Psalm 42–50

Wishing to Be Near God

For the director of music. A maskil of the sons of Korah.

42As a deer thirsts for streams of water,

so I thirst for you, God.

²I thirst for the living God.

When can I go to meet with him?

³Day and night, my tears have been my food.

People are always saying,

“Where is your God?”

⁴When I remember these things,

I speak with a broken heart.

I used to walk with the crowd

and lead them to God’s Temple

with songs of praise.

⁵Why am I so sad?

Why am I so upset?

I should put my hope in God

and keep praising him,

my Savior and ⁶my God.

I am very sad.

So I remember you where the Jordan River begins,

near the peaks of Hermon and Mount Mizar.

⁷Troubles have come again and again, sounding like waterfalls.

Your waves are crashing all around me.

⁸The Lord shows his true love every day.

At night I have a song,

and I pray to my living God.

⁹I say to God, my Rock,

“Why have you forgotten me?

Why am I sad

and troubled by my enemies?”

¹⁰My enemies’ insults make me feel

as if my bones were broken.

They are always saying,

“Where is your God?”

¹¹Why am I so sad?

Why am I so upset?

I should put my hope in God

and keep praising him,

my Savior and my God.

A Prayer for Protection

43God, defend me.

Argue my case against those who don’t follow you.

Save me from liars and those who do evil.

²God, you are my strength.

Why have you rejected me?

Why am I sad

and troubled by my enemies?

³Send me your light and truth

to guide me.

Let them lead me to your holy mountain,

to where you live.

⁴Then I will go to the altar of God,

to God who is my joy and happiness.

I will praise you with a harp,

God, my God.

⁵Why am I so sad?

Why am I so upset?

I should put my hope in God

and keep praising him,

my Savior and my God.

A Prayer for Help

For the director of music. A maskil of the sons of Korah.

44God, we have heard about you.

Our ancestors told us

what you did in their days,

in days long ago.

²With your power you forced the nations out of the land

and placed our ancestors here.

You destroyed those other nations,

but you made our ancestors grow strong.

³It wasn’t their swords that took the land.

It wasn’t their power that gave them victory.

But it was your great power and strength.

You were with them because you loved them.

⁴My God, you are my King.

Your commands led Jacob’s people to victory.

⁵With your help we pushed back our enemies.

In your name we trampled those who came against us.

⁶I don’t trust my bow to help me,

and my sword can’t save me.

⁷You saved us from our foes,

and you made our enemies ashamed.

⁸We will praise God every day;

we will praise your name forever.

Selah

⁹But you have rejected us and shamed us.

You don’t march with our armies anymore.

¹⁰You let our enemies push us back,

and those who hate us have taken our wealth.

¹¹You gave us away like sheep to be eaten

and have scattered us among the nations.

¹²You sold your people for nothing

and made no profit on the sale.

¹³You made us a joke to our neighbors;

those around us laugh and make fun of us.

¹⁴You made us a joke to the other nations;

people shake their heads.

¹⁵I am always in disgrace,

and I am covered with shame.

¹⁶My enemy is getting even

with insults and curses.

¹⁷All these things have happened to us,

but we have not forgotten you

or failed to keep our agreement with you.

¹⁸Our hearts haven’t turned away from you,

and we haven’t stopped following you.

¹⁹But you crushed us in this place where wild dogs live,

and you covered us with deep darkness.

²⁰If we had forgotten our God

or lifted our hands in prayer to foreign gods,

²¹God would have known,

because he knows what is in our hearts.

²²But for you we are in danger of death all the time.

People think we are worth no more than sheep to be killed.

²³Wake up, Lord! Why are you sleeping?

Get up! Don’t reject us forever.

²⁴Why do you hide from us?

Have you forgotten our pain and troubles?

²⁵We have been pushed down into the dirt;

we are flat on the ground.

²⁶Get up and help us.

Because of your love, save us.

A Song for the King’s Wedding

For the director of music. To the tune of “Lilies.” A maskil. A love song of the sons of Korah.

45Beautiful words fill my mind.

I am speaking of royal things.

My tongue is like the pen of a skilled writer.

²You are more handsome than anyone,

and you are an excellent speaker,

so God has blessed you forever.

³Put on your sword, powerful warrior.

Show your glory and majesty.

⁴In your majesty win the victory

for what is true and right.

Your power will do amazing things.

⁵Your sharp arrows will enter

the hearts of the king’s enemies.

Nations will be defeated before you.

⁶God, your throne will last forever and ever.

You will rule your kingdom with fairness.

⁷You love right and hate evil,

so God has chosen you from among your friends;

he has set you apart with much joy.

⁸Your clothes smell like myrrh, aloes, and cassia.

From palaces of ivory

music comes to make you happy.

⁹Kings’ daughters are among your honored women.

Your bride stands at your right side

wearing gold from Ophir.

¹⁰Listen to me, daughter; look and pay attention.

Forget your people and your father’s family.

¹¹The king loves your beauty.

Because he is your master, you should obey him.

¹²People from the city of Tyre have brought a gift.

Wealthy people will want to meet you.

¹³The princess is very beautiful.

Her gown is woven with gold.

¹⁴In her beautiful clothes she is brought to the king.

Her bridesmaids follow behind her,

and they are also brought to him.

¹⁵They come with happiness and joy;

they enter the king’s palace.

¹⁶You will have sons to replace your fathers.

You will make them rulers through all the land.

¹⁷I will make your name famous from now on,

so people will praise you forever and ever.

God Protects His People

For the director of music. By alamoth. A psalm of the sons of Korah.

46God is our protection and our strength.

He always helps in times of trouble.

²So we will not be afraid even if the earth shakes,

or the mountains fall into the sea,

³even if the oceans roar and foam,

or the mountains shake at the raging sea.

Selah

⁴There is a river that brings joy to the city of God,

the holy place where God Most High lives.

⁵God is in that city, and so it will not be shaken.

God will help her at dawn.

⁶Nations tremble and kingdoms shake.

God shouts and the earth crumbles.

⁷The Lord All-Powerful is with us;

the God of Jacob is our defender.

Selah

⁸Come and see what the Lord has done,

the amazing things he has done on the earth.

⁹He stops wars everywhere on the earth.

He breaks all bows and spears

and burns up the chariots with fire.

¹⁰God says, “Be still and know that I am God.

I will be praised in all the nations;

I will be praised throughout the earth.”

¹¹The Lord All-Powerful is with us;

the God of Jacob is our defender.

Selah

God, the King of the World

For the director of music. A psalm of the sons of Korah.

47Clap your hands, all you people.

Shout to God with joy.

²The Lord Most High is wonderful.

He is the great King over all the earth!

³He defeated nations for us

and put them under our control.

⁴He chose the land we would inherit.

We are the children of Jacob, whom he loved.

Selah

⁵God has risen with a shout of joy;

the Lord has risen as the trumpets sounded.

⁶Sing praises to God. Sing praises.

Sing praises to our King. Sing praises.

⁷God is King of all the earth,

so sing a song of praise to him.

⁸God is King over the nations.

God sits on his holy throne.

⁹The leaders of the nations meet

with the people of the God of Abraham,

because the leaders of the earth belong to God.

He is supreme.

Jerusalem, the City of God

A psalm of the sons of Korah.

48The Lord is great; he should be praised

in the city of our God, on his holy mountain.

²It is high and beautiful

and brings joy to the whole world.

Mount Zion is like the high mountains of the north;

it is the city of the Great King.

³God is within its palaces;

he is known as its defender.

⁴Kings joined together

and came to attack the city.

⁵But when they saw it, they were amazed.

They ran away in fear.

⁶Fear took hold of them;

they hurt like a woman having a baby.

⁷You destroyed the large trading ships

with an east wind.

⁸First we heard

and now we have seen

that God will always keep his city safe.

It is the city of the Lord All-Powerful,

the city of our God.

Selah

⁹God, we come into your Temple

to think about your love.

¹⁰God, your name is known everywhere;

all over the earth people praise you.

Your right hand is full of goodness.

¹¹Mount Zion is happy

and all the towns of Judah rejoice,

because your decisions are fair.

¹²Walk around Jerusalem

and count its towers.

¹³Notice how strong they are.

Look at the palaces.

Then you can tell your children about them.

¹⁴This God is our God forever and ever.

He will guide us from now on.

Trusting Money Is Foolish

For the director of music. A psalm of the sons of Korah.

49Listen to this, all you nations;

listen, all you who live on earth.

²Listen, both great and small,

rich and poor together.

³What I say is wise,

and my heart speaks with understanding.

⁴I will pay attention to a wise saying;

I will explain my riddle on the harp.

⁵Why should I be afraid of bad days?

Why should I fear when evil people surround me?

⁶They trust in their money

and brag about their riches.

⁷No one can buy back the life of another.

No one can pay God for his own life,

⁸because the price of a life is high.

No payment is ever enough.

⁹Do people live forever?

Don’t they all face death?

¹⁰See, even wise people die.

Fools and stupid people also die

and leave their wealth to others.

¹¹Their graves will always be their homes.

They will live there from now on,

even though they named places after themselves.

¹²Even rich people do not live forever;

like the animals, people die.

¹³This is what will happen to those who trust in themselves

and to their followers who believe them.

Selah

¹⁴Like sheep, they must die,

and death will be their shepherd.

Honest people will rule over them in the morning,

and their bodies will rot in a grave far from home.

¹⁵But God will save my life

and will take me from the grave.

Selah

¹⁶Don’t be afraid of rich people

because their houses are more beautiful.

¹⁷They don’t take anything to the grave;

their wealth won’t go…