Psalm 44:title–49:20
Present Defeat and Past Deliverance
44 For the music director. Of the sons of Korah. A maskil.a
1 O God, we have heard with our ears;
our ancestorsb have told us
of work you worked in their days,
in days of old.
2 You with your hand drove out the nations,
but themc you planted.
You harmed the peoples,
but themd you let spread out.
did they possess the land,
and their arm did not give them victory.
Rather it was your right hand and your arm
and the light of your presence,
because you delighted in them.
Commande victories for Jacob.
5 By you we push down our enemies;
by your name we tread down those who rise up against us.
and my sword cannot give me victory.
7 Rather you have saved us from our enemies,f
and have humiliated those who hate us.
8 In God we boast all the day,
and we will give thanks to your name forever. Selah
9 Surely you have rejected and disgraced us,
and have not gone out with our armies.
10 You have caused us to pull back from the enemy,
and so those who hate us have plundered for themselves.
11 You have given us as sheep for food,
and among the nations you have scattered us.
12 You have sold your people ⌊cheaply⌋,g
and did not profit by their price.
13 You have made us a taunt to our neighbors,
a derision and a scorn to those around us.
14 You have made us a byword among the nations,
a shaking of the head among the peoples.
15 ⌊All day long⌋h my disgrace is before me,
and the shame of my face covers me,
16 because of the voice of the taunter and the reviler,
because of the enemy and the avenger.
17 All this has befallen us, though we have not forgotten you,
and we have not been false to your covenant.
18 Our heart has not turned back,
and our steps have not turned aside from your way.
19 But you have crushed us in a place of jackals,
and have covered us with deep shadow.
20 If we had forgotten the name of our God,
or had spread out our hands in prayer to a foreign god,
21 would not God discover this,
for he knows the secrets of the heart?
22 Rather, on account of you we are killed ⌊all day long⌋;i
we are accounted as sheep for slaughter.
23 Wake up! Why do you sleep, O Lord?
Awake! Do not reject forever.
Have you forgotten our misery and our oppression?
25 For our soul is bowed down to the dust.
Our ⌊body⌋j clings to the ground.
and redeem us for the sake of your loyal love.
Celebration of a Royal Wedding
45 For the music director; according to The Lilies. Of the sons of Korah.
A maskil. A song of love.a
1 My heart is moved with a good word;
I recite my ⌊compositions⌋b to the king.
My tongue is the pen of a skilled scribe.
2 You are the most handsome of the sons of humankind;
grace is poured out on your lips;
therefore God has blessed you forever.
3 Gird your sword on your thigh, O mighty one,
in your splendor and your majesty.
4 And in your majesty ⌊ride victoriously⌋,c
because of truth and humility and righteousness.
And let your right hand teach you awesome deeds.
peoples fall under you
in the midst of the king’s enemies.
6 Your throne, O God, is forever and ever.
A scepter of uprightness is
the scepter of your kingdom.
7 You love righteousness and hate wickedness.
Therefore God, your God, has anointed you
from among your companions with festive oil.
8 All your robes are scented with myrrh and aloes and cassia.
From palaces of ivory stringed instruments gladden you.
9 Kings’ daughters are among your noble ladies.
The queen stands at your right hand in gold of Ophir.
10 Hear, O daughter, and ⌊discern⌋d and incline your ear,
and forget your people and your father’s house.
11 Let the king desire your beauty.e
Because he is your lord, thereforef bow down to him.
12 Even the daughter of Tyre will come with a gift.
The rich from among people will seek your ⌊favor⌋.g
13 The king’s daughter is all glorious within;h
her garment is of gold embroidered cloth.
14 She is brought to the king in colorful garments.
The young women behind her, her attendants,
are being brought to you.
15 They are led with joy and gladness.
They enter the palace of the king.
16 In place of youri fathers will be your sons.
You will make them princes in all the land.j
17 I will cause your name to be remembered in all generations;
therefore peoples will praise you forever and ever.
God Provides for and Protects His People
46 For the music director. Of the sons of Korah.
According to Alamoth. A song.a
1 God is our refuge and strength,
a very sufficient help in troubles.
2 Therefore we will not fear though the earth change,
and though the mountains totter into the ⌊midst⌋b of the sea,
3 though its waters roar and foam,
though mountains shake with its surging water. Selah
4 There is a river whose streams gladden the city of God,
the holiest of the dwellings of the Most High.
she will not be made to totter.
God will help her ⌊at daybreak⌋.c
6 Nations roar, kingdoms shake;
he utters his voice, the earth melts.
the God of Jacob is our high stronghold. Selah
8 Come, see the works of Yahweh,
who has placed desolations on the earth.
9 He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth;
he breaks the bow and cuts off the spear.
The wagons of war he burns with fire.
10 “Be still, and know that I am God.
I will be exalted among the nations;
I will be exalted in the earth.”
11 Yahweh of Hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our high stronghold. Selah
God Is King over All the Earth
47 For the music director. Of the sons of Korah. A psalm.a
1 All you peoples, clap your hands.b
Shout to God with a voice of rejoicing.
2 For Yahweh Most High is awesome,c
a great king over all the earth.
and nations under our feet.
4 He chooses for us our inheritance,
the pride of Jacob whom he loves. Selah
5 God has gone up with a shout,
Yahweh with the sound of a trumpet.
6 Sing praises to God, sing praises.
Sing praises to our king, sing praises.
7 For God is king of all the earth.
Sing praises with understanding.d
God sits on his holy throne.
9 The princes of the peoples are gathered together
with the people of Abraham’s God.
For the shields of the earth belong to God.
He is very exalted.
48 A song. A psalm of the sons of Korah.a
1 Yahweh is great and very worthy of praise
in the city of our God, in his ⌊holy mountain⌋.b
2 Beautiful in elevation, the joy of the whole earth,
is ⌊Mount Zion⌋,c ⌊in the far north⌋,d
the city of the great king.
he is known as a high stronghold.
4 For see, the kings assembled;e
they advanced together.
5 ⌊They themselves saw⌋f it, so they were astonished.
They were terrified; they ran off.
6 Trembling seized them there—
pain as of a woman in labor.
you shatterg the ships of Tarshish.h
8 As we have heard, so we have seen
in the city of Yahweh of hosts, in the city of our God.
God will establish her forever. Selah
9 We have pondered your loyal love, O God,
in the midst of your temple.
10 As is your name, O God, so is your praise
to the ends of the earth.
Your right hand is full of righteousness.
11 Let ⌊Mount Zion⌋i rejoice;
let the daughters of Judah rejoice
because of your judgments.
12 Walk about Zion and circle it;
count her towers.
13 ⌊Consider well⌋j her ramparts.
Go through her citadels
so that you can tell the next generation
14 that this is God, our God forever and ever.
⌊He himself⌋k will guide us until death.
Wealth and the Fate of the Wicked
49 For the music director. Of the sons of Korah. A psalm.a
give ear, all you inhabitants of the world,
rich and poor together.
and the meditation of my heart will be understanding.
4 I will incline my ear to a proverb;
I will ⌊propound⌋b my riddle on a lyre.
5 Why should I fear in ⌊times of calamity⌋,c
when iniquity surrounds me at my heels,
6 those who trust their wealth
and boast about the abundance of their riches?
7 Surely a man cannot redeem a brother.
He cannot give to God his ransom
8 (sinced the redemption price for their life is costly
and it always fails),
9 so that he may stay alive forever
and not see the pit.
10 For he sees that the wise die,
together with the fool and brute they perish,
and leave their wealth to the next generation.
11 Within them they think their houses are forever,
their dwelling places from generation to generation.
They ⌊name⌋e their lands by their own names.
12 But man cannot continue in his pomp.
He is like the beasts that perish.
13 This is the journeyf of those who have foolish confidence,
and those after them who accept their sayings. Selah
14 Like sheep they are destined to Sheol;
death will shepherd them.
But the upright will rule over them in the morning,
and their forms will be for Sheol to consume,
far from his lofty abode.
15 Surely God will ransom my life
from the ⌊power⌋g of Sheol,
because he will receive me. Selah
16 Do not fear when a man becomes rich,
when the wealthh of his house increases,
17 because when he dies he will not take away any of it.
His wealth will not follow down after him.
18 Though he congratulated his soul while he was living
—and people will praise you when you do well for yourself—
19 iti will go to the generation of his fathers.
Never will they see light.
20 Humankind in its pomp, but does not understand,
is like the beasts that perish.