Psalm 44–49

PSALM 44

To the choirmaster. A Maskil of the Sons of Korah.

¹We have heard with our ears, O God,

our fathers have told us,

what deeds thou didst perform in their days,

in the days of old:

²thou with thy own hand didst drive out the nations,

but them thou didst plant;

thou didst afflict the peoples,

but them thou didst set free;

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

nor did their own arm give them victory;

but thy right hand, and thy arm,

and the light of thy countenance;

for thou didst delight in them.

⁴Thou art my King and my God,

who ordainest^e victories for Jacob.

⁵Through thee we push down our foes;

through thy name we tread down our assailants.

⁶For not in my bow do I trust,

nor can my sword save me.

⁷But thou hast saved us from our foes,

and hast put to confusion those who hate us.

⁸In God we have boasted continually,

and we will give thanks to thy name for ever. Selah

⁹Yet thou hast cast us off and abased us,

and hast not gone out with our armies.

¹⁰Thou hast made us turn back from the foe;

and our enemies have gotten spoil.

¹¹Thou hast made us like sheep for slaughter,

and hast scattered us among the nations.

¹²Thou hast sold thy people for a trifle,

demanding no high price for them.

¹³Thou hast made us the taunt of our neighbors,

the derision and scorn of those about us.

¹⁴Thou hast made us a byword among the nations,

a laughingstock^f 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,

though we have not forgotten thee,

or been false to thy covenant.

¹⁸Our heart has not turned back,

nor have our steps departed from thy way,

¹⁹that thou shouldst have broken us in the place of jackals,

and covered us with deep darkness.

²⁰If we had forgotten the name of our God,

or spread forth our hands to a strange god,

²¹would not God discover this?

For he knows the secrets of the heart.

²²Nay, for thy sake we are slain all the day long,

and accounted as sheep for the slaughter.

²³Rouse thyself! Why sleepest thou, O Lord?

Awake! Do not cast us off for ever!

²⁴Why dost thou hide thy face?

Why dost thou forget our affliction and oppression?

²⁵For our soul is bowed down to the dust;

our body cleaves to the ground.

²⁶Rise up, come to our help!

Deliver us for the sake of thy steadfast love!

PSALM 45

To the choirmaster: according to Lilies. A Maskil of the Sons of Korah 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 fairest of the sons of men;

grace is poured upon your lips;

therefore God has blessed you for ever.

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

in your glory and majesty!

⁴In your majesty ride forth victoriously

for the cause of truth and to defend^g 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 divine throne^h endures for ever 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 above your fellows;

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;

¹²the peopleⁱ of Tyre will sue your favor with gifts,

the richest of the people

¹³with all kinds of wealth.

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

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

with her virgin companions, her escort, in her train.

¹⁵With joy and gladness they are led along

as they enter the palace of the king.

¹⁶Instead of your fathers shall be your 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 for ever and ever.

PSALM 46

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of the Sons of Korah. According to Alamoth. A Song.

¹God is our refuge and strength,

a very present^l 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 her, she shall not be moved;

God will help her right early.

⁶The nations rage, the kingdoms totter;

he utters his voice, the earth melts.

⁷The Lord of hosts is with us;

the God of Jacob is our refuge.^m [Selah

⁸Come, behold the works of the Lord,

how he has wrought desolations in the earth.

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

he breaks the bow, and shatters the spear,

he burns the chariots 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. Selah

PSALM 47

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of the Sons of Korah.

¹Clap your hands, all peoples!

Shout to God with loud songs of joy!

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

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!

⁸God reigns 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

A Song. A Psalm of the Sons of Korah.

¹Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised

in the city of our God!

His holy mountain,

²beautiful in elevation,

is the joy of all the earth,

Mount Zion, in the far north,

the city of the great King.

³Within her citadels God

has shown himself a sure defense.

⁴For lo, 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,

anguish as of a woman in travail.

⁷By the east wind thou didst shatter

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 for ever. Selah

⁹We have thought on thy steadfast love, O God,

in the midst of thy temple.

¹⁰As thy name, O God,

so thy praise reaches to the ends of the earth.

Thy right hand is filled with victory;

¹¹let Mount Zion be glad!

Let the daughters of Judah rejoice

because of thy judgments!

¹²Walk about Zion, go round about her,

number her towers,

¹³consider well her ramparts,

go through her citadels;

that you may tell the next generation

¹⁴that this is God,

our God for ever and ever.

He will be our guide for ever.

PSALM 49

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of the Sons of Korah.

¹Hear this, all 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 lyre.

⁵Why should I fear in times of trouble,

when the iniquity of my persecutors surrounds me,

⁶men who trust in their wealth

and boast of the abundance of their riches?

⁷Truly no man can ransom himself,^o

or give to God the price of his life,

⁸for the ransom of his^p life is costly,

and can never suffice,

⁹that he should continue to live on for ever,

and never see the Pit.

¹⁰Yea, he shall see that even the wise die,

the fool and the stupid alike must perish

and leave their wealth to others.

¹¹Their graves^q are their homes for ever,

their dwelling places to all generations,

though they named lands their own.

¹²Man cannot abide in his pomp,

he is like the beasts that perish.

¹³This is the fate of those^r who have foolish confidence,

the end of those who are pleased with their portion. Selah

¹⁴Like sheep they are appointed for Sheol;

Death shall be their shepherd;

straight to the grave they descend,^s

and their form shall waste away;

Sheol shall be their home.^t

¹⁵But God will ransom my soul from the power of Sheol,

for he will receive me. Selah

¹⁶Be not afraid when one becomes rich,

when the glory^u of his house increases.

¹⁷For when he dies he will carry nothing away;

his glory^u will not go down after him.

¹⁸Though, while he lives, he counts himself happy,

and though a man gets praise when he does well for himself,

¹⁹he will go to the generation of his fathers,

who will never more see the light.

²⁰Man cannot abide in his pomp,

he is like the beasts that perish.