Psalm 38

Rejoice, you cedars of Lebanon, and cypress, juniper, and every evergreen;
~~delight, you every-season growing trees:

For you lift fragrance from a rocky cliff,
~~and you send incense from a sandy ancient land.

You stretch your sleeves beyond the magi;
~~you raise your shadow over Solomon.

You ever form a warm light, herbed bowl, and shelter;
~~you sing an everlasting green-winged song of healing.

Be glad the Lord has written your wonders in His book:
~~be ever happy He has made your virtues like His word.

Psalm 37

Who will see the judgment day?
~~Who will see the foretold judgment day when trumpet blasts wake the dead, and blind behold the signs of world’s end?

What man will count the day of reckoning?
~~What man will count the gathering and reckoning where will appear above all understanding a second coming?

How will man bear retribution on the day of glory?
~~How will man bear untold retribution; how, if not for resurrection, on the day of the “Glory of God”*?

*Baha’u’llah (1817-1892)

Psalm 36

As the yielding snow softens the land of spring, O Lord,
~~So let the stream of Your Word warm the heart’s ground.

Psalm 35 (Psalm for a Planet, Part 1)

I will sing my days on earth in praise of peace;
~~I will sing my days in praise of peace on earth and nations voicing harmony.

Man glorifies himself in war,
~~But the Glory of God* is in peace.

In place of Armageddon, He has placed the laws of heaven,
~~For there was peace in His presence, and in His presence, peace was there.

His signs endure and plan for peace, divine and pure, already here:
~~And I will sing; yes, I will surely sing.

*Baha’u’llah (1817-1892)

Psalm 34

Your Word, O Lord, is a living water spring: I grow from it;
~~Your Word, O Lord, is a running river stream: I grow toward it.

Yet Your Word is a mighty force,
~~And my dread is a forceful fright.

You rend the land: Your rapids carve a canyon;
~~You lift the tide: Your vapors hide a secret.

Bend me to Your Word, O Lord, though it be a flood;
~~Though it shift my stand, O Lord, bend me to Your Word.