Psalm 43-47

New King James Version

Prayer to God in Time of Trouble

43 Vindicate ^(A)me, O God,
And ^(B)plead my cause against an ungodly nation;
Oh, deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man!
²For You are the God of my strength;
Why do You cast me off?
^(C)Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?

³^(D)Oh, send out Your light and Your truth!
Let them lead me;
Let them bring me to ^(E)Your holy hill
And to Your ^[a]tabernacle.
⁴Then I will go to the altar of God,
To God my exceeding joy;
And on the harp I will praise You,
O God, my God.

⁵^(F)Why are you cast down, O my soul?
And why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God;
For I shall yet praise Him,
The ^[b]help of my countenance and my God.

Redemption Remembered in Present Dishonor

To the Chief Musician. A ^(G)Contemplation^[c] of the sons of Korah.

44 We have heard with our ears, O God,
^(H)Our fathers have told us,
The deeds You did in their days,
In days of old:
²^(I)You drove out the ^[d]nations with Your hand,
But them You planted;
You afflicted the peoples, and cast them out.
³For ^(J)they did not gain possession of the land by their own sword,
Nor did their own arm save them;
But it was Your right hand, Your arm, and the light of Your countenance,
^(K)Because You favored them.

⁴^(L)You are my King, ^[e]O God;
^[f]Command victories for Jacob.
⁵Through You ^(M)we will push down our enemies;
Through Your name we will trample those who rise up against us.
⁶For ^(N)I will not trust in my bow,
Nor shall my sword save me.
⁷But You have saved us from our enemies,
And have put to shame those who hated us.
⁸^(O)In God we boast all day long,
And praise Your name forever. Selah

⁹But ^(P)You have cast us off and put us to shame,
And You do not go out with our armies.
¹⁰You make us ^(Q)turn back from the enemy,
And those who hate us have taken ^[g]spoil for themselves.
¹¹^(R)You have given us up like sheep intended for food,
And have ^(S)scattered us among the nations.
¹²^(T)You sell Your people for next to nothing,
And are not enriched by selling them.

¹³^(U)You make us a reproach to our neighbors,
A scorn and a derision to those all around us.
¹⁴^(V)You make us a byword among the nations,
^(W)A shaking of the head among the peoples.
¹⁵My dishonor is continually before me,
And the shame of my face has covered me,
¹⁶Because of the voice of him who reproaches and reviles,
^(X)Because of the enemy and the avenger.

¹⁷^(Y)All this has come upon us;
But we have not forgotten You,
Nor have we dealt falsely with Your covenant.
¹⁸Our heart has not turned back,
^(Z)Nor have our steps departed from Your way;
¹⁹But You have severely broken us in ^(AA)the place of jackals,
And covered us ^(AB)with the shadow of death.

²⁰If we had forgotten the name of our God,
Or ^(AC)stretched^[h] out our hands to a foreign god,
²¹^(AD)Would not God search this out?
For He knows the secrets of the heart.
²²^(AE)Yet for Your sake we are killed all day long;
We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.

²³^(AF)Awake! Why do You sleep, O Lord?
Arise! Do not cast us off forever.
²⁴^(AG)Why do You hide Your face,
And forget our affliction and our oppression?
²⁵For ^(AH)our soul is bowed down to the ^[i]dust;
Our body clings to the ground.
²⁶Arise for our help,
And redeem us for Your mercies’ sake.

The Glories of the Messiah and His Bride

To the Chief Musician. ^(AI)Set to ^[j]“The Lilies.” A ^[k]Contemplation of the sons of Korah. A Song of Love.

45 My heart is overflowing with a good theme;
I recite my composition concerning the King;
My tongue is the pen of a ^[l]ready writer.

²You are fairer than the sons of men;
^(AJ)Grace is poured upon Your lips;
Therefore God has blessed You forever.
³^[m]Gird Your ^(AK)sword upon Your thigh, ^(AL)O Mighty One,
With Your ^(AM)glory and Your majesty.
⁴^(AN)And in Your majesty ride prosperously because of truth, humility, and righteousness;
And Your right hand shall teach You awesome things.
⁵Your arrows are sharp in the heart of the King’s enemies;
The peoples fall under You.

⁶^(AO)Your throne, O God, is forever and ever;
A ^(AP)scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Your kingdom.
⁷You love righteousness and hate wickedness;
Therefore God, Your God, has ^(AQ)anointed You
With the oil of ^(AR)gladness more than Your companions.
⁸All Your garments are ^(AS)scented with myrrh and aloes and cassia,
Out of the ivory palaces, by which they have made You glad.
⁹^(AT)Kings’ daughters are among Your honorable women;
^(AU)At Your right hand stands the queen in gold from Ophir.

¹⁰Listen, O daughter,
Consider and incline your ear;
^(AV)Forget your own people also, and your father’s house;
¹¹So the King will greatly desire your beauty;
^(AW)Because He is your Lord, worship Him.
¹²And the daughter of Tyre will come with a gift;
^(AX)The rich among the people will seek your favor.

¹³The royal daughter is all glorious within the palace;
Her clothing is woven with gold.
¹⁴^(AY)She shall be brought to the King in robes of many colors;
The virgins, her companions who follow her, shall be brought to You.
¹⁵With gladness and rejoicing they shall be brought;
They shall enter the King’s palace.

¹⁶Instead of Your fathers shall be Your sons,
^(AZ)Whom You shall make princes in all the earth.
¹⁷^(BA)I will make Your name to be remembered in all generations;
Therefore the people shall praise You forever and ever.

God the Refuge of His People and Conqueror of the Nations

To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of the sons of Korah. A Song ^(BB)for Alamoth.

46 God is our ^(BC)refuge and strength,
^(BD)A^[n] very present help in trouble.
²Therefore we will not fear,
Even though the earth be removed,
And though the mountains be carried into the ^[o]midst of the sea;
³^(BE)Though its waters roar and be troubled,
Though the mountains shake with its swelling. Selah

⁴There is a ^(BF)river whose streams shall make glad the ^(BG)city of God,
The holy place of the ^[p]tabernacle of the Most High.
⁵God is ^(BH)in the midst of her, she shall not be ^[q]moved;
God shall help her, just ^[r]at the break of dawn.
⁶^(BI)The nations raged, the kingdoms were moved;
He uttered His voice, the earth melted.

⁷The ^(BJ)Lord of hosts is with us;
The God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah

⁸Come, behold the works of the Lord,
Who has made desolations in the earth.
⁹^(BK)He makes wars cease to the end of the earth;
^(BL)He breaks the bow and cuts the spear in two;
^(BM)He burns the chariot in the fire.

¹⁰Be still, and know that I am God;
^(BN)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 refuge. Selah

Praise to God, the Ruler of the Earth

To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of the sons of Korah.

47 Oh, clap your hands, all you peoples!
Shout to God with the voice of triumph!
²For the Lord Most High is awesome;
He is a great ^(BO)King over all the earth.
³^(BP)He will subdue the peoples under us,
And the nations under our feet.
⁴He will choose our ^(BQ)inheritance for us,
The excellence of Jacob whom He loves. Selah

⁵^(BR)God 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!
⁷^(BS)For God is the King of all the earth;
^(BT)Sing praises with understanding.

⁸^(BU)God reigns over the nations;
God ^(BV)sits on His ^(BW)holy throne.
⁹The princes of the people have gathered together,
^(BX)The people of the God of Abraham.
^(BY)For the shields of the earth belong to God;
He is greatly exalted.