Psalm 43-45

Amplified Bible

Prayer for Rescue.

43 Judge and vindicate me, O God; plead my case against an ungodly nation.
O rescue me from the deceitful and unjust man!
²
For You are the God of my strength [my stronghold—in whom I take refuge]; why have You rejected me?
Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?

³
O send out Your light and Your truth, let them lead me;
Let them bring me to Your holy hill
And to Your dwelling places.
⁴
Then I will go to the altar of God,
To God, my exceeding joy;
With the lyre I will praise You, O God, my God!

⁵
Why are you in despair, O my soul?
And why are you restless and disturbed within me?
Hope in God and wait expectantly for Him, for I shall again praise Him,
The ^[a]help of my [sad] countenance and my God.

Former Times of Help and Present Troubles.

To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of the sons of Korah. A skillful song, or a didactic or reflective poem.

44 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.
²
You drove out the [pagan] nations with Your own hand;
Then you planted and established them (Israel);
[It was by Your power that] You uprooted the [pagan] peoples,
Then You spread them abroad.
³
For our fathers did not possess the land [of Canaan] by their own sword,
Nor did their own arm save them,
But Your right hand and Your arm and the light of Your presence,
Because You favored and delighted in them.

⁴
You are my King, O God;
Command victories and deliverance for Jacob (Israel).
⁵
Through You we will gore our enemies [like a bull];
Through Your name we will trample down those who rise up against us.
⁶
For I will not trust in my bow,
Nor will my sword save me.
⁷
But You have saved us from our enemies,
And You have put them to shame and humiliated those who hate us.
⁸
In God we have boasted all the day long,
And we will praise and give thanks to Your name forever. Selah.

⁹
But now You have rejected us and brought us to dishonor,
And You do not go out with our armies [to lead us to victory].
¹⁰
You make us turn back from the enemy,
And those who hate us have taken spoil for themselves.
¹¹
You have made us like sheep to be eaten [as mutton]
And have scattered us [in exile] among the nations.
¹²
You sell Your people cheaply,
And have not increased Your wealth by their sale.
¹³
You have made us the reproach and taunt of our neighbors,
A scoffing and a derision to those around us.
¹⁴
You make us a byword among the nations,
A ^[b]laughingstock among the people.
¹⁵
My dishonor is before me all day long,
And humiliation has covered my face,
¹⁶
Because of the voice of the taunter and reviler,
Because of the presence of the enemy and the avenger.

¹⁷
All this has come upon us, yet we have not forgotten You,
Nor have we been false to Your covenant [which You made with our fathers].
¹⁸
Our heart has not turned back,
Nor have our steps wandered from Your path,
¹⁹
Yet You have [distressingly] crushed us in the place of jackals
And covered us with [the deep darkness of] the shadow of death.

²⁰
If we had forgotten the name of our God
Or stretched out our hands to a strange god,
²¹
Would not God discover this?
For He knows the secrets of the heart.
²²
^[c]But for Your sake we are killed all the day long;
We are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.^(A)
²³
Awake! Why do You sleep, O Lord?
Awaken, do not reject us forever.
²⁴
Why do You hide Your face
And forget our affliction and our oppression?
²⁵
For our life has melted away into the dust;
Our body clings to the ground.
²⁶
Rise up! Come be our help,
And ransom us for the sake of Your steadfast love.

A Song Celebrating the King’s Marriage.

To the Chief Musician; set to the [tune of] “Lilies.” A Psalm of the sons of Korah. A skillful song, or a didactic or reflective poem. A Song of Love.

45 ^[d]My heart overflows with a good theme;
I address my psalm to the King.
My tongue is like the pen of a skillful writer.
²
You are fairer than the sons of men;
Graciousness is poured upon Your lips;
Therefore God has blessed You forever.

³
Strap Your sword on Your thigh, O mighty One,
In Your splendor and Your majesty!
⁴
And in Your majesty ride on triumphantly
For the cause of truth and humility and righteousness;
Let Your right hand guide You to awesome things.
⁵
Your arrows are sharp;
The peoples (nations) fall under You;
Your arrows pierce the hearts of the King’s enemies.

⁶
^[e]Your throne, O God, is forever and ever;
The scepter of uprightness is the scepter of Your kingdom.
⁷
You have loved righteousness (virtue, morality, justice) and hated wickedness;
Therefore God, your God, has anointed You
Above Your companions with the oil of jubilation.^(B)
⁸
All Your garments are fragrant with myrrh, aloes and cassia;
From ivory palaces stringed instruments have made You glad.
⁹
Kings’ daughters are among Your noble ladies;
At Your right hand stands the queen in gold from Ophir.

¹⁰
Hear, O daughter, consider and incline your ear [to my instruction]:
Forget your people and your father’s house;
¹¹
Then the King will desire your beauty;
Because He is your Lord, bow down and honor Him.
¹²
The daughter of Tyre will come with a gift;
The rich among the people will seek your favor.

¹³
Glorious is the King’s daughter within [the palace];
Her robe is interwoven with gold.^(C)
¹⁴
She will be brought to the King in embroidered garments;
The virgins, her companions who follow her,
Will be brought to You.
¹⁵
With gladness and rejoicing will they be led;
They will enter into the King’s palace.

¹⁶
In place of your fathers will be ^[f]your sons;
You shall make princes in all the land.
¹⁷
I will make Your name to be remembered in all generations;
Therefore the peoples will praise and give You thanks forever and ever.

Footnotes

Psalm 43:5 Or saving acts of.
Psalm 44:14 Lit shaking of the head.
Psalm 44:22 The ancient rabbis applied this verse to Israel under persecution, especially to those who suffered under the reign of Hadrian following the Bar Cochba revolt (a.d. 132-135). One rabbi said that he was ready to die for God provided that he be killed immediately, because he could not endure the tortures of what was called “the great persecution.” The tortures included placing red-hot iron discs under the victim’s armpits or sticking needles under the nails until the victim died from the pain (shock).
Psalm 45:1 Jesus spoke of what was written of Him “in the Psalms” (see Luke 24:44). This is one such Messianic psalm; however, the capitalization indicating the deity is provided with the understanding that the chapter is written against the background of an ordinary royal wedding with anonymous participants. The New Testament reference to this psalm is in Heb 1:8, 9, where vv 6, 7 is quoted and applied to Christ. The preceding verses could also be applied to Christ, as well as most of the following verses referring to the King. However, v 16 can only apply to a mortal king (see note there).
Psalm 45:6 This verse has mystified many commentators since God is distinguished from the King in vv 2 and 7, and various translations have been proposed to make the Hebrew rendered “O God” something other than a reference to the deity of the King. But the writer of Hebrews clearly understood it this way.
Psalm 45:16 Unlike the other references to the King, this verse cannot be applied prophetically to Christ because He had no children. But it is not unusual for a prophecy to have more than one fulfillment (typically in the near future of the prophecy and another in the distant future), and by analogy there is no reason why this psalm cannot refer both to an ordinary king and to the future Messianic King.

Acts 27:27-44

Amplified Bible

²⁷The fourteenth night had come and we were drifting and being driven about in the ^[a]Adriatic Sea, when about midnight the sailors began to suspect that they were approaching some land. ²⁸So they took soundings [using a weighted line] and found [the depth to be] twenty fathoms (120 feet); and a little farther on they sounded again and found [the depth to be] fifteen fathoms (90 feet). ²⁹Then fearing that we might run aground somewhere on the rocks, they dropped four anchors from the stern [to slow the ship] and kept wishing for daybreak to come. ³⁰But as the sailors were trying to escape [secretly] from the ship and had let down the skiff into the sea, pretending that they were going to lay out anchors from the bow, ³¹Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, “Unless these men remain on the ship, you cannot be saved.” ³²Then the soldiers cut away the ropes that held the skiff and let it fall and drift away.

³³While they waited for the day to dawn, Paul encouraged them all [and told them] to have some food, saying, “This is the fourteenth day that you have been constantly on watch and going without food, having eaten nothing. ³⁴So I urge you to eat some food, for this is for your survival; for not a hair from the head of any of you will perish.” ³⁵Having said this, he took bread and gave thanks to God in front of them all, and he broke it and began to eat. ³⁶Then all of them were encouraged and their spirits improved, and they also ate some food. ³⁷All told there were two hundred and seventy-six of us aboard the ship. ³⁸After they had eaten enough, they began to lighten the ship by throwing the ^[b]wheat [from Egypt] overboard into the sea.

³⁹When day came, they did not recognize the land, but they noticed a bay with a beach, and they decided to run the ship ashore there if they could. ⁴⁰So they cut the cables and severed the anchors and left them in the sea while at the same time ^[c]unlashing the ropes of the rudders; and after hoisting the foresail to the wind, they headed steadily for the beach. ⁴¹But striking a ^[d]reef with waves breaking in on either side, they ran the ship aground. The prow (forward point) stuck fast and remained immovable, while the stern began to break up under the [violent] force of the waves. ⁴²The soldiers’ plan was to kill the prisoners, so that none of them would dive overboard and swim [to land] and escape; ⁴³but the centurion, wanting to save Paul, kept them from [carrying out] their plan. He commanded those who could swim to jump overboard first and get to the shore; ⁴⁴and [he commanded] the rest to follow, some on [floating] planks, and others on various things from the ship. And so it was that all of them were brought safely to land.

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Footnotes

Acts 27:27 The Ionian Sea was then considered part of the Adriatic (Adrian Gulf) which, in ancient times, extended much farther south than today’s Adriatic Sea.
Acts 27:38 Wheat was a major Egyptian export.
Acts 27:40 Ships of this period and region often had two large paddles on either side of the stern for steering, and when not in use they would be secured with ropes. This was particularly necessary in foul weather, where the sea might dislodge a rudder. Now that they were casting off, the rudders had to be freed and lowered into the water for use.
Acts 27:41 Lit place with water on both sides. This may have been a strip of land extending from the beach, but most of it evidently was awash by the waves at the time, since the centurion commanded everyone to swim or paddle on debris to land (vv 43f).