46

For the Chief Musician. By the sons of Korah. According to Alamoth.

1God is our refuge and strength,

a very present help in trouble.

2Therefore we won’t be afraid, though the earth changes,

though the mountains are shaken into the heart of the seas;

3though its waters roar and are troubled,

though the mountains tremble with their swelling. Selah.

4There is a river, the streams of which make the city of God glad,

the holy place of the tents of the Most High.

5God is within her. She shall not be moved.

God will help her at dawn.

6The nations raged. The kingdoms were moved.

He lifted his voice and the earth melted.

7Yahweh of Armies is with us.

The God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.

8Come, see Yahweh’s works,

what desolations he has made in the earth.

9He makes wars cease to the end of the earth.

He breaks the bow, and shatters the spear.

He burns the chariots in the fire.

10“Be still, and know that I am God.

I will be exalted among the nations.

I will be exalted in the earth.”

11Yahweh of Armies is with us.

The God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.

47

For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by the sons of Korah.

1Oh clap your hands, all you nations.

Shout to God with the voice of triumph!

2For Yahweh Most High is awesome.

He is a great King over all the earth.

3He subdues nations under us,

and peoples under our feet.

4He chooses our inheritance for us,

the glory of Jacob whom he loved. Selah.

5God has gone up with a shout,

Yahweh with the sound of a trumpet.

6Sing praises to God! Sing praises!

Sing praises to our King! Sing praises!

7For God is the King of all the earth.

Sing praises with understanding.

8God reigns over the nations.

God sits on his holy throne.

9The princes of the peoples are gathered together,

the people of the God of Abraham.

For the shields of the earth belong to God.

He is greatly exalted!

48

A Song. A Psalm by the sons of Korah.

1Great is Yahweh, and greatly to be praised,

in the city of our God, in his holy mountain.

2Beautiful in elevation, the joy of the whole earth,

is Mount Zion, on the north sides,

the city of the great King.

3God has shown himself in her citadels as a refuge.

4For, behold, the kings assembled themselves,

they passed by together.

5They saw it, then they were amazed.

They were dismayed.

They hurried away.

6Trembling took hold of them there,

pain, as of a woman in travail.

7With the east wind, you break the ships of Tarshish.

8As we have heard, so we have seen,

in the city of Yahweh of Armies, in the city of our God.

God will establish it forever. Selah.

9We have thought about your loving kindness, God,

in the middle of your temple.

10As is your name, God,

so is your praise to the ends of the earth.

Your right hand is full of righteousness.

11Let Mount Zion be glad!

Let the daughters of Judah rejoice because of your judgments.

12Walk about Zion, and go around her.

Number its towers.

13Notice her bulwarks.

Consider her palaces,

that you may tell it to the next generation.

14For this God is our God forever and ever.

He will be our guide even to death.

49

For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by the sons of Korah.

1Hear this, all you peoples.

Listen, all you inhabitants of the world,

2both low and high,

rich and poor together.

3My mouth will speak words of wisdom.

My heart will utter understanding.

4I will incline my ear to a proverb.

I will solve my riddle on the harp.

5Why should I fear in the days of evil,

when iniquity at my heels surrounds me?

6Those who trust in their wealth,

and boast in the multitude of their riches—

7none of them can by any means redeem his brother,

nor give God a ransom for him.

8For the redemption of their life is costly,

no payment is ever enough,

9that he should live on forever,

that he should not see corruption.

10For he sees that wise men die;

likewise the fool and the senseless perish,

and leave their wealth to others.

11Their inward thought is that their houses will endure forever,

and their dwelling places to all generations.

They name their lands after themselves.

12But man, despite his riches, doesn’t endure.

He is like the animals that perish.

13This is the destiny of those who are foolish,

and of those who approve their sayings. Selah.

14They are appointed as a flock for Sheol.

Death shall be their shepherd.

The upright shall have dominion over them in the morning.

Their beauty shall decay in Sheol,

far from their mansion.

15But God will redeem my soul from the power of Sheol,

for he will receive me. Selah.

16Don’t be afraid when a man is made rich,

when the glory of his house is increased;

17for when he dies he will carry nothing away.

His glory won’t descend after him.

18Though while he lived he blessed his soul—

and men praise you when you do well for yourself—

19he shall go to the generation of his fathers.

They shall never see the light.

20A man who has riches without understanding,

is like the animals that perish.

50

A Psalm by Asaph.

1The Mighty One, God, Yahweh, speaks,

and calls the earth from sunrise to sunset.

2Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty,

God shines out.

3Our God comes, and does not keep silent.

A fire devours before him.

It is very stormy around him.

4He calls to the heavens above,

to the earth, that he may judge his people:

5“Gather my saints together to me,

those who have made a covenant with me by sacrifice.”

6The heavens shall declare his righteousness,

for God himself is judge. Selah.

7“Hear, my people, and I will speak.

Israel, I will testify against you.

I am God, your God.

8I don’t rebuke you for your sacrifices.

Your burnt offerings are continually before me.

9I have no need for a bull from your stall,

nor male goats from your pens.

10For every animal of the forest is mine,

and the livestock on a thousand hills.

11I know all the birds of the mountains.

The wild animals of the field are mine.

12If I were hungry, I would not tell you,

for the world is mine, and all that is in it.

13Will I eat the meat of bulls,

or drink the blood of goats?

14Offer to God the sacrifice of thanksgiving.

Pay your vows to the Most High.

15Call on me in the day of trouble.

I will deliver you, and you will honor me.”

16But to the wicked God says,

“What right do you have to declare my statutes,

that you have taken my covenant on your lips,

17since you hate instruction,

and throw my words behind you?

18When you saw a thief, you consented with him,

and have participated with adulterers.

19“You give your mouth to evil.

Your tongue frames deceit.

20You sit and speak against your brother.

You slander your own mother’s son.

21You have done these things, and I kept silent.

You thought that I was just like you.

I will rebuke you, and accuse you in front of your eyes.

22“Now consider this, you who forget God,

lest I tear you into pieces, and there be no one to deliver.

23Whoever offers the sacrifice of thanksgiving glorifies me,

and prepares his way so that I will show God’s salvation to him.”

51

For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by David, when Nathan the prophet came to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.

1Have mercy on me, God, according to your loving kindness.

According to the multitude of your tender mercies, blot out my transgressions.

2Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity.

Cleanse me from my sin.

3For I know my transgressions.

My sin is constantly before me.

4Against you, and you only, I have sinned,

and done that which is evil in your sight,

so you may be proved right when you speak,

and justified when you judge.

5Behold, I was born in iniquity.

My mother conceived me in sin.

6Behold, you desire truth in the inward parts.

You teach me wisdom in the inmost place.

7Purify me with hyssop, and I will be clean.

Wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.

8Let me hear joy and gladness,

that the bones which you have broken may rejoice.

9Hide your face from my sins,

and blot out all of my iniquities.

10Create in me a clean heart, O God.

Renew a right spirit within me.

11Don’t throw me from your presence,

and don’t take your Holy Spirit from me.

12Restore to me the joy of your salvation.

Uphold me with a willing spirit.

13Then I will teach transgressors your ways.

Sinners will be converted to you.

14Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God, the God of my salvation.

My tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness.

15Lord, open my lips.

My mouth will declare your praise.

16For you don’t delight in sacrifice, or else I would give it.

You have no pleasure in burnt offering.

17The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit.

O God, you will not despise a broken and contrite heart.

18Do well in your good pleasure to Zion.

Build the walls of Jerusalem.

19Then you will delight in the sacrifices of righteousness,

in burnt offerings and in whole burnt offerings.

Then they will offer bulls on your altar.

52

For the Chief Musician. A contemplation by David, when Doeg the Edomite came and told Saul, “David has come to Ahimelech’s house.”

1Why do you boast of mischief, mighty man?

God’s loving kindness endures continually.

2Your tongue plots destruction,

like a sharp razor, working deceitfully.

3You love evil more than good,

lying rather than speaking the truth. Selah.

4You love all devouring words,

you deceitful tongue.

5God will likewise destroy you forever.

He will take you up, and pluck you out of your tent,

and root you out of the land of the living. Selah.

6The righteous also will see it, and fear,

and laugh at him, saying,

7“Behold, this is the man who didn’t make God his strength,

but trusted in the abundance of his riches,

and strengthened himself in his wickedness.”

8But as for me, I am like a green olive tree in God’s house.

I trust in God’s loving kindness forever and ever.

9I will give you thanks forever, because you have done it.

I will hope in your name, for it is good,

in the presence of your saints.

53

For the Chief Musician. To the tune of “Mahalath.” A contemplation by David.

1The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.”

They are corrupt, and have done abominable iniquity.

There is no one who does good.

2God looks down from heaven on the children of men,

to see if there are any who understood,

who seek after God.

3Every one of them has gone back.

They have become filthy together.

There is no one who does good, no, not one.

4Have the workers of iniquity no knowledge,

who eat up my people as they eat bread,

and don’t call on God?

5There they were in great fear, where no fear was,

for God has scattered the bones of him who encamps against you.

You have put them to shame,

because God has rejected them.

6Oh that the salvation of Israel would come out of Zion!

When God brings back his people from captivity,

then Jacob shall rejoice,

and Israel shall be glad.