Psalm 33—At his word, the heavens shook and the whole star-raftered cathedral sang his breath back to him.

"Thread a slender stripe of praise through your needle heart and stab it into heaven."

Rendition of Psalm 33

Shout if you can shout for joy.
Raise a ragged banner of praise upright.
If you can’t raise your head,
Kneel, even beat your breast
And make your throat a keening reed
That whistles when the wind blows.
If there are only empty hands 
In your soul’s pockets,
Raise them up and clap.
God is near and hears,
So thread a slender stripe of praise
Through your needle heart
And stab it into heaven. 

Every word of God’s 
will rise upright and ring.
He never bends nor breaks faith.
The whole earth hums
With his steadfast love like a struck bell.
At his word, the heavens shook
And the whole star-raftered cathedral 
Sang his breath back to him.
He tucks even the deep
Into boxes and marks out 
the storehouses of the wild water. 
Raise up your hope to him in awe.
When he spoke, it was.
When he lifted his hands,
Everything rose.

But the Lord topples every spinning plan,
And holds back every scheme set against him.
Yet his unresting, unhasting love
Hounds you down of its own accord,
Moves in measure like a dancer,
Rouses the broken earth so dead 
Bones rattle and stand.

The Lord sees the whole sweep
Of earth from his throne,
And molds hearts like clay.
No king nor kingdom can raise 
And rally enough strength
To save itself alone. 

But the Lord watches those
Who look to him, wait for him. 
He is an anchorhold, a shield.
He returns hope for hope,
Shakes a glad song down over them,
Sends his raven love 
With bits of bread.

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Psalms: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 31, 32, 34, 35, 36, 38, 39, 40, 42, 43, 46, 50, 51, 53, 54, 62, 63, 65, 66, 73, 74, 75, 84, 86, 88, 90, 91, 100, 107, 110, 114, 117, 118, 119, 120, 121, 122, 123, 124, 125, 126, 127, 128, 129, 130, 131, 132, 133, 134, 137, 139, 140, 142, 147, 148.

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