Chronological

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.

49 ⁽⁰⁾ For the leader. A psalm of the descendants of Korach:

^2 (1) Hear this, all you peoples!
Listen, everyone living on earth,
^3 (2) regardless of whether low or high,
regardless of whether rich or poor!
^4 (3) My mouth is about to speak wisdom;
my heart’s deepest thoughts will give understanding.
^5 (4) I will listen with care to [God’s] parable,
I will set my enigma to the music of the lyre.

^6 (5) Why should I fear when the days bring trouble,
when the evil of my pursuers surrounds me,
^7 (6) the evil of those who rely on their wealth
and boast how rich they are?
^8 (7) No one can ever redeem his brother
or give God a ransom for him ,
^9 (8) because the price for him is too high
(leave the idea completely alone!)
^10 (9) to have him live on eternally
and never see the pit.
^11 (10) For he can see that wise men will die,
likewise the fool and the brute will perish
and leave their wealth to others.
^12 (11) They think their homes will last forever,
their dwellings through all generations;
they give their own names to their estates.
^13 (12) But people, even rich ones, will live only briefly;
then, like animals, they will die.
^14 (13) This is the manner of life of the foolish
and those who come after, approving their words. (Selah)
^15 (14) Like sheep, they are destined for Sh’ol;
death will be their shepherd.
The upright will rule them in the morning;
and their forms will waste away in Sh’ol,
until they need no dwelling.
^16 (15) But God will redeem me from Sh’ol’s control,
because he will receive me. (Selah)

^17 (16) Don’t be afraid when someone gets rich,
when the wealth of his family grows.
^18 (17) For when he dies, he won’t take it with him;
his wealth will not go down after him.
^19 (18) True, while he lived, he thought himself happy —
people praise you when you do well for yourself —
^20 (19) but he will join his ancestors’ generations
and never again see light.
^21 (20) People, even rich ones, can fail to grasp
that, like animals, they will die.

84 ⁽⁰⁾ For the leader. On the gittit. A psalm of the sons of Korach:

^2 (1) How deeply loved are your dwelling-places,
Adonai-Tzva’ot!
^3 (2) My soul yearns, yes, faints with longing
for the courtyards of Adonai;
my heart and body cry for joy
to the living God.

^4 (3) As the sparrow finds herself a home
and the swallow her nest, where she lays her young,
[so my resting-place is] by your altars,
Adonai-Tzva’ot, my king and my God.

^5 (4) How happy are those who live in your house;
they never cease to praise you! (Selah)
^6 (5) How happy the man whose strength is in you,
in whose heart are [pilgrim] highways.

^7 (6) Passing through the [dry] Baka Valley,
they make it a place of springs,
and the early rain clothes it with blessings.
^8 (7) They go from strength to strength
and appear before God in Tziyon.

^9 (8) Adonai, God of armies, hear my prayer;
listen, God of Ya‘akov. (Selah)
^10 (9) God, see our shield [the king];
look at the face of your anointed.
^11 (10) Better a day in your courtyards
than a thousand [days elsewhere].
Better just standing at the door of my God’s house
than living in the tents of the wicked.

^12 (11) For Adonai, God, is a sun and a shield;
Adonai bestows favor and honor;
he will not withhold anything good
from those whose lives are pure.

^13 (12) Adonai-Tzva’ot,
how happy is anyone who trusts in you!

85 ⁽⁰⁾ For the leader. A psalm of the sons of Korach:

^2 (1) Adonai, you have shown favor to your land;
you have restored the fortunes of Ya‘akov,
^3 (2) taken away the guilt of your people,
pardoned all their sin, (Selah)
^4 (3) withdrawn all your wrath,
turned from your fierce anger.

^5 (4) Restore us, God of our salvation,
renounce your displeasure with us.
^6 (5) Are you to stay angry with us forever?
Will your fury last through all generations?

^7 (6) Won’t you revive us again,
so your people can rejoice in you?
^8 (7) Show us your grace, Adonai;
grant us your salvation.

^9 (8) I am listening. What will God, Adonai, say?
For he will speak peace to his people,
to his holy ones —
but only if they don’t relapse into folly.
^10 (9) His salvation is near for those who fear him,
so that glory will be in our land.
^11 (10) Grace and truth have met together;
justice and peace have kissed each other.
^12 (11) Truth springs up from the earth,
and justice looks down from heaven.
^13 (12) Adonai will also grant prosperity;
our land will yield its harvest.
^14 (13) Justice will walk before him
and make his footsteps a path.

87 ⁽⁰⁾ A psalm of the sons of Korach. A song:

⁽¹⁾ On the holy mountains is [the city’s] foundation.
² Adonai loves the gates of Tziyon
more than all the dwellings in Ya‘akov.
³ Glorious things are said about you,
city of God. (Selah)

⁴ I count Rahav and Bavel
among those who know me;
Of P’leshet, Tzor and Ethiopia [they will say],
“This one was born there.”
⁵ But of Tziyon it will be said,
“This one and that was born in it,
for the Most High himself establishes it.”
⁶ When he registers the peoples, Adonai will record,
“This one was born there.” (Selah)

⁷ Singers and dancers alike say,
“For me, you are the source of everything.”