Psalm 42–50

Hope in God in the Midst of Despair

42For the music director. A maskil of the sons of Korah.^a

¹As a deer longs for streams of water,

so my soul longs for you, O God.

²My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.

When shall I come and appear before God?^b

³My tears have been my food day and night,

while they say to me all day long,

“Where is your God?”

⁴These I remember and I pour out my soul within me:

that I would go with the multitude;

I led them in procession to the house^c of God,

with a voice of rejoicing and thanksgiving,

a crowd celebrating a festival.

⁵Why are you in despair,^d O my soul,

and disturbed within me?

Hope in God, because I will again praise him,

for the salvation of his presence.

⁶O my God, within me my soul is in despair;^e

therefore I remember you from the land of Jordan

and the heights of Hermon, from the mountain of Mizar.

⁷Deep is calling to deep

at^f the thunder of your waterfalls.

All your breakers and your waves

have passed over me.

⁸By day Yahweh commands his loyal love,

and in the night his song is with me,

a prayer to the God of my life.

⁹I say to God, my rock,

“Why have you forgotten me?

Why must I walk about mourning

because of the oppression of the enemy?”

¹⁰As with a shattering in my bones

my oppressors taunt me,

while they say to me all day,^g

“Where is your God?”

¹¹Why are you in despair,^h O my soul?

And why are you disturbed within me?

Hope in God, because I shall again praise him,

my salvationⁱ and my God.

A Prayer for Rescue

43Judge me, O God, and plead my case

against^a an unfaithful^b nation.

From a man of deceit and wickedness rescue me,

²because you are the God of my refuge.

Why have you rejected me?

Why must I go about mourning

because of the oppression of the enemy?

³Send your light and your truth;

they shall lead^c me.

They shall bring me to your holy mountain^d

and to your dwelling places.

⁴Then^e I will go to the altar of God,

to God, my surpassing joy,^f

and I will praise you with lyre,

O God, my God.

⁵Why are you in despair,^g O my soul?

And why are you disturbed within me?

Hope in God, because I will again praise him,

my salvation^h and my God.

Present Defeat and Past Deliverance

44For the music director. Of the sons of Korah. A maskil.^a

¹O God, we have heard with our ears;

our ancestors^b have told us

of work you worked in their days,

in days of old.

²You with your hand drove out the nations,

but them^c you planted.

You harmed the peoples,

but them^d you let spread out.

³For not with their sword

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.

⁴You are my king, O God.

Command^e victories for Jacob.

⁵By you we push down our enemies;

by your name we tread down those who rise up against us.

⁶For I do not trust my bow,

and my sword cannot give me victory.

⁷Rather you have saved us from our enemies,^f

and have humiliated those who hate us.

⁸In God we boast all the day,

and we will give thanks to your name forever. Selah

⁹Surely you have rejected and disgraced us,

and have not gone out with our armies.

¹⁰You have caused us to pull back from the enemy,

and so those who hate us have plundered for themselves.

¹¹You have given us as sheep for food,

and among the nations you have scattered us.

¹²You have sold your people cheaply,^g

and did not profit by their price.

¹³You have made us a taunt to our neighbors,

a derision and a scorn to those around us.

¹⁴You have made us a byword among the nations,

a shaking of the head among the peoples.

¹⁵All day long^h my disgrace is before me,

and the shame of my face covers me,

¹⁶because of the voice of the taunter and the reviler,

because of the enemy and the avenger.

¹⁷All this has befallen us, though we have not forgotten you,

and we have not been false to your covenant.

¹⁸Our heart has not turned back,

and our steps have not turned aside from your way.

¹⁹But you have crushed us in a place of jackals,

and have covered us with deep shadow.

²⁰If we had forgotten the name of our God,

or had spread out our hands in prayer to a foreign god,

²¹would not God discover this,

for he knows the secrets of the heart?

²²Rather, on account of you we are killed all day long;ⁱ

we are accounted as sheep for slaughter.

²³Wake up! Why do you sleep, O Lord?

Awake! Do not reject forever.

²⁴Why do you hide your face?

Have you forgotten our misery and our oppression?

²⁵For our soul is bowed down to the dust.

Our body^j clings to the ground.

²⁶Rise up! Be a help for us,

and redeem us for the sake of your loyal love.

Celebration of a Royal Wedding

45For the music director; according to The Lilies. Of the sons of Korah.

A maskil. A song of love.^a

¹My heart is moved with a good word;

I recite my compositions^b to the king.

My tongue is the pen of a skilled scribe.

²You are the most handsome of the sons of humankind;

grace is poured out on your lips;

therefore God has blessed you forever.

³Gird your sword on your thigh, O mighty one,

in your splendor and your majesty.

⁴And in your majesty ride victoriously,^c

because of truth and humility and righteousness.

And let your right hand teach you awesome deeds.

⁵Your arrows are sharp;

peoples fall under you

in the midst of the king’s enemies.

⁶Your throne, O God, is forever and ever.

A scepter of uprightness is

the scepter of your kingdom.

⁷You love righteousness and hate wickedness.

Therefore God, your God, has anointed you

from among your companions with festive oil.

⁸All your robes are scented with myrrh and aloes and cassia.

From palaces of ivory stringed instruments gladden you.

⁹Kings’ daughters are among your noble ladies.

The queen stands at your right hand in gold of Ophir.

¹⁰Hear, O daughter, and discern^d and incline your ear,

and forget your people and your father’s house.

¹¹Let the king desire your beauty.^e

Because he is your lord, therefore^f bow down to him.

¹²Even the daughter of Tyre will come with a gift.

The rich from among people will seek your favor.^g

¹³The king’s daughter is all glorious within;^h

her garment is of gold embroidered cloth.

¹⁴She is brought to the king in colorful garments.

The young women behind her, her attendants,

are being brought to you.

¹⁵They are led with joy and gladness.

They enter the palace of the king.

¹⁶In place of yourⁱ fathers will be your sons.

You will make them princes in all the land.^j

¹⁷I 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

46For the music director. Of the sons of Korah.

According to Alamoth. A song.^a

¹God is our refuge and strength,

a very sufficient help in troubles.

²Therefore we will not fear though the earth change,

and though the mountains totter into the midst^b of the sea,

³though its waters roar and foam,

though mountains shake with its surging water. Selah

⁴There is a river whose streams gladden the city of God,

the holiest of the dwellings of the Most High.

⁵God is in the midst of her;

she will not be made to totter.

God will help her at daybreak.^c

⁶Nations roar, kingdoms shake;

he utters his voice, the earth melts.

⁷Yahweh of hosts is with us;

the God of Jacob is our high stronghold. Selah

⁸Come, see the works of Yahweh,

who has placed desolations on the earth.

⁹He 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.”

¹¹Yahweh of Hosts is with us;

the God of Jacob is our high stronghold. Selah

God Is King over All the Earth

47For the music director. Of the sons of Korah. A psalm.^a

¹All you peoples, clap your hands.^b

Shout to God with a voice of rejoicing.

²For Yahweh Most High is awesome,^c

a great king over all the earth.

³He subdues peoples under us

and nations under our feet.

⁴He chooses for us our inheritance,

the pride of Jacob whom he loves. Selah

⁵God has gone up with a shout,

Yahweh with the sound of a trumpet.

⁶Sing praises to God, sing praises.

Sing praises to our king, sing praises.

⁷For God is king of all the earth.

Sing praises with understanding.^d

⁸God reigns over nations;

God sits on his holy throne.

⁹The 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.

The Greatness of God in Zion

48A song. A psalm of the sons of Korah.^a

¹Yahweh is great and very worthy of praise

in the city of our God, in his holy mountain.^b

²Beautiful in elevation, the joy of the whole earth,

is Mount Zion,^c in the far north,^d

the city of the great king.

³God is in her citadels;

he is known as a high stronghold.

⁴For see, the kings assembled;^e

they advanced together.

⁵They themselves saw^f it, so they were astonished.

They were terrified; they ran off.

⁶Trembling seized them there—

pain as of a woman in labor.

⁷With an east wind

you shatter^g the ships of Tarshish.^h

⁸As 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

⁹We have pondered your loyal love, O God,

in the midst of your temple.

¹⁰As is your name, O God, so is your praise

to the ends of the earth.

Your right hand is full of righteousness.

¹¹Let Mount Zionⁱ rejoice;

let the daughters of Judah rejoice

because of your judgments.

¹²Walk about Zion and circle it;

count her towers.

¹³Consider well^j her ramparts.

Go through her citadels

so that you can tell the next generation

¹⁴that this is God, our God forever and ever.

He himself^k will guide us until death.

Wealth and the Fate of the Wicked

49For the music director. Of the sons of Korah. A psalm.^a

¹Hear this, all you peoples;

give ear, all you inhabitants of the world,

²both low and high,

rich and poor together.

³My mouth will speak wisdom,

and the meditation of my heart will be understanding.

⁴I will incline my…