Psalm 43-49

Amplified Bible, Classic Edition

Psalm 43

¹ Judge and vindicate me, O God; plead and defend my cause against an ungodly nation. O deliver 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 cast me off? Why go I 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.

⁴ Then will I go to the altar of God, to God, my exceeding joy; yes, with the lyre will I praise You, O God, my God!

⁵ Why are you cast down, O my inner self? And why should you moan over me and be disquieted within me? Hope in God and wait expectantly for Him, for I shall yet praise Him, Who is the help of my [sad] countenance, and my God.

Psalm 44

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

¹ We have heard with our ears, O God; our fathers have told us [what] work You did in their days, in the days of old.

² You drove out the nations with Your hand and it was Your power that gave [Israel] a home by rooting out the [heathen] peoples, but [Israel] You spread out.

³ For they got not the land [of Canaan] in possession by their own sword, neither did their own arm save them; but Your right hand and Your arm and the light of Your countenance [did it], because You were favorable toward and did delight in them.

⁴ You are my King, O God; command victories and deliverance for Jacob (Israel).

⁵ Through You shall we push down our enemies; through Your name shall we tread them under who rise up against us.

⁶ For I will not trust in and lean on my bow, neither shall my sword save me.

⁷ But You have saved us from our foes and have put them to shame who hate us.

⁸ In God we have made our boast all the day long, and we will give thanks to Your name forever. Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]!

⁹ But now You have cast us off and brought us to dishonor, and You go not out with our armies.

¹⁰ You make us to turn back from the enemy, and they who hate us take spoil for themselves.

¹¹ You have made us like sheep intended for mutton and have scattered us in exile among the nations.

¹² You sell Your people for nothing, and have not increased Your wealth by their price.

¹³ You have made us the taunt of our neighbors, a scoffing and a derision to those who are round about us.

¹⁴ You make us a byword among the nations, a shaking of the heads among the people.

¹⁵ My dishonor is before me all day long, and shame has covered my face

¹⁶ At the words of the taunter and reviler, by reason of the enemy and the revengeful.

¹⁷ All this is come upon us, yet have we not forgotten You, neither have we been false to Your covenant [which You made with our fathers].

¹⁸ Our hearts are not turned back, neither have our steps declined from Your path,

¹⁹ Though You have distressingly broken us in the place of jackals and covered us with deep darkness, even with 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 No, but for Your sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.^(A)

²³ Awake! Why do You sleep, O Lord? Arouse Yourself, cast us not off forever!

²⁴ Why do You hide Your face and forget our affliction and our oppression?

²⁵ For our lives are bowed down to the dust; our bodies cleave to the ground.

²⁶ Rise up! Come to our help, and deliver us for Your mercy’s sake and because of Your steadfast love!

Psalm 45

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

¹ My heart overflows with a ^[a]goodly theme; I address my psalm to a King. My tongue is like the pen of a ready writer.

² You are fairer than the children of men; graciousness is poured upon Your lips; therefore God has blessed You forever.

³ Gird Your sword upon Your thigh, O mighty One, in Your glory and Your majesty!

⁴ And in Your majesty ride on triumphantly for the cause of truth, humility, and righteousness (uprightness and right standing with God); and let Your right hand guide You to tremendous things.

⁵ Your arrows are sharp; the peoples fall under You; Your darts pierce the hearts of the King’s enemies.

⁶ Your throne, O God, is forever and ever; the scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Your kingdom.

⁷ You love righteousness, uprightness, and right standing with God and hate wickedness; therefore God, Your God, has anointed You with the oil of gladness above Your fellows.^(B)

⁸ Your garments are all fragrant with myrrh, aloes, and cassia; stringed instruments make You glad.

⁹ Kings’ daughters are among Your honorable women; at Your right hand stands the queen in gold of Ophir.

¹⁰ Hear, O daughter, consider, submit, and consent to my instruction: forget also your own people and your father’s house;

¹¹ So will the King desire your beauty; because He is your Lord, be submissive and reverence and honor Him.

¹² And, O daughter of Tyre, the richest of the people shall entreat your favor with a gift.

¹³ The King’s daughter in the inner part [of the palace] is all glorious; her clothing is inwrought with gold.^(C)

¹⁴ She shall be brought to the King in raiment of needlework; with the virgins, her companions that follow her, she shall be brought to You.

¹⁵ With gladness and rejoicing will they be brought; they will enter into the King’s palace.

¹⁶ Instead of Your fathers shall be Your sons, whom You will make princes in all the land.

¹⁷ I will make Your name to be remembered in all generations; therefore shall the people praise and give You thanks forever and ever.

Psalm 46

To the Chief Musician. [A Psalm] of the sons of Korah, set to treble voices. A song.

¹ God is our Refuge and Strength [mighty and impenetrable to temptation], a very present and well-proved help in trouble.

² Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change and though the mountains be shaken into the midst of the seas,

³ Though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling and tumult. Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]!

⁴ There is a river whose streams shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the Most High.

⁵ God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved; God will help her right early [at the dawn of the morning].

⁶ The nations raged, the kingdoms tottered and were moved; He uttered His voice, the earth melted.

⁷ The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our Refuge (our Fortress and High Tower). Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]!

⁸ Come, behold the works of the Lord, Who has wrought desolations and wonders in the earth.

⁹ He makes wars to cease to the end of the earth; He breaks the bow into pieces and snaps the spear in two; He burns the chariots in the fire.

¹⁰ Let be and be still, and know (recognize and understand) that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations! I will be exalted in the earth!

¹¹ The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our Refuge (our High Tower and Stronghold). Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]!

Psalm 47

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

¹ O clap your hands, all you peoples! Shout to God with the voice of triumph and songs of joy!

² For the Lord Most High excites terror, awe, and dread; He is a great King over all the earth.

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

⁴ He chose our inheritance for us, the glory and pride of Jacob, whom He loves. Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]!^(D)

⁵ God has ascended amid shouting, the Lord with the sound of a trumpet.

⁶ Sing praises to God, sing praises! Sing praises to our King, sing praises!

⁷ For God is the King of all the earth; sing praises in a skillful psalm and with understanding.

⁸ God reigns over the nations; God sits upon His holy throne.

⁹ The princes and nobles of the peoples are gathered together, a [united] people for the God of Abraham, for the shields of the earth belong to God; He is highly exalted.

Psalm 48

A song; a Psalm of the sons of Korah.

¹ Great is the Lord, and highly to be praised in the city of our God! His holy mountain,

² Fair and beautiful in elevation, is the joy of all the earth—^[b]Mount Zion [the City of David], to the northern side [Mount Moriah and the temple], the [whole] city of the Great King!^(E)

³ God has made Himself known in her palaces as a Refuge (a High Tower and a Stronghold).

⁴ For, behold, the kings assembled, they came onward and they passed away together.

⁵ They looked, they were amazed; they were stricken with terror and took to flight [affrighted and dismayed].

⁶ Trembling took hold of them there, and pain as of a woman in childbirth.

⁷ With the east wind You shattered the ships of Tarshish.

⁸ As we have heard, so have we seen in the city of the Lord of hosts, in the city of our God: God will establish it forever. Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]!

⁹ We have thought of Your steadfast love, O God, in the midst of Your temple.

¹⁰ As is Your name, O God, so is Your praise to the ends of the earth; Your right hand is full of righteousness (rightness and justice).

¹¹ Let Mount Zion be glad! Let the daughters of Judah rejoice because of Your [righteous] judgments!

¹² Walk about Zion, and go round about her, number her towers (her lofty and noble deeds of past days),

¹³ Consider well her ramparts, go through her palaces and citadels, that you may tell the next generation [and cease recalling disappointments].

¹⁴ For this God is our God forever and ever; He will be our guide [even] until death.

Psalm 49

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

¹ Hear this, all you peoples; give ear, all you inhabitants of the world,

² Both low and high, rich and poor together:

³ My mouth shall speak wisdom; and the meditation of my heart shall be understanding.

⁴ I will submit and consent to a parable or proverb; to the music of a lyre I will unfold my riddle (my problem).

⁵ Why should I fear in the days of evil, when the iniquity of those who would supplant me surrounds me on every side,

⁶ Even of those who trust in and lean on their wealth and boast of the abundance of their riches?

⁷ None of them can by any means redeem [either himself or] his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him—

⁸ For the ransom of a life is too costly, and [the price one can pay] can never suffice—

⁹ So that he should live on forever and never see the pit (the grave) and corruption.

¹⁰ For he sees that even wise men die; the [self-confident] fool and the stupid alike perish and leave their wealth to others.

¹¹ Their inward thought is that their houses will continue forever, and their dwelling places to all generations; they call their lands their own [apart from God] and after their own names.

¹² But man, with all his honor and pomp, does not remain; he is like the beasts that perish.

¹³ This is the fate of those who are foolishly confident, yet after them men approve their sayings. Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]!

¹⁴ Like sheep they are appointed for Sheol (the place of the dead); death shall be their shepherd. And the upright shall have dominion over them in the morning; and their form and beauty shall be consumed, for Sheol shall be their dwelling.

¹⁵ But God will redeem me from the power of Sheol (the place of the dead); for He will receive me. Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]!

¹⁶ Be not afraid when [an ungodly] one is made rich, when the wealth and glory of his house are increased;

¹⁷ For when he dies he will carry nothing away; his glory will not descend after him.

¹⁸ Though while he lives he counts himself happy and prosperous, and though a man gets praise when he does well [for himself],

¹⁹ He will go to the generation of his fathers, who will nevermore see the light.

²⁰ A man who is held in honor and understands not is like the beasts that perish.