O God, with our ears have we heard, our fathers have told us, the work thou wroughtest in their days, in the days of old: Thou, by thy hand, didst dispossess the nations, but them thou didst plant; thou didst afflict the peoples, but them didst thou cause to spread out. For not by their own sword did they take possession of the land, neither did their own arm save them; but thy right hand, and thine arm, and the light of thy countenance, because thou hadst delight in them. Thou thyself art my king, O God: command deliverance for Jacob. Through thee will we push down our adversaries; through thy name will we tread them under that rise up against us. For I will not put confidence in my bow, neither shall my sword save me. For thou hast saved us from our adversaries, and hast put them to shame that hate us. In God will we boast all the day, and we will praise thy name for ever. Selah.

⁹But thou hast cast off, and put us to confusion, and dost not go forth with our armies; ¹⁰Thou hast made us to turn back from the adversary, and they that hate us spoil for themselves; ¹¹Thou hast given us over like sheep appointed for meat, and hast scattered us among the nations; ¹²Thou hast sold thy people for nought, and hast not increased thy wealth by their price; ¹³Thou makest us a reproach to our neighbours, a mockery and a derision for them that are round about us; ¹⁴Thou makest us a byword among the nations, a shaking of the head among the peoples. ¹⁵All the day my confusion is before me, and the shame of my face hath covered me, ¹⁶Because of the voice of him that reproacheth and blasphemeth; by reason of the enemy and the avenger.

¹⁷All this is come upon us; yet have we not forgotten thee, neither have we dealt falsely against thy covenant: ¹⁸Our heart is not turned back, neither have our steps declined from thy path; ¹⁹Though thou hast crushed us in the place of jackals, and covered us with the shadow of death. ²⁰If we had forgotten the name of our God, and stretched out our hands to a strange •god, ²¹Would not God search this out? for he knoweth the secrets of the heart. ²²But for thy sake are we killed all the day long; we are reckoned as sheep for slaughter. ²³Awake, why sleepest thou, Lord? arise, cast us not off for ever. ²⁴Wherefore hidest thou thy face, and forgettest our affliction and our oppression? ²⁵For our soul is bowed down to the dust; our belly cleaveth unto the earth. ²⁶Rise up for our help, and redeem us for thy loving-kindness’ sake.

Psalm 45

To the chief Musician. Upon Shoshannim. Of the sons of Korah. An instruction; —a song of the Beloved.

My heart is welling forth with a good matter: I say what I have composed touching the king. My tongue is the pen of a ready writer. Thou art fairer than the sons of men; grace is poured into thy lips: therefore God hath blessed thee for ever. Gird thy sword upon thy thigh, O mighty one, in thy majesty and thy splendour; And in thy splendour ride prosperously, because of truth and meekness and righteousness: and thy right hand shall teach thee terrible things. Thine arrows are sharp—peoples fall under thee—in the heart of the king’s enemies.

⁶Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever; a sceptre of uprightness is the sceptre of thy kingdom: ⁷Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated wickedness; therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy companions. ⁸Myrrh and aloes, cassia, are all thy garments; out of ivory palaces stringed instruments have made thee glad. ⁹Kings’ daughters are among thine honourable women; upon thy right hand doth stand the queen in gold of Ophir.

¹⁰Hearken, daughter, and see, and incline thine ear; and forget thine own people and thy father’s house: ¹¹And the king will desire thy beauty; for he is thy Lord, and worship thou him. ¹²And the daughter of Tyre with a gift, the rich ones among the people, shall court thy favour. ¹³All glorious is the king’s daughter within; her clothing is of wrought gold: ¹⁴She shall be brought unto the king in raiment of embroidery; the virgins behind her, her companions, shall be brought in unto thee: ¹⁵With joy and gladness shall they be brought; they shall enter into the king’s palace. ¹⁶Instead of thy fathers shall be thy sons; princes shalt thou make them in all the earth. ¹⁷I will make thy name to be remembered throughout all generations; therefore shall the peoples praise thee for ever and ever.

Psalm 46

To the chief Musician. Of the sons of Korah. On Alamoth. A song.

God is our refuge and strength, a help in distresses, very readily found. Therefore will we not fear though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the heart of the seas; Though the waters thereof roar and foam, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah. There is a river the streams whereof make glad the city of God, the sanctuary of the habitations of the Most High. God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved: God shall help her at the dawn of the morning.

⁶The nations raged, the kingdoms were moved; he uttered his voice, the earth melted. ⁷Jehovah of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our high fortress. Selah. ⁸Come, behold the works of Jehovah, what desolations he hath made in the earth: ⁹He hath made wars to cease unto the end of the earth; he breaketh the bow, and cutteth the spear in sunder; he burneth the chariots in the fire. ¹⁰Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth. ¹¹Jehovah of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our high fortress. Selah.

Psalm 47

To the chief Musician. Of the sons of Korah. A Psalm.

All ye peoples, clap your hands; shout unto God with the voice of triumph! For Jehovah, the Most High, is terrible, a great king over all the earth. He subdueth the peoples under us, and the nations under our feet. He hath chosen our inheritance for us, the excellency of Jacob whom he loved. Selah.

⁵God is gone up amid shouting, Jehovah amid the sound of the trumpet. ⁶Sing psalms of God, sing psalms; sing psalms unto our King, sing psalms! ⁷For God is the King of all the earth; sing psalms with understanding. ⁸God reigneth over the nations; God sitteth upon the throne of his holiness. ⁹The willing-hearted of the peoples have gathered together, with the people of the God of Abraham. For unto God belong the shields of the earth: he is greatly exalted.

Psalm 48

A Song; a Psalm. Of the sons of Korah.

Great is Jehovah, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, in the hill of his holiness. Beautiful in elevation, the joy of the whole earth, is mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the great King. God is known in her palaces as a high fortress. For behold, the kings assembled themselves, they passed by together; They saw, —so they marvelled; they were troubled, they fled in consternation: Trembling took hold upon them there; anguish, as of a woman in travail. With an east wind thou hast broken the ships of Tarshish.

⁸As we have heard, so have we seen, in the city of Jehovah of hosts, in the city of our God: God doth establish it for ever. Selah. ⁹We have thought, O God, of thy loving-kindness, in the midst of thy temple. ¹⁰According to thy name, O God, so is thy praise unto the ends of the earth: thy right hand is full of righteousness. ¹¹Let mount Zion rejoice, let the daughters of Judah be glad, because of thy judgments. ¹²Walk about Zion, and go round about her: count the towers thereof; ¹³Mark ye well her bulwarks, consider her palaces: that ye may tell it to the generation following. ¹⁴For this God is our God for ever and ever; he will be our guide until death.

Psalm 49

To the chief Musician. Of the sons of Korah. A Psalm.

Hear this, all ye peoples; give ear, all inhabitants of the world: Both men of low and men of high degree, rich and poor alike. My mouth shall speak wisdom, and the meditation of my heart shall be of understanding: I will incline mine ear to a parable, I will open my riddle upon the harp. Wherefore should I fear in the days of adversity, when the iniquity of my supplanters encompasseth me? —

⁶They depend upon their wealth, and boast themselves in the abundance of their riches. … ⁷None can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him, ⁸(For the redemption of their soul is costly, and must be given up for ever,) ⁹That he should still live perpetually, and not see corruption. ¹⁰For he seeth that wise men die; all alike, the fool and the brutish perish, and they leave their wealth to others. ¹¹Their inward thought is, that their houses are for ever, their dwelling-places from generation to generation: they call the lands after their own names. ¹²Nevertheless, man being in honour abideth not: he is like the beasts that perish. ¹³This their way is their folly, yet they that come after them delight in their sayings. Selah. ¹⁴Like sheep are they laid in Sheol: Death feedeth on them; and the upright shall have dominion over them in the morning; and their comeliness shall be for Sheol to consume, that there be no habitation for them.

¹⁵But God will redeem my soul from the power of Sheol: for he will receive me. Selah. ¹⁶Be not afraid when a man becometh rich, when the glory of his house is increased: ¹⁷For when he dieth, he shall carry nothing away; his glory shall not descend after him. ¹⁸Though he blessed his soul in his lifetime, —and men will praise thee when thou doest well to thyself, — ¹⁹It shall go to the generation of his fathers: they shall never see light. ²⁰Man that is in honour, and understandeth not, is like the beasts that perish.

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