Beginning

40 ⁽⁰⁾ For the leader. A psalm of David:

^2 (1) I waited patiently for Adonai,
till he turned toward me and heard my cry.
^3 (2) He brought me up from the roaring pit,
up from the muddy ooze,
and set my feet on a rock,
making my footing firm.
^4 (3) He put a new song in my mouth,
a song of praise to our God.
Many will look on in awe
and put their trust in Adonai.

^5 (4) How blessed the man who trusts in Adonai
and does not look to the arrogant
or to those who rely on things that are false.

^6 (5) How much you have done, Adonai my God!
Your wonders and your thoughts toward us —
none can compare with you!
I would proclaim them, I would speak about them;
but there’s too much to tell!

^7 (6) Sacrifices and grain offerings you don’t want;
burnt offerings and sin offerings you don’t demand.
Instead, you have given me open ears;
^8 (7) so then I said, “Here I am! I’m coming!
In the scroll of a book it is written about me.
^9 (8) Doing your will, my God, is my joy;
your Torah is in my inmost being.
^10 (9) I have proclaimed what is right in the great assembly;
I did not restrain my lips, Adonai, as you know.
^11 (10) I did not hide your righteousness in my heart
but declared your faithfulness and salvation;
I did not conceal your grace and truth
from the great assembly.”

^12 (11) Adonai, don’t withhold your mercy from me.
Let your grace and truth preserve me always.
^13 (12) For numberless evils surround me;
my iniquities engulf me — I can’t even see;
there are more of them than hairs on my head,
so that my courage fails me.
^14 (13) Be pleased, Adonai, to rescue me!
Adonai, hurry and help me!
^15 (14) May those who seek to sweep me away
be disgraced and humiliated together.
May those who take pleasure in doing me harm
be turned back and put to confusion.
^16 (15) May those who jeer at me, “Aha! Aha!”
be aghast because of their shame.

^17 (16) But may all those who seek you
be glad and take joy in you.
May those who love your salvation say always,
“Adonai is great and glorious!”

^18 (17) But I am poor and needy;
may Adonai think of me.
You are my helper and rescuer;
my God, don’t delay!

41 ⁽⁰⁾ For the leader. A psalm of David:

^2 (1) How blessed are those who care for the poor!
When calamity comes, Adonai will save them.
^3 (2) Adonai will preserve them, keep them alive,
and make them happy in the land.
You will not hand them over
to the whims of their enemies.
^4 (3) Adonai sustains them on their sickbed;
when they lie ill, you make them recover.
^5 (4) I said, “Adonai, have pity on me!
Heal me, for I have sinned against you!”
^6 (5) My enemies say the worst about me:
“When will he die and his name disappear?”
^7 (6) When they come to see me they speak insincerely,
their hearts meanwhile gathering falsehoods;
then they go out and spread bad reports.
^8 (7) All who hate me whisper together against me,
imagining the worst about me.
^9 (8) “A fatal disease has attached itself to him;
now that he lies ill, he will never get up.”
^10 (9) Even my close friend, on whom I relied,
who shared my table, has turned against me.

^11 (10) But you, Adonai, have pity on me,
put me on my feet, so I can pay them back.
^12 (11) I will know you are pleased with me
if my enemy doesn’t defeat me.
^13 (12) You uphold me because of my innocence
you establish me in your presence forever.

^14 (13) Blessed be Adonai the God of Isra’el
from eternity past to eternity future.

Amen. Amen.

^2 (1) Just as a deer longs for running streams,
God, I long for you.
^3 (2) I am thirsty for God, for the living God!
When can I come and appear before God?

^4 (3) My tears are my food, day and night,
while all day people ask me, “Where is your God?”
^5 (4) I recall, as my feelings well up within me,
how I’d go with the crowd to the house of God,
with sounds of joy and praise from the throngs
observing the festival.

^6 (5) My soul, why are you so downcast?
Why are you groaning inside me?
Hope in God, since I will praise him again
for the salvation that comes from his presence.
^7 (6) My God, when I feel so downcast,
I remind myself of you
from the land of Yarden, from the peaks of Hermon,
from the hill Mizar.
^8 (7) Deep is calling to deep
at the thunder of your waterfalls;
all your surging rapids and waves
are sweeping over me.
^9 (8) By day Adonai commands his grace,
and at night his song is with me
as a prayer to the God of my life.
^10 (9) I say to God my Rock,
“Why have you forgotten me?
Why must I go about mourning,
under pressure by the enemy?
^11 (10) My adversaries’ taunts make me feel
as if my bones were crushed,
as they ask me all day long,
‘Where is your God?’ ”

^12 (11) My soul, why are you so downcast?
Why are you groaning inside me?
Hope in God, since I will praise him again
for being my Savior and God.

43 Judge me, God, and plead my cause
against a faithless nation.
Rescue me from those who deceive
and from those who are unjust.
² For you are the God of my strength;
why have you thrust me aside?
Why must I go about mourning,
under pressure by the enemy?
³ Send out your light and your truth;
let them be my guide;
let them lead me to your holy mountain,
to the places where you live.
⁴ Then I will go to the altar of God,
to God, my joy and delight;
I will praise you on the lyre,
God, my God.

⁵ My soul, why are you so downcast?
Why are you groaning inside me?
Hope in God, since I will praise him again
for being my Savior and God.
44 ⁽⁰⁾ For the leader. By the descendants of Korach. A maskil:

^2 (1) God, we heard it with our ears;
our fathers told us about it —
a deed which you did in their days,
back in days of old.
^3 (2) With your hand you drove out nations
to plant them in [the land],
you crushed peoples
to make room for them.

^4 (3) For not by their own swords
did they conquer the land,
nor did their own arm
give them victory;
rather, it was your right hand,
your arm and the light of your face;
because you favored them.
^5 (4) God, you are my king;
command complete victory for Ya‘akov.

^6 (5) Through you we pushed away our foes,
through your name we trampled down our assailants.
^7 (6) For I don’t rely on my bow,
nor can my sword give me victory.
^8 (7) No, you saved us from our adversaries;
you put to shame those who hate us.
^9 (8) We will boast in our God all day
and give thanks to your name forever. (Selah)

^10 (9) Yet now you have thrust us aside and disgraced us;
you don’t march out with our armies.
^11 (10) You make us retreat from the adversary,
and those who hate us plunder us at will.
^12 (11) You have handed us over like sheep to be eaten
and scattered us among the nations.
^13 (12) You sell your people for a pittance,
you don’t even profit on the sale.
^14 (13) You make us an object for our neighbors to mock,
one of scorn and derision to those around us.
^15 (14) You make us a byword among the nations;
the peoples jeer at us, shaking their heads.

^16 (15) All day long my disgrace is on my mind,
and shame has covered my face
^17 (16) at the sound of those who revile and insult,
at the sight of the enemy bent on revenge.
^18 (17) Though all this came on us, we did not forget you;
we have not been false to your covenant;
^19 (18) Our hearts have not turned back,
and our steps did not turn away from your path,
^20 (19) though you pressed us into a lair of jackals
and covered us with death-dark gloom.
^21 (20) If we had forgotten the name of our God
or spread out our hands to a foreign god,
^22 (21) wouldn’t God have discovered this,
since he knows the secrets of the heart?
^23 (22) For your sake we are put to death all day long,
we are considered sheep to be slaughtered.

^24 (23) Wake up, Adonai! Why are you asleep?
Rouse yourself! Don’t thrust us off forever.
^25 (24) Why are you turning your face away,
forgetting our pain and misery?
^26 (25) For we are lying flat in the dust,
our bodies cling to the ground.
^27 (26) Get up, and come to help us!
For the sake of your grace, redeem us!

45 ⁽⁰⁾ For the leader. Set to “Lilies.” By the descendants of Korach. A maskil. A lovesong:

^2 (1) My heart is stirred by a noble theme;
I address my verses to the king;
My tongue is the pen of an expert scribe.

^3 (2) You are the most handsome of men;
gracious speech flows from your lips.
For God has blessed you forever.
^4 (3) Warrior, strap your sword at your thigh;
[gird on] your splendor and majesty.
^5 (4) In your majesty, succeed, ride on
in the cause of truth, meekness and righteousness.
May your right hand teach you awesome things.
^6 (5) Your arrows are sharp. The people fall under you,
as they penetrate the hearts of the king’s enemies.
^7 (6) Your throne, God, will last forever and ever;
you rule your kingdom with a scepter of equity.
^8 (7) You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness.
Therefore God, your God, has anointed you
with the oil of joy in preference to your companions.
^9 (8) Your robes are all fragrant with myrrh, aloes and cassia;
from ivory palaces stringed instruments bring you joy.
^10 (9) Daughters of kings are among your favorites;
at your right stands the queen in gold from Ofir.

^11 (10) Listen, daughter! Think, pay attention!
Forget your own people and your father’s house,
^12 (11) and the king will desire your beauty;
for he is your lord, so honor him.
^13 (12) Then the daughter of Tzor, the richest of peoples,
will court your favor with gifts.

^14 (13) Inside [the palace], the king’s daughter looks splendid,
attired in checker-work embroidered with gold.
^15 (14) In brocade, she will be led to the king,
to you, with the virgins in her retinue.
^16 (15) They will be led in with gladness and joy,
they will enter the king’s palace.
^17 (16) You will have sons to succeed your ancestors;
you will make them princes in all the land.
^18 (17) I will make your name known through all generations;
thus the peoples will praise you forever and ever.