Psalm 43-45
American Standard Version
Prayer for deliverance.
43 Judge me, O God, and plead my cause against an ungodly nation:
Oh deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man.
2 For thou art the God of my strength; why hast thou cast me off?
Why go I mourning [a]because of the oppression of the enemy?
3 Oh send out thy light and thy truth; let them lead me:
Let them bring me unto thy holy hill,
And to thy tabernacles.
4 Then will I go unto the altar of God,
Unto God [b]my exceeding joy;
And upon the harp will I praise thee, O God, my God.
5 Why art thou cast down, O my soul?
And why art thou disquieted within me?
Hope thou in God; for I shall yet praise him,
Who is the help of my countenance, and my God.
Former deliverances and present troubles.
For the Chief Musician. A Psalm of the sons of Korah. Maschil.
44 We have heard with our ears, O God,
Our fathers have told us,
What work thou didst in their days,
In the days of old.
2 Thou didst drive out the nations with thy hand;
But them thou didst plant:
Thou didst afflict the peoples;
But them thou didst spread abroad.
3 For they gat not the land in possession by their own sword,
Neither did their own arm save them;
But thy right hand, and thine arm, and the light of thy countenance,
Because thou wast favorable unto them.
4 Thou art my King, O God:
Command [c]deliverance for Jacob.
5 Through thee will we push down our adversaries:
Through thy name will we tread them under that rise up against us.
6 For I will not trust in my bow,
Neither shall my sword save me.
7 But thou hast saved us from our adversaries,
And hast put them to shame that hate us.
8 In God have we made our boast all the day long,
And we will give thanks unto thy name for ever. Selah
9 But now thou hast cast us off, and brought us to dishonor,
And goest not forth with our hosts.
10 Thou makest us to turn back from the adversary;
And they that hate us take spoil for themselves.
11 Thou hast made us like sheep appointed for food,
And hast scattered us among the nations.
12 Thou sellest thy people for nought,
And hast not increased thy wealth by their price.
13 Thou makest us a reproach to our neighbors,
A scoffing and a derision to them that are round about us.
14 Thou makest us a byword among the nations,
A shaking of the head among the peoples.
15 All the day long is my dishonor before me,
And the shame of my face hath covered me,
16 For the voice of him that reproacheth and blasphemeth,
By reason of the enemy and the avenger.
17 All this is come upon us; yet have we not forgotten thee,
Neither have we dealt falsely in thy covenant.
18 Our heart is not turned back,
Neither have our steps declined from thy way,
19 [d]That thou hast sore broken us in the place of jackals,
And covered us with the shadow of death.
20 If we have forgotten the name of our God,
Or spread forth our hands to a strange god;
21 Will not God search this out?
For he knoweth the secrets of the heart.
22 Yea, for thy sake are we killed all the day long;
We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
23 Awake, why sleepest thou, O Lord?
Arise, cast us not off for ever.
24 Wherefore hidest thou thy face,
And forgettest our affliction and our oppression?
25 For our soul is bowed down to the dust:
Our body cleaveth unto the earth.
26 Rise up for our help,
And redeem us for thy lovingkindness’ sake.
A song celebrating the king’s marriage.
For the Chief Musician; set to [e]Shoshannim. A Psalm of the sons of Korah. Maschil. A Song of loves.
45 My heart overfloweth with a goodly matter;
[f]I speak the things which I have made touching the king:
My tongue is the pen of a ready writer.
2 Thou art fairer than the children of men;
Grace is poured [g]into thy lips:
Therefore God hath blessed thee for ever.
3 Gird thy sword upon thy thigh, O mighty one,
Thy glory and thy majesty.
4 And in thy majesty ride on prosperously,
[h]Because of truth and meekness and righteousness:
And [i]thy right hand shall teach thee terrible things.
5 Thine arrows are sharp;
The peoples fall under thee;
They are in the heart of the king’s enemies.
6 [j]Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever:
A sceptre of equity is the sceptre of thy kingdom.
7 Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated wickedness:
Therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee
With the oil of gladness above thy fellows.
8 All thy garments smell of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia;
Out of ivory palaces stringed instruments have made thee glad.
9 Kings’ daughters are among thy honorable women:
At thy right hand doth stand the queen in gold of Ophir.
10 Hearken, O daughter, and consider, and incline thine ear;
Forget also thine own people, and thy father’s house:
11 So will the king desire thy beauty;
For he is thy lord; and reverence thou him.
12 And the daughter of Tyre shall be there with a gift;
The rich among the people shall entreat thy favor.
13 The king’s daughter [k]within the palace is all glorious:
Her clothing is inwrought with gold.
14 She shall be led unto the king [l]in broidered work:
The virgins her companions that follow her
Shall be brought unto thee.
15 With gladness and rejoicing shall they be led:
They shall enter into the king’s palace.
16 Instead of thy fathers shall be thy children,
Whom thou shalt make princes in all the earth.
17 I will make thy name to be remembered in all generations:
Therefore shall the peoples give thee thanks for ever and ever.
Footnotes
- Psalm 43:2 Or, while the enemy oppresseth
- Psalm 43:4 Hebrew the gladness of my joy.
- Psalm 44:4 Or, victories
- Psalm 44:19 Or, Though
- Psalm 45:1 That is, Lilies.
- Psalm 45:1 Or, I speak: my work is for a king
- Psalm 45:2 Or, upon
- Psalm 45:4 Or, In behalf of
- Psalm 45:4 Or, let thy right hand teach
- Psalm 45:6 Or, Thy throne is the throne of God etc.
- Psalm 45:13 Or, in the inner part of the palace
- Psalm 45:14 Or, upon
Public Domain (Why are modern Bible translations copyrighted?)