Psalm 103: Bless the LORD, O My Soul

"Bless the LORD, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits: who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases; who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies; who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle's."

"He made known his ways unto Moses, his acts unto the children of Israel. The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy… He hath not dealt with us after our sins… For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us. Like as a father pitieth his children, so the LORD pitieth them that fear him. For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust."

"As for man, his days are as grass: as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth. For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone… But the mercy of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him… Bless the LORD, ye his angels… Bless ye the LORD, all ye his hosts… Bless the LORD, all his works in all places of his dominion: bless the LORD, O my soul."

Mercy measured

Three images measure God's mercy: as high as heaven above earth, as far as east from west, as tender as a father with his children. Each is set against human frailty: "he remembereth that we are dust" (compare Genesis 2:7; 3:19).

Twenty-two verses

Like Psalms 33 and 38, Psalm 103 has 22 verses, the number of letters in the Hebrew alphabet, though it is not an acrostic. It opens and closes with "Bless the LORD, O my soul," a frame repeated in Psalm 104.

Exodus 34 in a psalm

103:8 quotes God's self-description to Moses after the golden calf (Exodus 34:6): "merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy." The same formula appears in Psalms 86:15 and 145:8, Joel 2:13, Jonah 4:2 and Nehemiah 9:17: one of the most quoted confessions in the Hebrew Bible. "Healeth all thy diseases" belongs to the language of thanksgiving and should not be read as a medical promise. The heading is "A Psalm of David" (Vulgate "Ipsi David").

In hymns

Henry Francis Lyte's "Praise, my soul, the King of heaven" (1834) is a paraphrase of Psalm 103, and the opening "Bless the LORD, O my soul" (Barkhi nafshi) gives Psalms 103 and 104 their Hebrew names in Jewish tradition.