PSALM 44

Former Deliverances and Present Troubles.

For the choir director. A †Maskil of the sons of Korah.

1 O God, we have heard with our ears,

Our afathers have told us

The bwork that You did in their days,

In the cdays of old.

2 You with Your own hand adrove out the nations;

Then You bplanted them;

You cafflicted the peoples,

Then You dspread them abroad.

3 For by their own sword they adid not possess the land,

And their own arm did not save them,

But Your right hand and Your barm and the clight of Your presence,

For You dfavored them.

4 You are amy King, O God;

bCommand 1victories for Jacob.

5 Through You we will apush back our adversaries;

Through Your name we will btrample down those who rise up against us.

6 For I will anot trust in my bow,

Nor will my sword save me.

7 But You ahave saved us from our adversaries,

And You have bput to shame those who hate us.

8 In God we have aboasted all day long,

And we will bgive thanks to Your name forever.

1Selah.

9 Yet You ahave rejected us and brought us to bdishonor,

And cdo not go out with our armies.

10 You cause us to aturn back from the adversary;

And those who hate us bhave taken spoil for themselves.

11 You give us as asheep 1to be eaten

And have bscattered us among the nations.

12 You asell Your people 1cheaply,

And have not 2profited by their sale.

13 You make us a areproach to our neighbors,

A scoffing and a bderision to those around us.

14 You make us aa byword among the nations,

A 1blaughingstock among the peoples.

15 All day long my dishonor is before me

And 1my ahumiliation has overwhelmed me,

16 Because of the voice of him who areproaches and reviles,

Because of the presence of the benemy and the avenger.

17 All this has come upon us, but we have anot forgotten You,

And we have not bdealt falsely with Your covenant.

18 Our heart has not aturned back,

And our steps bhave not deviated from Your way,

19 Yet You have acrushed us in a place of bjackals

And covered us with cthe shadow of death.

20 If we had aforgotten the name of our God

Or extended our 1hands to ba strange god,

21 Would not God afind this out?

For He knows the secrets of the heart.

22 But afor Your sake we are killed all day long;

We are considered as bsheep to be slaughtered.

23 aArouse Yourself, why bdo You sleep, O Lord?

Awake, cdo not reject us forever.

24 Why do You ahide Your face

And bforget our affliction and our oppression?

25 For our asoul has sunk down into the dust;

Our body cleaves to the earth.

26 aRise up, be our help,

And bredeem us for the sake of Your lovingkindness.

PSALM 45

A Song Celebrating the King’s Marriage.

For the choir director; according to the †Shoshannim. A •Maskil of the sons of Korah. A Song of Love.

1 My heart 1overflows with a good theme;

I 2address my 3verses to the 4King;

My tongue is the pen of aa ready writer.

2 You are fairer than the sons of men;

aGrace is poured 1upon Your lips;

Therefore God has bblessed You forever.

3 Gird aYour sword on Your thigh, O 1bMighty One,

In Your splendor and Your majesty!

4 And in Your majesty ride on victoriously,

For the cause of truth and ameekness and righteousness;

Let Your bright hand teach You 1awesome things.

5 Your aarrows are sharp;

The bpeoples fall under You;

Your arrows are cin the heart of the King’s enemies.

6 aYour throne, O God, is forever and ever;

A scepter of buprightness is the scepter of Your kingdom.

7 You have aloved righteousness and hated wickedness;

Therefore God, Your God, has banointed You

With the oil of joy above Your fellows.

8 All Your garments are fragrant with amyrrh and aloes and cassia;

Out of ivory palaces bstringed instruments have made You glad.

9 Kings’ daughters are among aYour noble ladies;

At Your bright hand stands the queen in cgold from Ophir.

10 Listen, O daughter, give attention and incline your ear:

aForget your people and your father’s house;

11 Then the King will desire your beauty.

Because He is your aLord, bbow down to Him.

12 The daughter of aTyre will come with a gift;

The brich among the people will seek your favor.

13 The King’s daughter is all glorious within;

Her clothing is ainterwoven with gold.

14 She will be aled to the King bin embroidered work;

The cvirgins, her companions who follow her,

Will be brought to You.

15 They will be led forth with gladness and rejoicing;

They will enter into the King’s palace.

16 In place of your fathers will be your sons;

You shall make them princes in all the earth.

17 I will cause aYour name to be remembered in all generations;

Therefore the peoples bwill give You thanks forever and ever.

PSALM 46

God the Refuge of His People.

For the choir director. A Psalm of the sons of Korah, †set to Alamoth. A Song.

1 God is our arefuge and strength,

1A very bpresent help cin 2trouble.

2 Therefore we will anot fear, though bthe earth should change

And though cthe mountains slip into the heart of the 1sea;

3 Though its awaters roar and foam,

Though the mountains quake at its swelling pride.

1Selah.

4 There is a ariver whose streams make glad the bcity of God,

The holy cdwelling places of the Most High.

5 God is ain the midst of her, she will not be moved;

God will bhelp her 1when morning dawns.

6 The 1nations amade an uproar, the kingdoms tottered;

He 2braised His voice, the earth cmelted.

7 The Lord of hosts ais with us;

The God of Jacob is bour stronghold.

Selah.

8 Come, abehold the works of the Lord,

1Who has wrought bdesolations in the earth.

9 He amakes wars to cease to the end of the earth;

He bbreaks the bow and cuts the spear in two;

He cburns the chariots with fire.

10 “1Cease striving and aknow that I am God;

I will be bexalted among the 2nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”

11 The Lord of hosts is with us;

The God of Jacob is our stronghold.

Selah.

PSALM 47

God the King of the Earth.

For the choir director. A Psalm of the sons of Korah.

1 O aclap your hands, all peoples;

bShout to God with the voice of 1joy.

2 For the Lord Most High is to be afeared,

A bgreat King over all the earth.

3 He asubdues peoples under us

And nations under our feet.

4 He chooses our ainheritance for us,

The bglory of Jacob whom He loves.

1Selah.

5 God has aascended 1with a shout,

The Lord, 1with the bsound of a trumpet.

6 aSing praises to God, sing praises;

Sing praises to bour King, sing praises.

7 For God is the aKing of all the earth;

Sing praises bwith a 1skillful psalm.

8 God areigns over the nations,

God 1sits on bHis holy throne.

9 The 1aprinces of the people have assembled themselves as the bpeople of the God of Abraham,

For the cshields of the earth belong to God;

He 2is dhighly exalted.

PSALM 48

The Beauty and Glory of Zion.

A Song; a Psalm of the sons of Korah.

1 aGreat is the Lord, and greatly to be praised,

In the bcity of our God, His choly mountain.

2 aBeautiful in elevation, bthe joy of the whole earth,

Is Mount Zion in the far north,

The ccity of the great King.

3 God, in her palaces,

Has made Himself known as a astronghold.

4 For, lo, the akings assembled themselves,

They passed by together.

5 They saw it, then they were amazed;

They were aterrified, they 1fled in alarm.

6 1Panic seized them there,

Anguish, as of aa woman in childbirth.

7 With the aeast wind

You bbreak the cships of Tarshish.

8 As we have heard, so have we seen

In the city of the Lord of hosts, in the city of our God;

God will aestablish her forever.

1Selah.

9 We have thought on aYour lovingkindness, O God,

In the midst of Your temple.

10 As is Your aname, O God,

So is Your bpraise to the ends of the earth;

Your cright hand is full of righteousness.

11 Let Mount aZion be glad,

Let the adaughters of Judah rejoice

Because of Your judgments.

12 Walk about Zion and go around her;

Count her atowers;

13 Consider her aramparts;

Go through her palaces,

That you may btell it to the next generation.

14 For 1such is God,

Our God forever and ever;

He will aguide us 2until death.

PSALM 49

The Folly of Trusting in Riches.

For the choir director. A Psalm of the sons of Korah.

1 aHear this, all peoples;

Give ear, all binhabitants of the world,

2 Both alow and high,

Rich and poor together.

3 My mouth will aspeak wisdom,

And the meditation of my heart will be bunderstanding.

4 I will incline my ear to aa proverb;

bI will 1express my criddle on the harp.

5 Why should I afear in days of adversity,

When the iniquity of my 1foes surrounds me,

6 Even those who atrust in their wealth

And boast in the abundance of their riches?

7 No man can by any means aredeem his brother

Or give to God a bransom for him—

8 For athe redemption of 1his soul is costly,

And he should cease trying forever—

9 That he should alive on eternally,

That he should not 1bundergo decay.

10 For he sees that even awise men die;

The bstupid and the senseless alike perish

And cleave their wealth to others.

11 Their 1ainner thought is that their houses bare forever

And their dwelling places to all generations;

They have ccalled their lands after their own names.

12 But aman in his 1pomp will not endure;

He is like the 2beasts that 3perish.

13 This is the away of those who are foolish,

And of those after them who bapprove their words.

1Selah.

14 As sheep they are appointed afor 1Sheol;

Death shall be their shepherd;

And the bupright shall rule over them in the morning,

And their form shall be for 1Sheol cto consume

2So that they have no habitation.

15 But God will aredeem my soul from the 1power of 2Sheol,

For bHe will receive me.

Selah.

16 Do not be afraid awhen a man becomes rich,

When the 1glory of his house is increased;

17 For when he dies he will acarry nothing away;

His 1glory will not descend after him.

18 Though while he lives he acongratulates 1himself—

And though men praise you when you do well for yourself—

19 1He shall ago to the generation of his fathers;

They will never see bthe light.

20 aMan in his 1pomp, yet without understanding,

Is blike the 2beasts that 3perish.