Psalms 42-48

Psalm 42

¹For the choirmaster. A Maskil of the sons of Korah. As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul longs after You, O God.

²My soul thirsts for God, the living God. When shall I come and appear in God’s presence?

³My tears have been my food both day and night, while men ask me all day long, “Where is your God?”

⁴These things come to mind as I pour out my soul: how I walked with the multitude, leading the procession to the house of God with shouts of joy and praise.

⁵Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why the unease within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise Him for the salvation of His presence.

⁶O my God, my soul despairs within me. Therefore I remember You from the land of Jordan and the peaks of Hermon— even from Mount Mizar.

⁷Deep calls to deep in the roar of Your waterfalls; all Your breakers and waves have rolled over me.

⁸The LORD decrees His loving devotion by day, and at night His song is with me as a prayer to the God of my life.

⁹I say to God my Rock, “Why have You forgotten me? Why must I walk in sorrow because of the enemy’s oppression?”

¹⁰Like the crushing of my bones, my enemies taunt me, while they say to me all day long, “Where is your God?”

¹¹Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why the unease within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise Him, my Savior and my God.

Psalm 43

¹Vindicate me, O God, and plead my case against an ungodly nation; deliver me from deceitful and unjust men.

²For You are the God of my refuge. Why have You rejected me? Why must I walk in sorrow because of the enemy’s oppression?

³Send out Your light and Your truth; let them lead me. Let them bring me to Your holy mountain, and to the place where You dwell.

⁴Then I will go to the altar of God, to God, my greatest joy. I will praise You with the harp, O God, my God.

⁵Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why the unease within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise Him, my Savior and my God.

Psalm 44

¹For the choirmaster. A Maskil of the sons of Korah. We have heard with our ears, O God; our fathers have told us the work You did in their days, in the days of old.

²With Your hand You drove out the nations and planted our fathers there; You crushed the peoples and cast them out.

³For it was not by their sword that they took the land; their arm did not bring them victory. It was by Your right hand, Your arm, and the light of Your face, because You favored them.

⁴You are my King, O God, who ordains victories for Jacob.

⁵Through You we repel our foes; through Your name we trample our enemies.

⁶For I do not trust in my bow, nor does my sword save me.

⁷For You save us from our enemies; You put those who hate us to shame.

⁸In God we have boasted all day long, and Your name we will praise forever. Selah

⁹But You have rejected and humbled us; You no longer go forth with our armies.

¹⁰You have made us retreat from the foe, and those who hate us have plundered us.

¹¹You have given us up as sheep to be devoured; You have scattered us among the nations.

¹²You sell Your people for nothing; no profit do You gain from their sale.

¹³You have made us a reproach to our neighbors, a mockery and derision to those around us.

¹⁴You have made us a byword among the nations, a laughingstock among the peoples.

¹⁵All day long my disgrace is before me, and shame has covered my face,

¹⁶at the voice of the scorner and reviler, because of the enemy, bent on revenge.

¹⁷All this has come upon us, though we have not forgotten You or betrayed Your covenant.

¹⁸Our hearts have not turned back; our steps have not strayed from Your path.

¹⁹But You have crushed us in the lair of jackals; You have covered us with deepest darkness.

²⁰If we had forgotten the name of our God or spread out our hands to a foreign god,

²¹would not God have discovered, since He knows the secrets of the heart?

²²Yet for Your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.

²³Wake up, O Lord! Why are You sleeping? Arise! Do not reject us forever.

²⁴Why do You hide Your face and forget our affliction and oppression?

²⁵For our soul has sunk to the dust; our bodies cling to the earth.

²⁶Rise up; be our help! Redeem us on account of Your loving devotion.

Psalm 45

¹For the choirmaster. To the tune of “The Lilies.” A Maskil of the sons of Korah. A love song. My heart is stirred by a noble theme as I recite my verses to the king; my tongue is the pen of a skillful writer.

²You are the most handsome of men; grace has anointed your lips, since God has blessed you forever.

³Strap your sword at your side, O mighty warrior; appear in your majesty and splendor.

⁴In your splendor ride forth in victory on behalf of truth and humility and justice; may your right hand show your awesome deeds.

⁵Your arrows pierce the hearts of the king’s foes; the nations fall beneath your feet.

⁶Your throne, O God, endures forever and ever, and justice is the scepter of Your kingdom.

⁷You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, your God, has anointed you above your companions with the oil of joy.

⁸All your garments are fragrant with myrrh and aloes and cassia; from palaces of ivory the harps make you glad.

⁹The daughters of kings are among your honored women; the queen stands at your right hand, adorned with the gold of Ophir.

¹⁰Listen, O daughter! Consider and incline your ear: Forget your people and your father’s house,

¹¹and the king will desire your beauty; bow to him, for he is your lord.

¹²The Daughter of Tyre will come with a gift; men of wealth will seek your favor.

¹³All glorious is the princess in her chamber; her gown is embroidered with gold.

¹⁴In colorful garments she is led to the king; her virgin companions are brought before you.

¹⁵They are led in with joy and gladness; they enter the palace of the king.

¹⁶Your sons will succeed your fathers; you will make them princes throughout the land.

¹⁷I will commemorate your name through all generations; therefore the nations will praise you forever and ever.

Psalm 46

¹For the choirmaster. Of the sons of Korah. According to Alamoth. A song. God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in times of trouble.

²Therefore we will not fear, though the earth is transformed and the mountains are toppled into the depths of the seas,

³though their waters roar and foam and the mountains quake in the surge. Selah

⁴There is a river whose streams delight the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells.

⁵God is within her; she will not be moved. God will help her when morning dawns.

⁶Nations rage, kingdoms crumble; the earth melts when He lifts His voice.

⁷The LORD of Hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah

⁸Come, see the works of the LORD, who brings devastation upon the earth.

⁹He makes wars to cease throughout the earth; He breaks the bow and shatters the spear; He burns the shields in the fire.

¹⁰“Be still and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted over the earth.”

¹¹The LORD of Hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah

Psalm 47

¹For the choirmaster. A Psalm of the sons of Korah. Clap your hands, all you peoples; shout unto God with a voice of triumph.

²How awesome is the LORD Most High, the great King over all the earth!

³He subdues nations beneath us, and peoples under our feet.

⁴He chooses our inheritance for us, the pride of Jacob, whom He loves. Selah

⁵God has ascended amid shouts of joy, the LORD with the sound of the horn.

⁶Sing praises to God, sing praises; sing praises to our King, sing praises!

⁷For God is King of all the earth; sing profound praises to Him.

⁸God reigns over the nations; God is seated on His holy throne.

⁹The nobles of the nations have assembled as the people of the God of Abraham; for the shields of the earth belong to God; He is highly exalted.

Psalm 48

¹A song. A Psalm of the sons of Korah. Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, His holy mountain.

²Beautiful in loftiness, the joy of all the earth, like the peaks of Zaphon is Mount Zion, the city of the great King.

³God is in her citadels; He has shown Himself to be a fortress.

⁴For behold, the kings assembled; they all advanced together.

⁵They saw and were astounded; they fled in terror.

⁶Trembling seized them there, anguish like a woman in labor.

⁷With a wind from the east You wrecked the ships of Tarshish.

⁸As we have heard, so we have seen in the city of the LORD of Hosts, in the city of our God: God will establish her forever. Selah

⁹Within Your temple, O God, we contemplate Your loving devotion.

¹⁰Your name, O God, like Your praise, reaches to the ends of the earth; Your right hand is full of righteousness.

¹¹Mount Zion is glad, the daughters of Judah rejoice, on account of Your judgments.

¹²March around Zion, encircle her, count her towers,

¹³consider her ramparts, tour her citadels, that you may tell the next generation.

¹⁴For this God is our God forever and ever; He will be our guide even till death.