6
“Certainly, man walks about like a mere shadow.
Indeed, they frantically rush around in vain,
gathering possessions
without knowing who will get them.
7
Now, Lord, what do I wait for?
My hope is in You.
8
Deliver me from all my transgressions;
do not make me the taunt of fools.
9
I am speechless; I do not open my mouth
because of what You have done.
10
Remove Your torment from me;
I fade away because of the force of Your hand.
11
You discipline a man with punishment for sin,
consuming like a moth what is precious to him;
every man is only a vapor.
Selah
12
“Hear my prayer,
Lord
,
and listen to my cry for help;
do not be silent at my tears.
For I am a foreigner residing with You,
a temporary resident like all my fathers.
13
Turn Your angry gaze from me
so that I may be cheered up
before I die and am gone.”
Psalms
Thanksgiving and a Cry for Help
For the choir director. A Davidic psalm.
40
I waited patiently for the
Lord
,
and He turned to me and heard my cry for help.
2
He brought me up from a desolate pit,
out of the muddy clay,
and set my feet on a rock,
making my steps secure.
3
He put a new song in my mouth,
a hymn of praise to our God.
Many will see and fear
and put their trust in the
Lord
.
4
How happy is the man
who has put his trust in the
Lord
and has not turned to the proud
or to those who run after lies!
5
Lord
my God, You have done many things —
Your wonderful works and Your plans for us;
none can compare with You.
If I were to report and speak of them,
they are more than can be told.
6
You do not delight in sacrifice and offering;
You open my ears to listen.
You do not ask for a whole
•burnt
offering or a
•sin
offering.
7
Then I said, “See, I have come;
it is written about me in the volume of the scroll.
8
I delight to do Your will, my God;
Your instruction lives within me.”
9
I proclaim righteousness in the great assembly;
see, I do not keep my mouth closed —
as You know,
Lord
.
10
I did not hide Your righteousness in my heart;
I spoke about Your faithfulness and salvation;
I did not conceal Your constant love and truth
from the great assembly.
11
Lord
, do not withhold Your compassion from me;
Your constant love and truth will always guard me.
12
For troubles without number have surrounded me;
my sins have overtaken me; I am unable to see.
They are more than the hairs of my head,
and my courage leaves me.
13
Lord
, be pleased to deliver me;
hurry to help me,
Lord
.
14
Let those who seek to take my life
be disgraced and confounded.
Let those who wish me harm
be driven back and humiliated.
15
Let those who say to me, “Aha, aha! ”
be horrified because of their shame.
16
Let all who seek You rejoice and be glad in You;
let those who love Your salvation continually say,
“The
Lord
is great! ”
17
I am afflicted and needy;
the Lord thinks of me.
You are my helper and my deliverer;
my God, do not delay.
Psalms
Victory in Spite of Betrayal
For the choir director. A Davidic psalm.
41
Happy is one who cares for the poor;
the
Lord
will save him in a day of adversity.
2
The
Lord
will keep him and preserve him;
he will be blessed in the land.
You will not give him over to the desire of his enemies.
3
The
Lord
will sustain him on his sickbed;
You will heal him on the bed where he lies.
4
I said, “
Lord
, be gracious to me;
heal me, for I have sinned against You.”
5
My enemies speak maliciously about me:
“When will he die and be forgotten? ”
6
When one of them comes to visit, he speaks deceitfully;
he stores up evil in his heart;
he goes out and talks.
7
All who hate me whisper together about me;
they plan to harm me.
8
“Lethal poison has been poured into him,
and he won't rise again from where he lies! ”
9
Even my friend in whom I trusted,
one who ate my bread,
has raised his heel against me.
10
But You,
Lord
, be gracious to me and raise me up;
then I will repay them.
11
By this I know that You delight in me:
my enemy does not shout in triumph over me.
12
You supported me because of my integrity
and set me in Your presence forever.
13
May
•Yahweh
, the God of Israel, be praised
from everlasting to everlasting.
•Amen
and amen.
Psalms
BOOK II
(Psalms 42–72)
Longing for God
For the choir director. A •
Maskil
of the sons of Korah.
42
As a deer longs for streams of water,
so I long for You, God.
2
I thirst for God, the living God.
When can I come and appear before God?
3
My tears have been my food day and night,
while all day long people say to me,
“Where is your God? ”
4
I remember this as I pour out my heart:
how I walked with many,
leading the festive procession to the house of God,
with joyful and thankful shouts.
5
Why am I so depressed?
Why this turmoil within me?
Put your hope in God, for I will still praise Him,
my Savior and my God.
6
I am deeply depressed;
therefore I remember You from the land of Jordan
and the peaks of Hermon, from Mount Mizar.
7
Deep calls to deep in the roar of Your waterfalls;
all Your breakers and Your billows have swept over me.
8
The
Lord
will send His faithful love by day;
His song will be with me in the night —
a prayer to the God of my life.
9
I will say to God, my rock,
“Why have You forgotten me?
Why must I go about in sorrow
because of the enemy's oppression? ”
10
My adversaries taunt me,
as if crushing my bones,
while all day long they say to me,
“Where is your God? ”
11
Why am I so depressed?
Why this turmoil within me?
Put your hope in God, for I will still praise Him,
my Savior and my God.
Psalms
Psalm 43
1
Vindicate me, God, and defend my cause
against an ungodly nation;
rescue me from the deceitful and unjust man.
2
For You are the God of my refuge.
Why have You rejected me?
Why must I go about in sorrow
because of the enemy's oppression?
3
Send Your light and Your truth; let them lead me.
Let them bring me to Your holy mountain,
to Your dwelling place.
4
Then I will come to the altar of God,
to God, my greatest joy.
I will praise You with the lyre,
God, my God.
5
Why am I so depressed?
Why this turmoil within me?
Put your hope in God, for I will still praise Him,
my Savior and my God.
Psalms
Israel's Complaint
For the choir director. A •
Maskil
of the sons of Korah.
44
God, we have heard with our ears —
our ancestors have told us —
the work You accomplished in their days,
in days long ago:
2
to plant them,
You drove out the nations with Your hand;
to settle them,
You crushed the peoples.
3
For they did not take the land by their sword —
their arm did not bring them victory —
but by Your right hand, Your arm,
and the light of Your face,
for You were pleased with them.
4
You are my King, my God,
who ordains victories for Jacob.
5
Through You we drive back our foes;
through Your name we trample our enemies.
6
For I do not trust in my bow,
and my sword does not bring me victory.
7
But You give us victory over our foes
and let those who hate us be disgraced.
8
We boast in God all day long;
we will praise Your name forever.
9
But You have rejected and humiliated us;
You do not march out with our armies.
10
You make us retreat from the foe,
and those who hate us
have taken plunder for themselves.
11
You hand us over to be eaten like sheep
and scatter us among the nations.
12
You sell Your people for nothing;
You make no profit from selling them.
13
You make us an object of reproach to our neighbors,
a source of mockery and ridicule to those around us.
14
You make us a joke among the nations,
a laughingstock among the peoples.
15
My disgrace is before me all day long,
and shame has covered my face,
16
because of the voice of the scorner and reviler,
because of the enemy and avenger.
17
All this has happened to us,
but we have not forgotten You
or betrayed Your covenant.
18
Our hearts have not turned back;
our steps have not strayed from Your path.
19
But You have crushed us in a haunt of jackals
and have covered us with deepest darkness.
20
If we had forgotten the name of our God
and spread out our hands to a foreign god,
21
wouldn't God have found this out,
since He knows the secrets of the heart?
22
Because of You we are slain all day long;
we are counted as sheep to be slaughtered.
23
Wake up,
Lord
! Why are You sleeping?
Get up! Don't reject us forever!
24
Why do You hide Yourself
and forget our affliction and oppression?
25
For we have sunk down to the dust;
our bodies cling to the ground.
26
Rise up! Help us!
Redeem us because of Your faithful love.
Psalms
A Royal Wedding Song
For the choir director: according to “The Lilies.” A •
Maskil
of the sons of Korah. A love song.
45
My heart is moved by a noble theme
as I recite my verses to the king;
my tongue is the pen of a skillful writer.
2
You are the most handsome of
•men
;
grace flows from your lips.
Therefore God has blessed you forever.