verses yourself.
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What this chapter is saying
What is Psalm 103 about?
Read the opening five verses before any explanation, and notice that the psalm begins by speaking to itself rather than to God or to a congregation.
1Praise the LORD, my soul! All that is within me, praise his holy name!
2Praise the LORD, my soul, and don’t forget all his benefits,
3who forgives all your sins, who heals all your diseases,
4who redeems your life from destruction, who crowns you with loving kindness and tender mercies,
5who satisfies your desire with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
- Written by
- David, according to the psalm's own heading
- Written to
- himself first, then the whole household of God and finally the angels, verses 20 to 22
- Why
- not stated; the psalm gives no event, only a call to remember
The psalm opens with a command addressed inward: Praise Yahweh, my soul. Then comes the reason for the command in verse 2, don’t forget all his benefits, which tells us what the writer is fighting. This is a psalm against forgetfulness.
Verses 3 to 5 list the benefits as a series of who clauses: who forgives, who heals, who redeems, who crowns, who satisfies. Forgiveness comes first, before healing and before renewal, and the order is worth noticing.
From verse 8 the psalm turns to God's character: merciful and , slow to anger, abundant in loving kindness. Verses 10 to 12 say he has not dealt with us according to our sins, and measure the removal of transgressions by the distance from east to west, a distance with no end.
Verses 13 and 14 give the tenderest reason in the psalm: like a father has compassion on his children, so Yahweh has compassion on those who fear him, for he knows how we are made, he remembers that we are dust. God's compassion is grounded in his knowledge of our frailty.
Verses 15 to 18 set our short life beside his loving kindness, and the psalm ends by widening the call to praise from one soul to angels, to all his hosts and all his works, and then back again to my soul in verse 22.
What the chapter does not tell us
The psalm does not promise that every disease is healed in this life, and it does not name a situation behind it. Verses 15 and 16 say plainly that our days are like grass, which is why verse 3 must be read alongside them rather than as a guarantee.