PSALM 43
Prayer for Deliverance.
1Vindicate me, O God, and plead my case against an ungodly nation;
O deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man!
2For You are the God of my strength; why have You rejected me?
Why do I go mourning 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 places.
4Then I will go to the altar of God,
To God my exceeding joy;
And upon the lyre I shall praise You, O God, my God.
5Why are you in despair, O my soul?
And why are you disturbed within me?
Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him,
The help of my countenance and my God.
PSALM 44
Former Deliverances and Present Troubles.
For the choir director. A Maskil of the sons of Korah.
1O God, we have heard with our ears,
Our fathers have told us
The work that You did in their days,
In the days of old.
2You with Your own hand drove out the nations;
Then You planted them;
You afflicted the peoples,
Then You spread them abroad.
3For by their own sword they did not possess the land,
And their own arm did not save them,
But Your right hand and Your arm and the light of Your presence,
For You favored them.
4You are my King, O God;
Command victories for Jacob.
5Through You we will push back our adversaries;
Through Your name we will trample down those who rise up against us.
6For I will not trust in my bow,
Nor will my sword save me.
7But You have saved us from our adversaries,
And You have put to shame those who hate us.
8In God we have boasted all day long,
And we will give thanks to Your name forever. Selah.
9Yet You have rejected us and brought us to dishonor,
And do not go out with our armies.
10You cause us to turn back from the adversary;
And those who hate us have taken spoil for themselves.
11You give us as sheep to be eaten
And have scattered us among the nations.
12You sell Your people cheaply,
And have not profited by their sale.
13You make us a reproach to our neighbors,
A scoffing and a derision to those around us.
14You make us a byword among the nations,
A laughingstock among the peoples.
15All day long my dishonor is before me
And my humiliation has overwhelmed me,
16Because of the voice of him who reproaches and reviles,
Because of the presence of the enemy and the avenger.
17All this has come upon us, but we have not forgotten You,
And we have not dealt falsely with Your covenant.
18Our heart has not turned back,
And our steps have not deviated from Your way,
19Yet You have crushed us in a place of jackals
And covered us with the shadow of death.
20If we had forgotten the name of our God
Or extended our hands to a strange god,
21Would not God find this out?
For He knows the secrets of the heart.
22But for Your sake we are killed all day long;
We are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.
23Arouse Yourself, why do You sleep, O Lord?
Awake, do not reject us forever.
24Why do You hide Your face
And forget our affliction and our oppression?
25For our soul has sunk down into the dust;
Our body cleaves to the earth.
26Rise up, be our help,
And redeem 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.
1My heart overflows with a good theme;
I address my verses to the King;
My tongue is the pen of a ready writer.
2You are fairer than the sons 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 splendor and Your majesty!
4And in Your majesty ride on victoriously,
For the cause of truth and meekness and righteousness;
Let Your right hand teach You awesome things.
5Your arrows are sharp;
The peoples fall under You;
Your arrows are in the heart of the King’s enemies.
6Your throne, O God, is forever and ever;
A scepter of uprightness is the scepter of Your kingdom.
7You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness;
Therefore God, Your God, has anointed You
With the oil of joy above Your fellows.
8All Your garments are fragrant with myrrh and aloes and cassia;
Out of ivory palaces stringed instruments have made You glad.
9Kings’ daughters are among Your noble ladies;
At Your right hand stands the queen in gold from Ophir.
10Listen, O daughter, give attention and incline your ear:
Forget your people and your father’s house;
11Then the King will desire your beauty.
Because He is your Lord, bow down to Him.
12The daughter of Tyre will come with a gift;
The rich among the people will seek your favor.
13The King’s daughter is all glorious within;
Her clothing is interwoven with gold.
14She will be led to the King in embroidered work;
The virgins, her companions who follow her,
Will be brought to You.
15They will be led forth with gladness and rejoicing;
They will enter into the King’s palace.
16In place of your fathers will be your sons;
You shall make them princes in all the earth.
17I will cause Your name to be remembered in all generations;
Therefore the peoples will 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.
1God is our refuge and strength,
A very present help in trouble.
2Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change
And though the mountains slip into the heart of the sea;
3Though its waters roar and foam,
Though the mountains quake at its swelling pride. Selah.
4There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
The holy dwelling places of the Most High.
5God is in the midst of her, she will not be moved;
God will help her when morning dawns.
6The nations made an uproar, the kingdoms tottered;
He raised His voice, the earth melted.
7The Lord of hosts is with us;
The God of Jacob is our stronghold. Selah.
8Come, behold the works of the Lord,
Who has wrought desolations in the earth.
9He makes wars to cease to the end of the earth;
He breaks the bow and cuts the spear in two;
He burns the chariots with fire.
10“Cease striving and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”
11The 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.
1O clap your hands, all peoples;
Shout to God with the voice of joy.
2For the Lord Most High is to be feared,
A great King over all the earth.
3He subdues peoples under us
And nations under our feet.
4He chooses our inheritance for us,
The glory of Jacob whom He loves. Selah.
5God has ascended 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 skillful psalm.
8God reigns over the nations,
God sits on His holy throne.
9The princes of the people have assembled themselves as the people of the God of Abraham,
For the shields of the earth belong to God;
He is highly exalted.
PSALM 48
The Beauty and Glory of Zion.
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, the joy of the whole earth,
Is Mount Zion in the far north,
The city of the great King.
3God, in her palaces,
Has made Himself known as a stronghold.
4For, lo, the kings assembled themselves,
They passed by together.
5They saw it, then they were amazed;
They were terrified, they fled in alarm.
6Panic seized them there,
Anguish, as of a woman in childbirth.
7With the east wind
You break 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;
God will establish her forever. Selah.
9We have thought on Your lovingkindness, O God,
In the midst of Your temple.
10As is Your name, O God,
So is Your praise to the ends of the earth;
Your right hand is full of righteousness.
11Let Mount Zion be glad,
Let the daughters of Judah rejoice
Because of Your judgments.
12Walk about Zion and go around her;
Count her towers;
13Consider her ramparts;
Go through her palaces,
That you may tell it to the next generation.
14For such is God,
Our God forever and ever;
He will guide us until death.