Psalms 42-48

Psalm 42

¹To the Overseer. -- An Instruction. By sons of Korah. As a hart doth pant for streams of water, So my soul panteth toward Thee, O God.

²My soul thirsted for God, for the living God, When do I enter and see the face of God?

³My tear hath been to me bread day and night, In their saying unto me all the day, ‘Where is thy God?'

⁴These I remember, and pour out my soul in me, For I pass over into the booth, I go softly with them unto the house of God, With the voice of singing and confession, The multitude keeping feast!

⁵What! bowest thou thyself, O my soul? Yea, art thou troubled within me? Wait for God, for still I confess Him: The salvation of my countenance -- My God!

⁶In me doth my soul bow itself, Therefore I remember Thee from the land of Jordan, And of the Hermons, from the hill Mizar.

⁷Deep unto deep is calling At the noise of Thy water-spouts, All Thy breakers and Thy billows passed over me.

⁸By day Jehovah commandeth His kindness, And by night a song is with me, A prayer to the God of my life.

⁹I say to God my rock, ‘Why hast Thou forgotten me? Why go I mourning in the oppression of an enemy?

¹⁰With a sword in my bones Have mine adversaries reproached me, In their saying unto me all the day, ‘Where is thy God?'

¹¹What! bowest thou thyself, O my soul? And what! art thou troubled within me? Wait for God, for still I confess Him, The salvation of my countenance, and my God!

Psalm 43

¹Judge me, O God, And plead my cause against a nation not pious, From a man of deceit and perverseness Thou dost deliver me,

²For thou art the God of my strength. Why hast Thou cast me off? Why mourning do I go up and down, In the oppression of an enemy?

³Send forth Thy light and Thy truth, They -- they lead me, they bring me in, Unto Thy holy hill, and unto Thy tabernacles.

⁴And I go in unto the altar of God, Unto God, the joy of my rejoicing. And I thank Thee with a harp, O God, my God.

⁵What! bowest thou thyself, O my soul? And what! art thou troubled within me? Wait for God, for still I confess Him, The salvation of my countenance, and my God!

Psalm 44

¹To the Overseer. -- By sons of Korah. An Instruction. O God, with our ears we have heard, Our fathers have recounted to us, The work Thou didst work in their days, In the days of old.

²Thou, with Thy hand, nations hast dispossessed. And Thou dost plant them. Thou afflictest peoples, and sendest them away.

³For, not by their sword Possessed they the land, And their arm gave not salvation to them, But Thy right hand, and Thine arm, And the light of Thy countenance, Because Thou hadst accepted them.

⁴Thou art He, my king, O God, Command the deliverances of Jacob.

⁵By Thee our adversaries we do push, By Thy name tread down our withstanders,

⁶For, not in my bow do I trust, And my sword doth not save me.

⁷For Thou hast saved us from our adversaries, And those hating us Thou hast put to shame.

⁸In God we have boasted all the day, And Thy name to the age we thank. Selah.

⁹In anger Thou hast cast off and causest us to blush, And goest not forth with our hosts.

¹⁰Thou causest us to turn backward from an adversary, And those hating us, Have spoiled for themselves.

¹¹Thou makest us food like sheep, And among nations Thou hast scattered us.

¹²Thou sellest Thy people -- without wealth, And hast not become great by their price.

¹³Thou makest us a reproach to our neighbours, A scorn and a reproach to our surrounders.

¹⁴Thou makest us a simile among nations, A shaking of the head among peoples.

¹⁵All the day my confusion is before me, And the shame of my face hath covered me.

¹⁶Because of the voice of a reproacher and reviler, Because of an enemy and a self-avenger.

¹⁷All this met us, and we did not forget Thee, Nor have we dealt falsely in Thy covenant.

¹⁸We turn not backward our heart, Nor turn aside doth our step from Thy path.

¹⁹But Thou hast smitten us in a place of dragons, And dost cover us over with death-shade.

²⁰If we have forgotten the name of our God, And spread our hands to a strange God,

²¹Doth not God search out this? For He knoweth the secrets of the heart.

²²Surely, for Thy sake we have been slain all the day, Reckoned as sheep of the slaughter.

²³Stir up -- why dost Thou sleep, O Lord? Awake, cast us not off for ever.

²⁴Why Thy face hidest Thou? Thou forgettest our afflictions and our oppression,

²⁵For bowed to the dust hath our soul, Cleaved to the earth hath our belly.

²⁶Arise, a help to us, And ransom us for thy kindness' sake.

Psalm 45

¹To the Overseer. -- ‘On the Lilies.' -- By sons of Korah. -- An Instruction. -- A song of loves. My heart hath indited a good thing, I am telling my works to a king, My tongue is the pen of a speedy writer.

²Thou hast been beautified above the sons of men, Grace hath been poured into thy lips, Therefore hath God blessed thee to the age.

³Gird Thy sword upon the thigh, O mighty, Thy glory and Thy majesty!

⁴As to Thy majesty -- prosper! -- ride! Because of truth, and meekness -- righteousness, And Thy right hand showeth Thee fearful things.

⁵Thine arrows are sharp, -- Peoples fall under Thee -- In the heart of the enemies of the king.

⁶Thy throne, O God, is age-during, and for ever, A sceptre of uprightness Is the sceptre of Thy kingdom.

⁷Thou hast loved righteousness and hatest wickedness, Therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee, Oil of joy above thy companions.

⁸Myrrh and aloes, cassia! all thy garments, Out of palaces of ivory Stringed instruments have made thee glad.

⁹Daughters of kings are among thy precious ones, A queen hath stood at thy right hand, In pure gold of Ophir.

¹⁰Hearken, O daughter, and see, incline thine ear, And forget thy people, and thy father's house,

¹¹And the king doth desire thy beauty, Because he is thy lord -- bow thyself to him,

¹²And the daughter of Tyre with a present, The rich of the people do appease thy face.

¹³All glory is the daughter of the king within, Of gold-embroidered work is her clothing.

¹⁴In divers colours she is brought to the king, Virgins -- after her -- her companions, Are brought to thee.

¹⁵They are brought with joy and gladness, They come into the palace of the king.

¹⁶Instead of thy fathers are thy sons, Thou dost appoint them for princes in all the earth.

¹⁷I make mention of Thy name in all generations, Therefore do peoples praise Thee, To the age, and for ever!

Psalm 46

¹To the Overseer. -- By sons of Korah. ‘For the Virgins.' -- A song. God is to us a refuge and strength, A help in adversities found most surely.

²Therefore we fear not in the changing of earth, And in the slipping of mountains Into the heart of the seas.

³Roar -- troubled are its waters, Mountains they shake in its pride. Selah.

⁴A river -- its rivulets rejoice the city of God, Thy holy place of the tabernacles of the Most High.

⁵God is in her midst -- she is not moved, God doth help her at the turn of the morn!

⁶Troubled have been nations, Moved have been kingdoms, He hath given forth with His voice, earth melteth.

⁷Jehovah of Hosts is with us, A tower for us is the God of Jacob. Selah.

⁸Come ye, see the works of Jehovah, Who hath done astonishing things in the earth,

⁹Causing wars to cease, Unto the end of the earth, the bow he shivereth, And the spear He hath cut asunder, Chariots he doth burn with fire.

¹⁰Desist, and know that I am God, I am exalted among nations, I am exalted in the earth.

¹¹Jehovah of hosts is with us, A tower for us is the God of Jacob! Selah.

Psalm 47

¹To the Overseer. -- By sons of Korah. A Psalm. All ye peoples, clap the hand, Shout to God with a voice of singing,

²For Jehovah Most High is fearful, A great king over all the earth.

³He leadeth peoples under us, and nations under our feet.

⁴He doth choose for us our inheritance, The excellency of Jacob that He loves. Selah.

⁵God hath gone up with a shout, Jehovah with the sound of a trumpet.

⁶Praise God -- praise -- give praise to our king, praise.

⁷For king of all the earth is God, Give praise, O understanding one.

⁸God hath reigned over nations, God hath sat on His holy throne,

⁹Nobles of peoples have been gathered, With the people of the God of Abraham, For to God are the shields of earth, Greatly hath He been exalted!

Psalm 48

¹A Song, a Psalm, by sons of Korah. Great is Jehovah, and praised greatly, In the city of our God -- His holy hill.

²Beautiful for elevation, A joy of all the land, is Mount Zion, The sides of the north, the city of a great king.

³God in her high places is known for a tower.

⁴For, lo, the kings met, they passed by together,

⁵They have seen -- so they have marvelled, They have been troubled, they were hastened away.

⁶Trembling hath seized them there, Pain, as of a travailing woman.

⁷By an east wind Thou shiverest ships of Tarshish.

⁸As we have heard, so we have seen, In the city of Jehovah of hosts, In the city of our God, God doth establish her -- to the age. Selah.

⁹We have thought, O God, of Thy kindness, In the midst of Thy temple,

¹⁰As is Thy name, O God, so is Thy praise, Over the ends of the earth, Righteousness hath filled Thy right hand.

¹¹Rejoice doth Mount Zion, The daughters of Judah are joyful, For the sake of Thy judgments.

¹²Compass Zion, and go round her, count her towers,

¹³Set your heart to her bulwark, Consider her high places, So that ye recount to a later generation,

¹⁴That this God is our God -- To the age and for ever, He -- he doth lead us over death!