For small groups · 10 questions
Psalm 103 Bible study questions
David tells himself to bless the Lord and not forget what God has done: forgiving, healing, redeeming, and showing love as high as the heavens.
Read the chapter aloud first. Then take the questions in order: what it says, what it means, what to do. About 45 minutes. Skip any question that doesn’t fit your group.
Start here
- What is something good from this past year you almost forgot?
Look: what does it say?
- List the benefits David says not to forget.Psalm 103:2-5
- How far does God remove our sins from us?Psalm 103:11-12
- How does the psalm describe human life, and God’s love, in contrast?Psalm 103:15-17
Understand: what does it mean?
- David talks to his own soul. Why might a person need to do that?Psalm 103:1-2
- God does not deal with us as our sins deserve. What does that say about him?Psalm 103:10
- God remembers that we are dust. Why is that a comfort and not an insult?Psalm 103:13-14
Live it: what will we do?
- Which benefit in verses 3 to 5 have you seen in your own life?Psalm 103:3-5
- What sin do you keep picking back up that God has already removed?Psalm 103:12
- What would help you not forget what God has done? A journal, a habit, telling someone?Psalm 103:2
Close in prayer
Go around and each name one thing God has done, then read verses 1 and 2 together.
Psalm 103
Lumin Translation. It prints after the questions, so the group has the words in front of them.
Of David.
1 Bless Yahweh, my soul, and everything inside me, bless his holy name.
2 Bless Yahweh, my soul, and forget none of his benefits:
3 he pardons all your iniquity and heals all your sicknesses;
4 he redeems your life from the pit and sets steadfast love and compassion on you as a crown;
5 he fills your longing with good things, and like the eagle, your youth is made new.
6 Yahweh does what is right and brings justice for all the oppressed.
7 He showed Moses his ways, and the people of Israel his deeds.
8 Yahweh is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
9 He will not keep on contending forever, nor will he hold on to his anger for all time.
10 He has not done to us what our sins deserve or paid us back in keeping with our iniquities.
11 For as the heavens are high above the earth, so his steadfast love is mighty over those who fear him.
12 As far as the east is from the west, that is how far he has put our transgressions away from us.
13 As a father feels compassion for his children, Yahweh feels compassion for those who fear him.
14 For he knows the way we are shaped; he keeps in mind that we are dust.
15 The days of mortals are like grass; like a flower of the field, so they bloom.
16 A wind blows over it and it is no more; its place will not recognize it again.
17 But from everlasting to everlasting the steadfast love of Yahweh rests on those who fear him, and his righteousness extends to their children’s children,
18 to those who keep his covenant and who remember his precepts so as to do them.
19 Yahweh has set his throne firmly in the heavens, and his kingdom holds sway over all.
20 Bless Yahweh, you his angels, mighty in strength, who carry out his word and heed the voice of his word.
21 Bless Yahweh, all his armies, his attendants who do what pleases him.
22 Bless Yahweh, all that he has made, in every place where he rules. Bless Yahweh, my soul.
Lumin’s own translation, drafted with AI from the Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek, checked verse by verse against them, and approved by Lumin. Brackets mark verses not found in the earliest manuscripts.