Psalm 39–46

Psalm 39

Prayer for Wisdom and Forgiveness

To the Chief Musician. To Jeduthun. A Psalm of David.

1 I said, “I will guard my ways, Lest I sin with my atongue;

I will restrain my mouth with a muzzle,

While the wicked are before me.”

2 bI was mute with silence,

I held my peace even from good;

And my sorrow was stirred up.

3 My heart was hot within me;

While I was 1musing, the fire burned.

Then I spoke with my tongue:

4 “Lord, cmake me to know my end,

And what is the measure of my days,

That I may know how frail I am.

5 Indeed, You have made my days as handbreadths,

And my age is as nothing before You;

Certainly every man at his best state is but dvapor.

Selah

6 Surely every man walks about like a shadow;

Surely they 2busy themselves in vain;

He heaps up riches,

And does not know who will gather them.

7 “And now, Lord, what do I wait for?

My ehope is in You.

8 Deliver me from all my transgressions;

Do not make me fthe reproach of the foolish.

9 gI was mute, I did not open my mouth,

Because it was hYou who did it.

10 iRemove Your plague from me;

I am consumed by the blow of Your hand.

11 When with rebukes You correct man for iniquity,

You make his beauty jmelt away like a moth;

Surely every man is vapor.

Selah

12 “Hear my prayer, O Lord,

And give ear to my cry;

Do not be silent at my tears;

For I am a stranger with You,

A sojourner, kas all my fathers were.

13 lRemove Your gaze from me, that I may regain strength,

Before I go away and mam no more.”

Psalm 40

Faith Persevering in Trial

To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.

1 I awaited patiently for the Lord; And He inclined to me,

And heard my cry.

2 He also brought me up out of a horrible pit,

Out of bthe miry clay,

And cset my feet upon a rock,

And established my steps.

3 dHe has put a new song in my mouth—

Praise to our God;

Many will see it and fear,

And will trust in the Lord.

4 eBlessed is that man who makes the Lord his trust,

And does not respect the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies.

5 fMany, O Lord my God, are Your wonderful works

Which You have done;

gAnd Your thoughts toward us

Cannot be recounted to You in order;

If I would declare and speak of them,

They are more than can be numbered.

6 hSacrifice and offering You did not desire;

My ears You have opened.

Burnt offering and sin offering You did not require.

7 Then I said, “Behold, I come;

In the scroll of the book it is written of me.

8 iI delight to do Your will, O my God,

And Your law is jwithin my heart.”

9 kI have proclaimed the good news of righteousness

In the great assembly;

Indeed, lI do not restrain my lips,

O Lord, You Yourself know.

10 mI have not hidden Your righteousness within my heart;

I have declared Your faithfulness and Your salvation;

I have not concealed Your lovingkindness and Your truth

From the great assembly.

11 Do not withhold Your tender mercies from me, O Lord;

nLet Your lovingkindness and Your truth continually preserve me.

12 For innumerable evils have surrounded me;

oMy iniquities have overtaken me, so that I am not able to look up;

They are more than the hairs of my head;

Therefore my heart fails me.

13 pBe pleased, O Lord, to deliver me;

O Lord, make haste to help me!

14 qLet them be ashamed and brought to mutual confusion

Who seek to destroy my 1life;

Let them be driven backward and brought to dishonor

Who wish me evil.

15 Let them be rconfounded because of their shame,

Who say to me, “Aha, aha!”

16 sLet all those who seek You rejoice and be glad in You;

Let such as love Your salvation tsay continually,

“The Lord be magnified!”

17 uBut I am poor and needy;

vYet the Lord thinks upon me.

You are my help and my deliverer;

Do not delay, O my God.

Psalm 41

The Blessing and Suffering of the Godly

To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.

1 Blessed is he who considers the 1poor;

The Lord will deliver him in time of trouble.

2 The Lord will preserve him and keep him alive,

And he will be blessed on the earth;

aYou will not deliver him to the will of his enemies.

3 The Lord will strengthen him on his bed of illness;

You will 2sustain him on his sickbed.

4 I said, “Lord, be merciful to me;

bHeal my soul, for I have sinned against You.”

5 My enemies speak evil of me:

“When will he die, and his name perish?”

6 And if he comes to see me, he speaks 3lies;

His heart gathers iniquity to itself;

When he goes out, he tells it.

7 All who hate me whisper together against me;

Against me they 4devise my hurt.

8 “An 5evil disease,” they say, “clings to him.

And now that he lies down, he will rise up no more.”

9 cEven my own familiar friend in whom I trusted,

dWho ate my bread,

Has 6lifted up his heel against me.

10 But You, O Lord, be merciful to me, and raise me up,

That I may repay them.

11 By this I know that You are well pleased with me,

Because my enemy does not triumph over me.

12 As for me, You uphold me in my integrity,

And eset me before Your face forever.

13 fBlessed be the Lord God of Israel

From everlasting to everlasting!

Amen and Amen.

Book Two: Psalms 42–72

Psalm 42

Yearning for God in the Midst of Distresses

To the Chief Musician. A 1Contemplation of the Sons of Korah.

1 As the deer 2pants for the water brooks,

So pants my soul for You, O God.

2 aMy soul thirsts for God, for the bliving God.

When shall I come and 3appear before God?

3 cMy tears have been my food day and night,

While they continually say to me,

d“Where is your God?”

4 When I remember these things,

eI pour out my soul within me.

For I used to go with the multitude;

fI went with them to the house of God,

With the voice of joy and praise,

With a multitude that kept a pilgrim feast.

5 gWhy are you 4cast down, O my soul?

And why are you disquieted within me?

hHope in God, for I shall yet praise Him

5For the help of His countenance.

6 6O my God, my soul is cast down within me;

Therefore I will remember You from the land of the Jordan,

And from the heights of Hermon,

From 7the Hill Mizar.

7 Deep calls unto deep at the noise of Your waterfalls;

iAll Your waves and billows have gone over me.

8 The Lord will jcommand His lovingkindness in the daytime,

And kin the night His song shall be with me—

A prayer to the God of my life.

9 I will say to God my Rock,

l“Why have You forgotten me?

Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?”

10 As with a 8breaking of my bones,

My enemies 9reproach me,

mWhile they say to me all day long,

“Where is your God?”

11 nWhy are you cast down, O my soul?

And why are you disquieted within me?

Hope in God;

For I shall yet praise Him,

The 1help of my countenance and my God.

Psalm 43

Prayer to God in Time of Trouble

1 Vindicate ame, O God,

And bplead my cause against an ungodly nation;

Oh, deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man!

2 For You are the God of my strength;

Why do You cast me off?

cWhy do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?

3 dOh, send out Your light and Your truth!

Let them lead me;

Let them bring me to eYour holy hill

And to Your 1tabernacle.

4 Then I will go to the altar of God,

To God my exceeding joy;

And on the harp I will praise You,

O God, my God.

5 fWhy are you cast down, O my soul?

And why are you disquieted within me?

Hope in God;

For I shall yet praise Him,

The 2help of my countenance and my God.

Psalm 44

Redemption Remembered in Present Dishonor

To the Chief Musician. A aContemplation 1Of the Sons of Korah.

1 We have heard with our ears, O God, bOur fathers have told us,

The deeds You did in their days,

In days of old:

2 cYou drove out the 2nations with Your hand,

But them You planted;

You afflicted the peoples, and cast them out.

3 For dthey did not gain possession of the land by their own sword,

Nor did their own arm save them;

But it was Your right hand, Your arm, and the light of Your countenance,

eBecause You favored them.

4 fYou are my King, 3O God;

4Command victories for Jacob.

5 Through You gwe will push down our enemies;

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

6 For hI will not trust in my bow,

Nor shall my sword save me.

7 But You have saved us from our enemies,

And have put to shame those who hated us.

8 iIn God we boast all day long,

And praise Your name forever.

Selah

9 But jYou have cast us off and put us to shame,

And You do not go out with our armies.

10 You make us kturn back from the enemy,

And those who hate us have taken 5spoil for themselves.

11 lYou have given us up like sheep intended for food,

And have mscattered us among the nations.

12 nYou sell Your people for next to nothing,

And are not enriched by selling them.

13 oYou make us a reproach to our neighbors,

A scorn and a derision to those all around us.

14 pYou make us a byword among the nations,

qA shaking of the head among the peoples.

15 My dishonor is continually before me,

And the shame of my face has covered me,

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

rBecause of the enemy and the avenger.

17 sAll this has come upon us;

But we have not forgotten You,

Nor have we dealt falsely with Your covenant.

18 Our heart has not turned back,

tNor have our steps departed from Your way;

19 But You have severely broken us in uthe place of jackals,

And covered us vwith the shadow of death.

20 If we had forgotten the name of our God,

Or wstretched 6out our hands to a foreign god,

21 xWould not God search this out?

For He knows the secrets of the heart.

22 yYet for Your sake we are killed all day long;

We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.

23 zAwake! Why do You sleep, O Lord?

Arise! Do not cast us off forever.

24 aWhy do You hide Your face,

And forget our affliction and our oppression?

25 For bour soul is bowed down to the 7dust;

Our body clings to the ground.

26 Arise for our help,

And redeem us for Your mercies’ sake.

Psalm 45

The Glories of the Messiah and His Bride

To the Chief Musician. aSet to 1“The Lilies.” A 2Contemplation of the Sons of Korah. A Song of Love.

1 My heart is overflowing with a good theme;

I recite my composition concerning the King;

My tongue is the pen of a 3ready writer.

2 You are fairer than the sons of men;

bGrace is poured upon Your lips;

Therefore God has blessed You forever.

3 4Gird Your csword upon Your thigh, dO Mighty One,

With Your eglory and Your majesty.

4 fAnd in Your majesty ride prosperously because of truth, humility, and righteousness;

And Your right hand shall teach You awesome things.

5 Your arrows are sharp in the heart of …