Psalm 39-44

English Standard Version

What Is the Measure of My Days?

To the choirmaster: to ^(A)Jeduthun. A Psalm of David.

39 I said, “I will ^(B)guard my ways,
    that I ^(C)may not sin with my tongue;
I will ^(D)guard my mouth with a muzzle,
    so long as the wicked are in my presence.”
²I was ^(E)mute and silent;
    I held my peace to no avail,
and my distress grew worse.
³    My ^(F)heart became hot within me.
As I mused, the fire burned;
    then I spoke with my tongue:

⁴“O Lord, ^(G)make me know my end
    and what is the measure of my days;
    let me know how fleeting I am!
⁵Behold, you have made my days a few handbreadths,
    and ^(H)my lifetime is as nothing before you.
Surely ^(I)all mankind stands as a mere breath! Selah
⁶    Surely a man ^(J)goes about as a shadow!
Surely for nothing^[a] they are in turmoil;
    man ^(K)heaps up wealth and does not know who will gather!

⁷“And now, O Lord, for what do I wait?
    ^(L)My hope is in you.
⁸Deliver me from all my transgressions.
    ^(M)Do not make me the scorn of the fool!
⁹^(N)I am mute; I do not open my mouth,
    ^(O)for it is you who have done it.
¹⁰^(P)Remove your stroke from me;
    I am spent by the hostility of your hand.
¹¹When you discipline a man
    with ^(Q)rebukes for sin,
you ^(R)consume like a ^(S)moth what is dear to him;
    ^(T)surely all mankind is a mere breath! Selah

¹²^(U)“Hear my prayer, O Lord,
    and give ear to my cry;
    hold not your peace at my tears!
For I am ^(V)a sojourner with you,
    ^(W)a guest, like all my fathers.
¹³^(X)Look away from me, that I may smile again,
    ^(Y)before I depart and ^(Z)am no more!”

My Help and My Deliverer

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.

40 I ^(AA)waited patiently for the Lord;
    he inclined to me and ^(AB)heard my cry.
²He drew me up from ^(AC)the pit of destruction,
    out of ^(AD)the miry bog,
and ^(AE)set my feet upon a rock,
    ^(AF)making my steps secure.
³He put ^(AG)a new song in my mouth,
    a song of praise to our God.
Many will ^(AH)see and fear,
    and put their trust in the Lord.

⁴Blessed is the man who ^(AI)makes
    the Lord his trust,
who does not turn to the proud,
    to those who ^(AJ)go astray after a lie!
⁵You have multiplied, O Lord my God,
    your ^(AK)wondrous deeds and your ^(AL)thoughts toward us;
    none can compare with you!
I will proclaim and tell of them,
    yet they are ^(AM)more than can be told.

⁶^(AN)In sacrifice and offering you have not delighted,
    but you have given me an open ^(AO)ear.^[b]
Burnt offering and sin offering
    you have not required.
⁷Then I said, “Behold, I have come;
    in the scroll of the book it is written ^(AP)of me:
⁸^(AQ)I delight to do your will, O my God;
    your law is ^(AR)within my heart.”

⁹I have told the glad news of deliverance^[c]
    in ^(AS)the great congregation;
behold, I have not ^(AT)restrained my lips,
    ^(AU)as you know, O Lord.
¹⁰I have not hidden your deliverance within my heart;
    I have spoken of your faithfulness and your salvation;
I have not concealed your steadfast love and your faithfulness
    from the great congregation.

¹¹As for you, O Lord, you will not restrain
    your mercy from me;
your ^(AV)steadfast love and your faithfulness will
    ever preserve me!
¹²For evils have ^(AW)encompassed me
    beyond number;
my ^(AX)iniquities have overtaken me,
    and I cannot ^(AY)see;
they are ^(AZ)more than the hairs of my head;
    my heart ^(BA)fails me.

¹³^(BB)Be pleased, O Lord, to ^(BC)deliver me!
    O Lord, ^(BD)make haste to help me!
¹⁴^(BE)Let those be put to shame and disappointed altogether
    who seek to snatch away my life;
let those be ^(BF)turned back and brought to dishonor
    who delight in my hurt!
¹⁵Let those be appalled because of their shame
    who ^(BG)say to me, “Aha, Aha!”

¹⁶But may all who seek you
    rejoice and be glad in you;
may those who love your salvation
    ^(BH)say continually, “Great is the Lord!”
¹⁷As for me, I am ^(BI)poor and needy,
    but ^(BJ)the Lord takes thought for me.
You are my help and my deliverer;
    do not delay, O my God!

O Lord, Be Gracious to Me

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.

41 ^(BK)Blessed is the one who considers the poor!^[d]
    ^(BL)In the day of trouble the Lord delivers him;
²the Lord protects him and keeps him alive;
    he is called blessed in the land;
    you ^(BM)do not give him up to the will of his enemies.
³The Lord sustains him on his sickbed;
    in his illness you restore him to full health.^[e]

⁴As for me, I said, “O Lord, ^(BN)be gracious to me;
    ^(BO)heal me,^[f] for I have sinned against you!”
⁵My enemies say of me in malice,
    “When will he die, and his name perish?”
⁶And when one comes to see me, ^(BP)he utters empty words,
    while his heart gathers iniquity;
    when he goes out, he tells it abroad.
⁷All who hate me whisper together about me;
    they imagine the worst for me.^[g]

⁸They say, “A deadly thing is poured out^[h] on him;
    he will not rise again from where he lies.”
⁹Even my ^(BQ)close friend in whom I trusted,
    who ^(BR)ate my bread, has lifted his heel against me.
¹⁰But you, O Lord, be gracious to me,
    and raise me up, that I may repay them!

¹¹By this I know that ^(BS)you delight in me:
my enemy will not shout in triumph over me.
¹²But ^(BT)you have upheld me because of ^(BU)my integrity,
and ^(BV)set me in your presence ^(BW)forever.

¹³^(BX)Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel,
from everlasting to everlasting!
Amen and Amen.

Book Two

Why Are You Cast Down, O My Soul?

To the choirmaster. A Maskil^[i] of ^(BY)the Sons of Korah.

42 ^(BZ)As a deer pants for flowing streams,
    so pants my soul for you, O God.
²^(CA)My soul thirsts for God,
    for ^(CB)the living God.
When shall I come and ^(CC)appear before God?^[j]
³^(CD)My tears have been my food
    day and night,
^(CE)while they say to me all the day long,
    “Where is your God?”
⁴These things I remember,
    as I ^(CF)pour out my soul:
^(CG)how I would go ^(CH)with the throng
    and lead them in procession to the house of God
with glad shouts and songs of praise,
    ^(CI)a multitude keeping festival.

⁵^(CJ)Why are you cast down, O my soul,
and why are you ^(CK)in turmoil within me?
^(CL)Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
my salvation^[k] ⁶and my God.

My soul is cast down within me;
    therefore I ^(CM)remember you
^(CN)from the land of Jordan and of ^(CO)Hermon,
    from Mount Mizar.
⁷Deep calls to deep
    at the roar of your waterfalls;
^(CP)all your breakers and your ^(CQ)waves
    have gone over me.
⁸By day the Lord ^(CR)commands his steadfast love,
    and at ^(CS)night his song is with me,
    a prayer to the God of my life.
⁹I say to God, ^(CT)my rock:
    “Why have you forgotten me?
^(CU)Why do I go mourning
    because of the oppression of the enemy?”
¹⁰As with a deadly wound in my bones,
    my adversaries taunt me,
^(CV)while they say to me all the day long,
    “Where is your God?”

¹¹^(CW)Why are you cast down, O my soul,
and why are you in turmoil within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
my salvation and my God.

Send Out Your Light and Your Truth

43 ^(CX)Vindicate me, O God, and ^(CY)defend my cause
    against an ungodly people,
from ^(CZ)the deceitful and unjust man
    deliver me!
²For you are ^(DA)the God in whom I take refuge;
    why have you ^(DB)rejected me?
Why do I ^(DC)go about mourning
    because of the oppression of the enemy?

³^(DD)Send out your light and your truth;
    let them lead me;
let them bring me to your ^(DE)holy hill
    and to your ^(DF)dwelling!
⁴Then I will go to the altar of God,
    to God my exceeding joy,
and I will praise you with the lyre,
    O God, my God.

⁵^(DG)Why are you cast down, O my soul,
and why are you in turmoil within me?
^(DH)Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
my salvation and my God.

Come to Our Help

To the choirmaster. ^(DI)A Maskil^[l] of the Sons of Korah.

44 O God, we have heard with our ears,
    ^(DJ)our fathers have told us,
what deeds you performed in their days,
    ^(DK)in the days of old:
²you with your own hand ^(DL)drove out the nations,
    but ^(DM)them you planted;
you afflicted the peoples,
    but ^(DN)them you set free;
³for not ^(DO)by their own sword did they win the land,
    nor did their own arm save them,
but your right hand and your arm,
    and ^(DP)the light of your face,
    ^(DQ)for you delighted in them.

⁴^(DR)You are my King, O God;
    ^(DS)ordain salvation for Jacob!
⁵Through you we ^(DT)push down our foes;
    through your name we ^(DU)tread down those who rise up against us.
⁶For not in ^(DV)my bow do I trust,
    nor can my sword save me.
⁷But you have saved us from our foes
    and have ^(DW)put to shame those who hate us.
⁸^(DX)In God we have boasted continually,
    and we will give thanks to your name forever. Selah

⁹But you have ^(DY)rejected us and disgraced us
    and ^(DZ)have not gone out with our armies.
¹⁰You have made us ^(EA)turn back from the foe,
    and those who hate us have gotten spoil.
¹¹You have made us like ^(EB)sheep for slaughter
    and have ^(EC)scattered us among the nations.
¹²^(ED)You have sold your people for a trifle,
    demanding no high price for them.
¹³You have made us ^(EE)the taunt of our neighbors,
    the derision and ^(EF)scorn of those around us.
¹⁴You have made us ^(EG)a byword among the nations,
    ^(EH)a laughingstock^[m] among the peoples.
¹⁵All day long my disgrace is before me,
    and ^(EI)shame has covered my face
¹⁶at the sound of the taunter and reviler,
    at the sight of ^(EJ)the enemy and the avenger.

¹⁷^(EK)All this has come upon us,
    though we have not forgotten you,
    and we have not been false to your covenant.
¹⁸Our heart has not turned back,
    nor have our ^(EL)steps ^(EM)departed from your way;
¹⁹yet you have ^(EN)broken us in the place of ^(EO)jackals
    and covered us with ^(EP)the shadow of death.
²⁰If we had forgotten the name of our God
    or ^(EQ)spread out our hands to ^(ER)a foreign god,
²¹^(ES)would not God discover this?
    ^(ET)For he knows the secrets of the heart.
²²Yet ^(EU)for your sake we are killed all the day long;
    we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.

²³^(EV)Awake! Why are you sleeping, O Lord?
    Rouse yourself! ^(EW)Do not reject us forever!
²⁴Why ^(EX)do you hide your face?
    Why do you forget our affliction and oppression?
²⁵For our ^(EY)soul is bowed down to the dust;
    our belly clings to the ground.
²⁶Rise up; ^(EZ)come to our help!
    ^(FA)Redeem us for the sake of your steadfast love!