Psalm 42–83

Psalm 42

Longing for God and His Help in Distress

To the leader. A Maskil of the Korahites.

¹As a deer longs for flowing streams,

so my soul longs for you, O God.^*

²My soul thirsts for God,

for the living God.

When shall I come and behold

the face of God?^*

³My tears have been my food

day and night,

while people say to me continually,

“Where is your God?”^*

⁴These things I remember,

as I pour out my soul:

how I went with the throng^c

and led them in procession to the house of God,

with glad shouts and songs of thanksgiving,

a multitude keeping festival.^*

⁵Why are you cast down, O my soul,

and why are you disquieted within me?

Hope in God, for I shall again praise him,

my help^{* 6}and my God.

My soul is cast down within me;

therefore I remember you

from the land of Jordan and of Hermon,

from Mount Mizar.

⁷Deep calls to deep

at the thunder of your torrents;

all your waves and your billows

have gone over me.^*

⁸By day the Lord commands his steadfast love,

and at 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 mournfully

because the enemy oppresses me?”^*

¹⁰As with a deadly wound in my body,

my adversaries taunt me,

while they say to me continually,

“Where is your God?”^*

¹¹Why are you cast down, O my soul,

and why are you disquieted within me?

Hope in God, for I shall again praise him,

my help and my God.^*

Psalm 43

Prayer to God in Time of Trouble

¹Vindicate me, O God, and defend my cause

against an ungodly people;

from those who are deceitful and unjust,

deliver me!^*

²For you are the God in whom I take refuge;

why have you cast me off?

Why must I walk about mournfully

because of the oppression of the enemy?^*

³O send out your light and your truth;

let them lead me;

let them bring me to your holy hill

and to your dwelling.^*

⁴Then I will go to the altar of God,

to God my exceeding joy,

and I will praise you with the harp,

O God, my God.^*

⁵Why are you cast down, O my soul,

and why are you disquieted within me?

Hope in God, for I shall again praise him,

my help and my God.^*

Psalm 44

National Lament and Prayer for Help

To the leader. Of the Korahites. A Maskil.

¹We have heard with our ears, O God;

our ancestors have told us

what deeds you performed in their days,

in the days of old:^*

²you with your own hand drove out the nations,

but them you planted;

you afflicted the peoples,

but them you set free;^*

³for not by their own sword did they win the land,

nor did their own arm give them victory,

but your right hand, and your arm,

and the light of your countenance,

for you delighted in them.^*

⁴You are my King and my God;

you command^d victories for Jacob.

⁵Through you we push down our foes;

through your name we tread down our assailants.^*

⁶For not in my bow do I trust,

nor can my sword save me.

⁷But you have saved us from our foes

and have put to confusion those who hate us.^*

⁸In God we have boasted continually,

and we will give thanks to your name forever.   Selah^*

⁹Yet you have rejected us and shamed us

and have not gone out with our armies.^*

¹⁰You made us turn back from the foe,

and our enemies have gotten spoil.^*

¹¹You have made us like sheep for slaughter

and have scattered us among the nations.^*

¹²You have sold your people for a trifle,

demanding no high price for them.^*

¹³You have made us the taunt of our neighbors,

the derision and scorn of those around us.^*

¹⁴You have made us a byword among the nations,

a laughingstock^e among the peoples.^*

¹⁵All day long my disgrace is before me,

and shame has covered my face

¹⁶at the words of the taunters and revilers,

at the sight of the enemy and the avenger.^*

¹⁷All this has come upon us,

yet we have not forgotten you

or been false to your covenant.^*

¹⁸Our heart has not turned back,

nor have our steps departed from your way,^*

¹⁹yet you have broken us in the haunt of jackals

and covered us with deep darkness.^*

²⁰If we had forgotten the name of our God

or spread out our hands to a strange god,^*

²¹would not God discover this?

For he knows the secrets of the heart.^*

²²Because of you we are being killed all day long

and accounted as sheep for the slaughter.^*

²³Rouse yourself! Why do you sleep, O Lord?

Awake, do not cast us off forever!^*

²⁴Why do you hide your face?

Why do you forget our affliction and oppression?^*

²⁵For we sink down to the dust;

our bodies cling to the ground.^*

²⁶Rise up, come to our help.

Redeem us for the sake of your steadfast love.^*

Psalm 45

Ode for a Royal Wedding

To the leader: according to Lilies. Of the Korahites. A Maskil. A love song.

¹My heart overflows with a goodly theme;

I address my verses to the king;

my tongue is like the pen of a ready scribe.^*

²You are the most handsome of men;

grace is poured upon your lips;

therefore God has blessed you forever.^*

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

in your glory and majesty.^*

⁴In your majesty ride on victoriously

for the cause of truth and to defend^f the right;

let your right hand teach you dread deeds.^*

⁵Your arrows are sharp

in the heart of the king’s enemies;

the peoples fall under you.

⁶Your throne, O God,^g endures forever and ever.

Your royal scepter is a scepter of equity;^*

⁷you love righteousness and hate wickedness.

Therefore God, your God, has anointed you

with the oil of gladness beyond your companions;^*

⁸your robes are all fragrant with myrrh and aloes and cassia.

From ivory palaces stringed instruments make you glad;^*

⁹daughters of kings are among your ladies of honor;

at your right hand stands the queen in gold of Ophir.^*

¹⁰Hear, O daughter, consider and incline your ear;

forget your people and your father’s house,^*

¹¹and the king will desire your beauty.

Since he is your lord, bow to him;^*

¹²Daughter Tyre will seek your favor with gifts,

the richest of the people^{* 13}with all kinds of wealth.

The princess is decked in her chamber with gold-woven robes;^h*

¹⁴in many-colored robes she is led to the king;

behind her the virgins, her companions, follow.^*

¹⁵With joy and gladness they are led along

as they enter the palace of the king.

¹⁶In the place of ancestors you, O king,ⁱ shall have sons;

you will make them princes in all the earth.^*

¹⁷I will cause your name to be celebrated in all generations;

therefore the peoples will praise you forever and ever.^*

Psalm 46

God’s Defense of His City and People

To the leader. Of the Korahites. According to Alamoth. A Song.

¹God is our refuge and strength,

a very present^j help in trouble.^*

²Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change,

though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea,^*

³though its waters roar and foam,

though the mountains tremble with its tumult.   Selah^*

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

the holy habitation of the Most High.^*

⁵God is in the midst of the city;^k it shall not be moved;

God will help it when the morning dawns.^*

⁶The nations are in an uproar; the kingdoms totter;

he utters his voice; the earth melts.^*

⁷The Lord of hosts is with us;

the God of Jacob is our refuge.^l   Selah^*

⁸Come, behold the works of the Lord;

see what desolations he has brought on the earth.^*

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

he breaks the bow and shatters the spear;

he burns the shields with fire.^*

¹⁰“Be still, and know that I am God!

I am exalted among the nations;

I am exalted in the earth.”^*

¹¹The Lord of hosts is with us;

the God of Jacob is our refuge.^m   Selah

Psalm 47

God’s Rule over the Nations

To the leader. Of the Korahites. A Psalm.

¹Clap your hands, all you peoples;

shout to God with loud songs of joy.^*

²For the Lord, the Most High, is awesome,

a great king over all the earth.^*

³He subdued peoples under us

and nations under our feet.^*

⁴He chose our heritage for us,

the pride of Jacob whom he loves.   Selah^*

⁵God has gone up with a shout,

the Lord with the sound of a trumpet.^*

⁶Sing praises to God, sing praises;

sing praises to our King, sing praises.^*

⁷For God is the king of all the earth;

sing praises with a psalm.^n*

⁸God is king over the nations;

God sits on his holy throne.^*

⁹The princes of the peoples gather

as the people of the God of Abraham.

For the shields of the earth belong to God;

he is highly exalted.^*

Psalm 48

The Glory and Strength of Zion

A Song. A Psalm of the Korahites.

¹Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised

in the city of our God.

His holy mountain,^{* 2}beautiful in elevation,

is the joy of all the earth,

Mount Zion, in the far north,

the city of the great King.^*

³Within its citadels God

has shown himself a sure defense.^*

⁴Then the kings assembled;

they came on together.^*

⁵As soon as they saw it, they were astounded;

they were in panic; they took to flight;^*

⁶trembling took hold of them there,

pains as of a woman in labor,

⁷as when an east wind shatters

the ships of Tarshish.^*

⁸As we have heard, so have we seen

in the city of the Lord of hosts,

in the city of our God,

which God establishes forever.   Selah

⁹We ponder your steadfast love, O God,

in the midst of your temple.

¹⁰Your name, O God, like your praise,

reaches to the ends of the earth.

Your right hand is filled with victory.^*

¹¹Let Mount Zion be glad;

let the towns^o of Judah rejoice

because of your judgments.^*

¹²Walk about Zion; go all around it;

count its towers;

¹³consider well its ramparts;

go through its citadels,

that you may tell the next generation^*

¹⁴that this is God,

our God forever and ever.

He will be our guide forever.^*

Psalm 49

The Folly of Trust in Riches

To the leader. Of the Korahites. A Psalm.

¹Hear this, all you peoples;

give ear, all inhabitants of the world,^*

²both low and high,

rich and poor together.

³My mouth shall speak wisdom;

the meditation of my heart shall be understanding.^*

⁴I will incline my ear to a proverb;

I will solve my riddle to the music of the harp.^*

⁵Why should I fear in times of trouble,

when the iniquity of my persecutors surrounds me,^*

⁶those who trust in their wealth

and boast of the abundance of their riches?^*

⁷…