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Book Two

Thirsting for God in Trouble and Exile.

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

42 As the deer pants [longingly] for the water brooks,
So my [a]soul pants [longingly] for You, O God.

My soul (my life, my inner self) thirsts for God, for the living God.
When will I come and see the face of God?(A)

My tears have been my food day and night,
While they say to me all day long, “Where is your God?”

These things I [vividly] remember as I pour out my soul;
How I used to go along before the great crowd of people and lead them in procession to the house of God [like a choirmaster before his singers, timing the steps to the music and the chant of the song],
With the voice of joy and thanksgiving, a great crowd keeping a festival.


Why are you in despair, O my soul?
And why have you become restless and disturbed within me?
Hope in God and wait expectantly for Him, for I shall again praise Him
For the help of His presence.

O my God, my soul is in despair within me [the burden more than I can bear];
Therefore I will [fervently] remember You from the land of the Jordan
And the peaks of [Mount] Hermon, from Mount Mizar.

Deep calls to deep at the [thundering] sound of Your waterfalls;
All Your breakers and Your waves have rolled over me.

Yet the Lord will command His lovingkindness in the daytime,
And in the night His song will be with me,
A prayer to the God of my life.


I will say to God my rock, “Why have You forgotten me?
Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?”
10 
As a crushing of my bones [with a sword], my adversaries taunt me,
While they say continually to me, “Where is your God?”
11 
Why are you in despair, O my soul?
Why have you become restless and disquieted within me?
Hope in God and wait expectantly for Him, for I shall yet praise Him,
The [b]help of my countenance and my God.

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!

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?


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.

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!


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 [c]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.

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.

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.


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

Through You we will gore our enemies [like a bull];
Through Your name we will trample down those who rise up against us.

For I will not trust in my bow,
Nor will my sword save me.

But You have saved us from our enemies,
And You have put them to shame and humiliated those who hate us.

In God we have boasted all the day long,
And we will praise and give thanks to Your name forever. Selah.


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 [d]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 
[e]But for Your sake we are killed all the day long;
We are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.(B)
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 [f]My heart overflows with a good theme;
I address my psalm to the King.
My tongue is like the pen of a skillful writer.

You are fairer than the sons of men;
Graciousness is poured upon Your lips;
Therefore God has blessed You forever.


Strap Your sword on Your thigh, O mighty One,
In Your splendor and Your majesty!

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.

Your arrows are sharp;
The peoples (nations) fall under You;
Your arrows pierce the hearts of the King’s enemies.


[g]Your throne, O God, is forever and ever;
The scepter of uprightness is the scepter of Your kingdom.

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.(C)

All Your garments are fragrant with myrrh, aloes and cassia;
From ivory palaces stringed instruments have made You glad.

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.(D)
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 [h]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.

God the Refuge of His People.

To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of the sons of Korah, set to soprano voices. A Song.

46 God is our refuge and strength [mighty and impenetrable],
A very present and well-proved help in trouble.

Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change
And though the mountains be shaken and slip into the heart of the seas,

Though its waters roar and foam,
Though the mountains tremble at its roaring. Selah.


There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
The holy dwelling places of the Most High.

God is in the midst of her [His city], she will not be moved;
God will help her when the morning dawns.

The nations made an uproar, the kingdoms tottered and were moved;
He raised His voice, the earth melted.

The Lord of hosts is with us;
The God of Jacob is our stronghold [our refuge, our high tower]. Selah.


Come, behold the works of the Lord,
Who has brought desolations and wonders on the earth.

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 with fire.
10 
“Be still and know (recognize, 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 stronghold [our refuge, our high tower]. Selah.

Footnotes

  1. Psalm 42:1 The Hebrew word translated “soul” in this psalm and elsewhere in the book of Psalms is nephesh. This word usually refers to a person’s “life” or “self,” but can also mean “throat,” as perhaps in vv 1, 2.
  2. Psalm 42:11 Or saving acts of.
  3. Psalm 43:5 Or saving acts of.
  4. Psalm 44:14 Lit shaking of the head.
  5. 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).
  6. 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).
  7. 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.
  8. 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.

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