Psalm 44-55

English Standard Version

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

⁹ But you have ^(Q)rejected us and disgraced us
    and ^(R)have not gone out with our armies.
¹⁰ You have made us ^(S)turn back from the foe,
    and those who hate us have gotten spoil.
¹¹ You have made us like ^(T)sheep for slaughter
    and have ^(U)scattered us among the nations.
^12 (V)You have sold your people for a trifle,
    demanding no high price for them.
¹³ You have made us ^(W)the taunt of our neighbors,
    the derision and ^(X)scorn of those around us.
¹⁴ You have made us ^(Y)a byword among the nations,
    ^(Z)a laughingstock^[b] among the peoples.
¹⁵ All day long my disgrace is before me,
    and ^(AA)shame has covered my face
¹⁶ at the sound of the taunter and reviler,
    at the sight of ^(AB)the enemy and the avenger.

^17 (AC)All this has come upon us,
    though we have not forgotten you,
    and we have not been false to your covenant.
¹⁸ Our heart has not turned back,
    nor have our ^(AD)steps ^(AE)departed from your way;
¹⁹ yet you have ^(AF)broken us in the place of ^(AG)jackals
    and covered us with ^(AH)the shadow of death.
²⁰ If we had forgotten the name of our God
    or ^(AI)spread out our hands to ^(AJ)a foreign god,
^21 (AK)would not God discover this?
    ^(AL)For he knows the secrets of the heart.
²² Yet ^(AM)for your sake we are killed all the day long;
    we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.

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

² You are ^(AV)the most handsome of the sons of men;
    ^(AW)grace is poured upon your lips;
    therefore God has blessed you forever.
^3 (AX)Gird your ^(AY)sword on your thigh, O ^(AZ)mighty one,
    in ^(BA)your splendor and majesty!

⁴ In your majesty ^(BB)ride out victoriously
    for the cause of truth and meekness and righteousness;
    let your right hand teach you ^(BC)awesome deeds!
⁵ Your arrows are sharp
    in the heart of the king's enemies;
    the peoples fall under you.

^6 (BD)Your throne, O God, is forever and ever.
    The ^(BE)scepter of your kingdom is a scepter of uprightness;
^{7     (BF)}you have loved righteousness and hated wickedness.
Therefore ^(BG)God, your God, has ^(BH)anointed you
    with the oil of ^(BI)gladness ^(BJ)beyond your companions;
⁸     your robes are all fragrant with ^(BK)myrrh and aloes and cassia.
From ivory palaces ^(BL)stringed instruments make you glad;
⁹     daughters of kings are among your ladies of honor;
    ^(BM)at your right hand stands the queen in ^(BN)gold of Ophir.

¹⁰ Hear, O daughter, and consider, and incline your ear:
    forget your people and your father's house,
¹¹     and the king will desire your beauty.
Since he is your ^(BO)lord, ^(BP)bow to him.
¹²     The people^[d] of Tyre will ^(BQ)seek your favor with ^(BR)gifts,
    ^(BS)the richest of the people.^[e]

¹³ All glorious is ^(BT)the princess in her chamber, with robes interwoven with gold.
^{14     (BU)}In many-colored robes ^(BV)she is led to the king,
    with her virgin companions following behind her.
¹⁵ With joy and gladness they are led along
    as they enter the palace of the king.

¹⁶ In place of your fathers shall be your sons;
    you will make them ^(BW)princes in all the earth.
^17 (BX)I will cause your name to be remembered in all generations;
    therefore nations will praise you forever and ever.

⁴ There is ^(CG)a river whose streams make glad ^(CH)the city of God,
    the holy ^(CI)habitation of the Most High.
^5 (CJ)God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved;
    God will help her when morning dawns.
^6 (CK)The nations rage, the kingdoms totter;
    he ^(CL)utters his voice, the earth ^(CM)melts.
^7 (CN)The Lord of hosts is with us;
    the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah

^8 (CO)Come, behold the works of the Lord,
    how he has brought desolations on the earth.
^9 (CP)He makes wars cease to the end of the earth;
    he ^(CQ)breaks the bow and shatters the spear;
    ^(CR)he burns the chariots with fire.
^10 (CS)“Be still, and know that I am God.
    ^(CT)I will be exalted among the nations,
    I will be exalted in the earth!”
^11 (CU)The Lord of hosts is with us;
    the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah

⁵ God ^(DD)has gone up with a shout,
    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 ^(DE)the King of all the earth;
    sing praises ^(DF)with a psalm!^[h]

⁸ God ^(DG)reigns over the nations;
    God sits on his holy throne.
^9 (DH)The princes of the peoples gather
    as the people of the God of Abraham.
For ^(DI)the shields of the earth belong to God;
    he is highly exalted!

⁴ For behold, ^(DQ)the kings assembled;
    they came on together.
⁵ As soon as they saw it, they were astounded;
    they were in panic; they took to flight.
^6 (DR)Trembling took hold of them there,
    anguish ^(DS)as of a woman in labor.
⁷ By ^(DT)the east wind you ^(DU)shattered
    the ships of ^(DV)Tarshish.
⁸ As we have heard, so have we seen
    in the city of the Lord of hosts,
in ^(DW)the city of our God,
    which God will ^(DX)establish forever. Selah

⁹ We have thought on your ^(DY)steadfast love, O God,
    in the midst of your temple.
¹⁰ As your ^(DZ)name, O God,
    so your praise reaches to ^(EA)the ends of the earth.
Your right hand is filled with righteousness.
¹¹     Let Mount ^(EB)Zion be glad!
Let ^(EC)the daughters of Judah rejoice
    because of your judgments!

¹² Walk about Zion, go around her,
    number her towers,
¹³ consider well her ^(ED)ramparts,
    go through her citadels,
^(EE)that you may tell the next generation
¹⁴     that this is God,
our God forever and ever.
    He will ^(EF)guide us forever.^[i]

^5 (EM)Why should I fear in ^(EN)times of trouble,
    when the iniquity of those who cheat me surrounds me,
⁶ those who ^(EO)trust in their wealth
    and boast of the abundance of their riches?
⁷ Truly no man ^(EP)can ransom another,
    or ^(EQ)give to God ^(ER)the price of his life,
⁸ for ^(ES)the ransom of their life is costly
    and can never suffice,
⁹ that he should live on forever
    and ^(ET)never see the pit.

¹⁰ For he sees ^(EU)that even the wise die;
    ^(EV)the fool and the stupid alike must perish
    and ^(EW)leave their wealth to others.
¹¹ Their ^(EX)graves are their homes forever,^[j]
    their dwelling places ^(EY)to all generations,
    though they ^(EZ)called lands by their own names.
¹² Man in his pomp ^(FA)will not remain;
    ^(FB)he is like the beasts that perish.

¹³ This is the path of those who have ^(FC)foolish confidence;
    yet after them people approve of their boasts.^[k] Selah
¹⁴ Like sheep they are appointed for Sheol;
    death shall be their shepherd,
and the upright ^(FD)shall rule over them in the morning.
    ^(FE)Their form shall be consumed ^(FF)in Sheol, with no place to dwell.
¹⁵ But God will ^(FG)ransom my soul from the power of Sheol,
    for he will ^(FH)receive me. Selah

¹⁶ Be not afraid when a man becomes rich,
    when the glory of his house increases.
^17 (FI)For when he dies he will ^(FJ)carry nothing away;
    his glory will not go down after him.
¹⁸ For though, while he lives, he counts himself ^(FK)blessed
    —and though you get praise when you do well for yourself—
¹⁹ his soul will ^(FL)go to the generation of his fathers,
    who will never again ^(FM)see light.
^20 (FN)Man in his pomp yet without understanding is like the beasts that perish.

³ Our God comes; he ^(FT)does not keep silence;^[l]
    before him is a devouring ^(FU)fire,
    around him a mighty tempest.
^4 (FV)He calls to the heavens above
    and to the earth, that he may judge his people:
⁵ “Gather to me my faithful ones,
    who made ^(FW)a covenant with me by sacrifice!”
^6 (FX)The heavens declare his righteousness,
    for ^(FY)God himself is judge! Selah

^7 (FZ)“Hear, O my people, and I will speak;
    O Israel, I will testify against you.
    ^(GA)I am God, your God.
⁸ Not for your sacrifices ^(GB)do I rebuke you;
    your burnt offerings are continually before me.
⁹ I will not accept a bull from your house
    or goats from your folds.
¹⁰ For every beast of the forest is mine,
    the cattle on a thousand hills.
^11 (GC)I know all the birds of the hills,
    and all that moves in the field is mine.

¹² “If I were hungry, I would not tell you,
    ^(GD)for the world and its fullness are mine.
¹³ Do I eat the flesh of bulls
    or drink the blood of goats?
^14 (GE)Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving,^[m]
    and ^(GF)perform your vows to the Most High,
¹⁵ and ^(GG)call upon me in the day of trouble;
    I will ^(GH)deliver you, and you shall ^(GI)glorify me.”

¹⁶ But to the wicked God says:
    “What right have you to recite my statutes
    or take my covenant on your lips?
^17 (GJ)For you hate discipline,
    ^(GK)and you cast my words behind you.
¹⁸ If you see a thief, ^(GL)you are pleased with him,
    ^(GM)and you keep company with adulterers.

¹⁹ “You give your mouth free rein for evil,
    ^(GN)and your tongue frames deceit.
²⁰ You sit and speak against your brother;
    you slander your own mother's son.
²¹ These things you have done, and I ^(GO)have been silent;
    you thought that I^[n] was one like yourself.
But now I ^(GP)rebuke you and ^(GQ)lay the charge before you.

²² “Mark this, then, you who ^(GR)forget God,
    lest I tear you apart, and there be ^(GS)none to deliver!
²³ The one who ^(GT)offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me;
    to one who ^(GU)orders his way rightly
    I will show the ^(GV)salvation of God!”

^3 (HC)For I know my transgressions,
    and my sin is ever before me.
^4 (HD)Against you, you only, have I sinned
    and done what is evil ^(HE)in your sight,
^(HF)so that you may be justified in your words
    and blameless in your judgment.
⁵ Behold, ^(HG)I was brought forth in iniquity,
    and in sin did my mother conceive me.
⁶ Behold, you delight in truth in ^(HH)the inward being,
    and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.

⁷ Purge me ^(HI)with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
    ^(HJ)wash me, and I shall be ^(HK)whiter than snow.
⁸ Let me hear joy and gladness;
    ^(HL)let the bones ^(HM)that you have broken rejoice.
^9 (HN)Hide your face from my sins,
    and ^(HO)blot out all my iniquities.
^10 (HP)Create in me a ^(HQ)clean heart, O God,
    and ^(HR)renew a right^[p] spirit within me.
^11 (HS)Cast me not away from your presence,
    and take not ^(HT)your Holy Spirit from me.
¹² Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
    and uphold me with a willing spirit.

¹³ Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
    and sinners will ^(HU)return to you.
¹⁴ Deliver me from ^(HV)bloodguiltiness, O God,
    O ^(HW)God of my salvation,
    and ^(HX)my tongue will sing aloud of your ^(HY)righteousness.
¹⁵ O Lord, open my lips,
    and my mouth will declare your praise.
^16 (HZ)For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it;
    you will not be pleased with a burnt offering.
¹⁷ The sacrifices of God are ^(IA)a broken spirit;
    a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

^18 (IB)Do good to Zion in your good pleasure;
    ^(IC)build up the walls of Jerusalem;
¹⁹ then will you delight in ^(ID)right sacrifices,
    in burnt offerings and ^(IE)whole burnt offerings;
    then bulls will be offered on your altar.

⁵ But God will break you down forever;
    he will snatch and ^(IK)tear you from your tent;
    he will uproot you from ^(IL)the land of the living. Selah
⁶ The righteous shall ^(IM)see and fear,
    and shall ^(IN)laugh at him, saying,
⁷ “See the man who would not make
    God his refuge,
but ^(IO)trusted in the abundance of his riches
    and sought refuge in his own destruction!”^[r]

⁸ But I am like ^(IP)a green olive tree
    in the house of God.
I trust in the steadfast love of God
    forever and ever.
⁹ I will thank you forever,
    because you have done it.
I will wait for your name, ^(IQ)for it is good,
    in the presence of the ^(IR)godly.

² God looks down from heaven
    on the children of man
to see if there are any who understand,^[t]
    who seek after God.

³ They have all fallen away;
    together they have become corrupt;
there is none who does good,
    not even one.

⁴ Have those who work evil no knowledge,
    who eat up my people as they eat bread,
    and do not call upon God?

⁵ There they are, in great terror,
    ^(IU)where there is no terror!
For God ^(IV)scatters the bones of him who encamps against you;
    you put them to shame, for God has rejected them.

⁶ Oh, that salvation for Israel would come out of Zion!
    When God restores the fortunes of his people,
    let Jacob rejoice, let Israel be glad.

^3 (JA)For ^(JB)strangers^[v] have risen against me;
    ruthless men ^(JC)seek my life;
    they do not set God before themselves. Selah

⁴ Behold, ^(JD)God is my helper;
    the Lord is the upholder of my life.
⁵ He will return the evil to my enemies;
    in your ^(JE)faithfulness ^(JF)put an end to them.

⁶ With a freewill offering I will sacrifice to you;
    I will give thanks to your name, O Lord, ^(JG)for it is good.
⁷ For he has delivered me from every trouble,
    and my eye has ^(JH)looked in triumph on my enemies.

⁴ My heart is in anguish within me;
    ^(JN)the terrors of death have fallen upon me.
⁵ Fear and trembling come upon me,
    and ^(JO)horror ^(JP)overwhelms me.
⁶ And I say, “Oh, that I had wings like a dove!
    I would fly away and be at rest;
^7 (JQ)yes, I would wander far away;
    I would lodge in the wilderness; Selah
⁸ I would hurry to find a shelter
    from ^(JR)the raging wind and tempest.”

⁹ Destroy, O Lord, ^(JS)divide their tongues;
    for I see ^(JT)violence and strife in the city.
¹⁰ Day and night they go around it
    on its walls,
and ^(JU)iniquity and trouble are within it;
¹¹     ruin is in its midst;
^(JV)oppression and fraud
    do not depart from its marketplace.

¹² For it is not an enemy who taunts me—
    then I could bear it;
it is not an adversary who ^(JW)deals insolently with me—
    then I could hide from him.
^13 (JX)But it is you, a man, my equal,
    my companion, my familiar friend.
¹⁴ We used to take sweet counsel together;
    within God's house we walked in ^(JY)the throng.
¹⁵ Let death steal over them;
    let them go down to Sheol ^(JZ)alive;
    for evil is in their dwelling place and in their heart.

¹⁶ But I call to God,
    and the Lord will save me.
^17 (KA)Evening and ^(KB)morning and at ^(KC)noon
    I ^(KD)utter my complaint and moan,
    and he hears my voice.
¹⁸ He redeems my soul in safety
    from the battle that I wage,
    for ^(KE)many are arrayed against me.
¹⁹ God will give ear and humble them,
    he who is ^(KF)enthroned from of old, Selah
because they do not ^(KG)change
    and do not fear God.

²⁰ My companion^{[x] (KH)}stretched out his hand against his friends;
    he violated his covenant.
²¹ His ^(KI)speech was ^(KJ)smooth as butter,
    yet war was in his heart;
his words were softer than oil,
    yet they were ^(KK)drawn swords.

^22 (KL)Cast your burden on the Lord,
    and he will sustain you;
^(KM)he will never permit
    the righteous to be moved.

²³ But you, O God, ^(KN)will cast them down
    into ^(KO)the pit of destruction;
men of ^(KP)blood and treachery
    shall not ^(KQ)live out half their days.
But I will ^(KR)trust in you.