New King James Version (NKJV)

Prayer for Wisdom and Forgiveness

To the Chief Musician. To Jeduthun. A Psalm of David.

1 I said, “I will guard my ways,

# Lest I sin with mytongue;

I will restrain my mouth with a muzzle,

While the wicked are before me.”

2 I was mute with silence,

I held my peaceevenfrom good;

And my sorrow was stirred up.

3 My heart was hot within me;

While I was musing, the fire burned.

ThenI spoke with my tongue:

4 “Lord,make me to know my end,

And whatisthe measure of my days,

ThatI may know how frail Iam.

5 Indeed, You have made my daysashandbreadths,

And my ageisas nothing before You;

# Certainly every man at his best stateisbutvapor.

Selah

6 Surely every man walks about like a shadow;

Surely they busy themselves in vain;

He heaps upriches,

And does not know who will gather them.

7 “And now, Lord, what do I wait for?

# Myhopeisin You.

8 Deliver me from all my transgressions;

# Do not make methe reproach of the foolish.

9 I was mute, I did not open my mouth,

# Because it wasYou who didit.

10 Remove Your plague from me;

I am consumed by the blow of Your hand.

11 When with rebukes You correct man for iniquity,

# You make his beautymelt away like a moth;

Surely every manisvapor.

Selah

12 “Hear my prayer, OLord,

And give ear to my cry;

Do not be silent at my tears;

For Iama stranger with You,

# A sojourner,as all my fatherswere.

13 Remove Your gaze from me, that I may regain strength,

# Before I go away andam no more.”

Faith Persevering in Trial

To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.

1 Iwaited patiently for theLord;

And He inclined to me,

And heard my cry.

2 He also brought me up out of a horrible pit,

# Out ofthe miry clay,

# Andset my feet upon a rock,

Andestablished my steps.

3 He has put a new song in my mouth—

Praise to our God;

Many will seeitand fear,

And will trust in theLord.

4 Blessedisthat man who makes theLordhis trust,

And does not respect the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies.

5 Many, OLordmy God,areYour wonderful works

WhichYou have done;

# And Your thoughts toward us

Cannot be recounted to You in order;

IfI would declare and speakofthem,

They are more than can be numbered.

6 Sacrifice and offering You did not desire;

My ears You have opened.

Burnt offering and sin offering You did not require.

7 Then I said, “Behold, I come;

In the scroll of the bookitiswritten of me.

8 I delight to do Your will, O my God,

# And Your lawiswithin my heart.”

9 I have proclaimed the good news of righteousness

In the great assembly;

# Indeed,I do not restrain my lips,

OLord, You Yourself know.

10 I have not hidden Your righteousness within my heart;

I have declared Your faithfulness and Your salvation;

I have not concealed Your lovingkindness and Your truth

From the great assembly.

11 Do not withhold Your tender mercies from me, OLord;

# Let Your lovingkindness and Your truth continually preserve me.

12 For innumerable evils have surrounded me;

# My iniquities have overtaken me, so that I am not able to look up;

They are more than the hairs of my head;

Therefore my heart fails me.

13 Be pleased, OLord, to deliver me;

OLord, make haste to help me!

14 Let them be ashamed and brought to mutual confusion

Who seek to destroy my life;

Let them be driven backward and brought to dishonor

Who wish me evil.

15 Let them beconfounded because of their shame,

Who say to me, “Aha, aha!”

16 Let all those who seek You rejoice and be glad in You;

# Let such as love Your salvationsay continually,

“TheLordbe magnified!”

17 But Iampoor and needy;

# YettheLordthinks upon me.

Youaremy help and my deliverer;

Do not delay, O my God.

The Blessing and Suffering of the Godly

To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.

1 Blessedishe who considers the poor;

TheLordwill deliver him in time of trouble.

2 TheLordwill preserve him and keep him alive,

Andhe will be blessed on the earth;

# You will not deliver him to the will of his enemies.

3 TheLordwill strengthen him on his bed of illness;

You will sustain him on his sickbed.

4 I said, “Lord, be merciful to me;

# Heal my soul, for I have sinned against You.”

5 My enemies speak evil of me:

“When will he die, and his name perish?”

6 And if he comes to seeme,he speaks lies;

His heart gathers iniquity to itself;

Whenhe goes out, he tellsit.

7 All who hate me whisper together against me;

Against me they devise my hurt.

8 “An evil disease,”theysay,“clings to him.

Andnowthat he lies down, he will rise up no more.”

9 Even my own familiar friend in whom I trusted,

# Who ate my bread,

Has lifted uphisheel against me.

10 But You, OLord, be merciful to me, and raise me up,

That I may repay them.

11 By this I know that You are well pleased with me,

Because my enemy does not triumph over me.

12 As for me, You uphold me in my integrity,

# Andset me before Your face forever.

13 BlessedbetheLordGod of Israel

From everlasting to everlasting!

Amen and Amen.

BOOK TWO: Psalms 42—72

Yearning for God in the Midst of Distresses

To the Chief Musician. A Contemplation of the sons of Korah.

1 As the deer pants for the water brooks,

So pants my soul for You, O God.

2 My soul thirsts for God, for theliving God.

When shall I come and appear before God?

3 My tears have been my food day and night,

While they continually say to me,

# “Whereisyour God?”

4 When I remember thesethings,

# I pour out my soul within me.

For I used to go with the multitude;

# I went with them to the house of God,

With the voice of joy and praise,

With a multitude that kept a pilgrim feast.

5 Why are you cast down, O my soul?

Andwhyare you disquieted within me?

# Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him

Forthe help of His countenance.

6 O my God, my soul is cast down within me;

Therefore I will remember You from the land of the Jordan,

And from the heights of Hermon,

From the Hill Mizar.

7 Deep calls unto deep at the noise of Your waterfalls;

# All Your waves and billows have gone over me.

8 TheLordwillcommand His lovingkindness in the daytime,

# Andin the night His songshallbewith me—

A prayer to the God of my life.

9 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 Aswith a breaking of my bones,

My enemies reproach me,

# While they say to me all day long,

“Whereisyour God?”

11 Why are you cast down, O my soul?

And why are you disquieted within me?

Hope in God;

For I shall yet praise Him,

The help of my countenance and my God.

Prayer to God in Time of Trouble

1 Vindicateme, O God,

# Andplead my cause against an ungodly nation;

Oh, deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man!

2 For Youarethe God of my strength;

Why do You cast me off?

# Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?

3 Oh, send out Your light and Your truth!

Let them lead me;

# Let them bring me toYour holy hill

And to Your tabernacle.

4 Then I will go to the altar of God,

To God my exceeding joy;

And on the harp I will praise You,

O God, my God.

5 Why are you cast down, O my soul?

And why are you disquieted within me?

Hope in God;

For I shall yet praise Him,

The help of my countenance and my God.

Redemption Remembered in Present Dishonor

To the Chief Musician. A

#

Contemplation of the sons of Korah.

1 We have heard with our ears, O God,

# Our fathers have told us,

The deeds You did in their days,

In days of old:

2 You drove out the nations with Your hand,

But them You planted;

You afflicted the peoples, and cast them out.

3 Forthey did not gain possession of the land by their own sword,

Nor did their own arm save them;

But it was Your right hand, Your arm, and the light of Your countenance,

# Because You favored them.

4 You are my King, O God;

Command victories for Jacob.

5 Through Youwe will push down our enemies;

Through Your name we will trample those who rise up against us.

6 ForI will not trust in my bow,

Nor shall my sword save me.

7 But You have saved us from our enemies,

And have put to shame those who hated us.

8 In God we boast all day long,

And praise Your name forever.

Selah

9 ButYou have castusoff and put us to shame,

And You do not go out with our armies.

10 You make usturn back from the enemy,

And those who hate us have taken spoil for themselves.

11 You have given us up like sheepintendedfor food,

# And havescattered us among the nations.

12 You sell Your people fornexttonothing,

And are not enriched by selling them.

13 You make us a reproach to our neighbors,

A scorn and a derision to those all around us.

14 You make us a byword among the nations,

# A shaking of the head among the peoples.

15 My dishonoriscontinually before me,

And the shame of my face has covered me,

16 Because of the voice of him who reproaches and reviles,

# Because of the enemy and the avenger.

17 All this has come upon us;

But we have not forgotten You,

Nor have we dealt falsely with Your covenant.

18 Our heart has not turned back,

# Nor have our steps departed from Your way;

19 But You have severely broken us inthe place of jackals,

# And covered uswith the shadow of death.

20 If we had forgotten the name of our God,

# Orstretched out our hands to a foreign god,

21 Would not God search this out?

For He knows the secrets of the heart.

22 Yet for Your sake we are killed all day long;

We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.

23 Awake! Why do You sleep, O Lord?

Arise! Do not castusoff forever.

24 Why do You hide Your face,

Andforget our affliction and our oppression?

25 Forour soul is bowed down to the dust;

Our body clings to the ground.

26 Arise for our help,

And redeem us for Your mercies’ sake.

The Glories of the Messiah and His Bride

To the Chief Musician.

#

Set to “The Lilies.” A Contemplation of the sons of Korah. A Song of Love.

1 My heart is overflowing with a good theme;

I recite my composition concerning the King;

My tongueisthe pen of a ready writer.

2 You are fairer than the sons of men;

# Grace is poured upon Your lips;

Therefore God has blessed You forever.

3 Gird Yoursword uponYourthigh,O Mighty One,

# With Yourglory and Your majesty.

4 And in Your majesty ride prosperously because of truth, humility,andrighteousness;

And Your right hand shall teach You awesome things.

5 Your arrowsaresharp in the heart of the King’s enemies;

The peoples fall under You.

6 Your throne, O God,isforever and ever;

# Ascepter of righteousnessisthe scepter of Your kingdom.

7 You love righteousness and hate wickedness;

# Therefore God, Your God, hasanointed You

# With the oil ofgladness more than Your companions.

8 All Your garmentsarescented with myrrh and aloesandcassia,

Out of the ivory palaces, by which they have made You glad.

9 Kings’ daughtersareamong Your honorable women;

# At Your right hand stands the queen in gold from Ophir.

10 Listen, O daughter,

Consider and incline your ear;

# Forget your own people also, and your father’s house;

11 So the King will greatly desire your beauty;

# Because Heisyour Lord, worship Him.

12 And the daughter of Tyrewillcomewith a gift;

# The rich among the people will seek your favor.

13 The royal daughterisall glorious withinthepalace;

Her clothingiswoven with gold.

14 She shall be brought to the King in robes of many colors;

The virgins, her companions who follow her, shall be brought to You.

15 With gladness and rejoicing they shall be brought;

They shall enter the King’s palace.

16 Instead of Your fathers shall be Your sons,

# Whom You shall make princes in all the earth.

17 I will make Your name to be remembered in all generations;

Therefore the people shall praise You forever and ever.

God the Refuge of His People and Conqueror of the Nations

To the Chief Musician.

A

Psalm

of the sons of Korah. A Song

#

for Alamoth.

1 Godisourrefuge and strength,

# A very present help in trouble.

2 Therefore we will not fear,

Even though the earth be removed,

And though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;

3 Thoughits waters roarandbe troubled,

Thoughthe mountains shake with its swelling.

Selah

4 Thereisariver whose streams shall make glad thecity of God,

The holyplaceof the tabernacle of the Most High.

5 Godisin the midst of her, she shall not be moved;

God shall help her, just at the break of dawn.

6 The nations raged, the kingdoms were moved;

He uttered His voice, the earth melted.

7 TheLordof hostsiswith us;

The God of Jacobisour refuge.

Selah

8 Come, behold the works of theLord,

Who has made desolations in the earth.

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

# He breaks the bow and cuts the spear in two;

# He burns the chariot in the fire.

10 Be still, and know that IamGod;

# I will be exalted among the nations,

I will be exalted in the earth!

11 TheLordof hostsiswith us;

The God of Jacobisour refuge.

Selah

Praise to God, the Ruler of the Earth

To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of the sons of Korah.

1 Oh, clap your hands, all you peoples!

Shout to God with the voice of triumph!

2 For theLordMost Highisawesome;

# Heisa greatKing over all the earth.

3 He will subdue the peoples under us,

And the nations under our feet.

4 He will choose ourinheritance for us,

The excellence of Jacob whom He loves.

Selah

5 God has gone up with a shout,

TheLordwith the sound of a trumpet.

6 Sing praises to God, sing praises!

Sing praises to our King, sing praises!

7 For Godisthe King of all the earth;

# Sing praises with understanding.

8 God reigns over the nations;

# Godsits on Hisholy throne.

9 The princes of the people have gathered together,

# The people of the God of Abraham.

# For the shields of the earthbelongto God;

He is greatly exalted.

The Glory of God in Zion

A Song. A Psalm of the sons of Korah.

1 GreatistheLord, and greatly to be praised

# In thecity of our God,

InHis holy mountain.

2 Beautiful in elevation,

The joy of the whole earth,

IsMount Ziononthe sides of the north,

The city of the great King.

3 Godisin her palaces;

He is known as her refuge.

4 For behold,the kings assembled,

They passed by together.

5 They sawit, andso they marveled;

They were troubled, they hastened away.

6 Feartook hold of them there,

Andpain, as of a woman in birth pangs,

7 AswhenYou break theships of Tarshish

With an east wind.

8 As we have heard,

So we have seen

In the city of theLordof hosts,

In the city of our God:

# God willestablish it forever.

Selah

9 We have thought, O God, onYour lovingkindness,

In the midst of Your temple.

10 According toYour name, O God,

SoisYour praise to the ends of the earth;

Your right hand is full of righteousness.

11 Let Mount Zion rejoice,

Let the daughters of Judah be glad,

Because of Your judgments.

12 Walk about Zion,

And go all around her.

Count her towers;

13 Mark well her bulwarks;

Consider her palaces;

# That you maytellitto the generation following.

14 For thisisGod,

Our God forever and ever;

# He will be our guide

Evento death.