Day 172 of 364

^44:1For the Chief Musician. By the sons of Korah. A contemplative psalm. We have heard with our ears, God; our fathers have told us what work you did in their days, in the days of old. ^44:2You drove out the nations with your hand, but you planted them. You afflicted the peoples, but you spread them abroad. ^44:3For they didn’t get the land in possession by their own sword, neither did their own arm save them; but your right hand, your arm, and the light of your face, because you were favorable to them. ^44:4God, you are my King. Command victories for Jacob! ^44:5Through you, we will push down our adversaries. Through your name, we will tread down those who rise up against us. ^44:6For I will not trust in my bow, neither will my sword save me. ^44:7But you have saved us from our adversaries, and have shamed those who hate us. ^44:8In God we have made our boast all day long. We will give thanks to your name forever. Selah. ^44:9But now you rejected us, and brought us to dishonor, and don’t go out with our armies. ^44:10You make us turn back from the adversary. Those who hate us take plunder for themselves. ^44:11You have made us like sheep for food, and have scattered us among the nations. ^44:12You sell your people for nothing, and have gained nothing from their sale. ^44:13You make us a reproach to our neighbors, a scoffing and a derision to those who are around us. ^44:14You make us a byword among the nations, a shaking of the head among the peoples. ^44:15All day long my dishonor is before me, and shame covers my face, ^44:16at the taunt of one who reproaches and verbally abuses, because of the enemy and the avenger. ^44:17All this has come on us, yet we haven’t forgotten you. We haven’t been false to your covenant. ^44:18Our heart has not turned back, neither have our steps strayed from your path, ^44:19though you have crushed us in the haunt of jackals, and covered us with the shadow of death. ^44:20If we have forgotten the name of our God, or spread out our hands to a strange god, ^44:21won’t God search this out? For he knows the secrets of the heart. ^44:22Yes, for your sake we are killed all day long. We are regarded as sheep for the slaughter. ^44:23Wake up! Why do you sleep, Lord? Arise! Don’t reject us forever. ^44:24Why do you hide your face, and forget our affliction and our oppression? ^44:25For our soul is bowed down to the dust. Our body clings to the earth. ^44:26Rise up to help us. Redeem us for your loving kindness’ sake. ^45:1For the Chief Musician. Set to “The Lilies.” A contemplation by the sons of Korah. A wedding song. My heart overflows with a noble theme. I recite my verses for the king. My tongue is like the pen of a skillful writer. ^45:2You are the most excellent of the sons of men. Grace has anointed your lips, therefore God has blessed you forever. ^45:3Strap your sword on your thigh, O mighty one, in your splendor and your majesty. ^45:4In your majesty ride on victoriously on behalf of truth, humility, and righteousness. Let your right hand display awesome deeds. ^45:5Your arrows are sharp. The nations fall under you, with arrows in the heart of the king’s enemies. ^45:6Your throne, God, is forever and ever. A scepter of equity is the scepter of your kingdom. ^45:7You have loved righteousness, and hated wickedness. Therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness above your fellows. ^45:8All your garments smell like myrrh, aloes, and cassia. Out of ivory palaces stringed instruments have made you glad. ^45:9Kings’ daughters are among your honorable women. At your right hand the queen stands in gold of Ophir. ^45:10Listen, daughter, consider, and turn your ear. Forget your own people, and also your father’s house. ^45:11So the king will desire your beauty, honor him, for he is your lord. ^45:12The daughter of Tyre comes with a gift. The rich among the people entreat your favor. ^45:13The princess inside is all glorious. Her clothing is interwoven with gold. ^45:14She shall be led to the king in embroidered work. The virgins, her companions who follow her, shall be brought to you. ^45:15With gladness and rejoicing they shall be led. They shall enter into the king’s palace. ^45:16Your sons will take the place of your fathers. You shall make them princes in all the earth. ^45:17I will make your name to be remembered in all generations. Therefore the peoples shall give you thanks forever and ever. ^46:1For the Chief Musician. By the sons of Korah. According to Alamoth. God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. ^46:2Therefore we won’t be afraid, though the earth changes, though the mountains are shaken into the heart of the seas; ^46:3though its waters roar and are troubled, though the mountains tremble with their swelling. Selah. ^46:4There is a river, the streams of which make the city of God glad, the holy place of the tents of the Most High. ^46:5God is within her. She shall not be moved. God will help her at dawn. ^46:6The nations raged. The kingdoms were moved. He lifted his voice and the earth melted. ^46:7The LORD of Armies is with us. The God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah. ^46:8Come, see the LORD’s works, what desolations he has made on the earth. ^46:9He makes wars cease to the end of the earth. He breaks the bow, and shatters the spear. He burns the chariots in the fire. ^46:10“Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations. I will be exalted on the earth.” ^46:11The LORD of Armies is with us. The God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah. ^47:1For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by the sons of Korah. Oh clap your hands, all you nations. Shout to God with the voice of triumph! ^47:2For the LORD Most High is awesome. He is a great King over all the earth. ^47:3He subdues nations under us, and peoples under our feet. ^47:4He chooses our inheritance for us, the glory of Jacob whom he loved. Selah. ^47:5God has gone up with a shout, the LORD with the sound of a trumpet. ^47:6Sing praises to God! Sing praises! Sing praises to our King! Sing praises! ^47:7For God is the King of all the earth. Sing praises with understanding. ^47:8God reigns over the nations. God sits on his holy throne. ^47:9The 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! ^48:1A Song. A Psalm by the sons of Korah. Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised, in the city of our God, in his holy mountain. ^48:2Beautiful in elevation, the joy of the whole earth, is Mount Zion, on the north sides, the city of the great King. ^48:3God has shown himself in her citadels as a refuge. ^48:4For, behold, the kings assembled themselves, they passed by together. ^48:5They saw it, then they were amazed. They were dismayed. They hurried away. ^48:6Trembling took hold of them there, pain, as of a woman in travail. ^48:7With the east wind, you break the ships of Tarshish. ^48:8As we have heard, so we have seen, in the city of the LORD of Armies, in the city of our God. God will establish it forever. Selah. ^48:9We have thought about your loving kindness, God, in the middle of your temple. ^48:10As is your name, God, so is your praise to the ends of the earth. Your right hand is full of righteousness. ^48:11Let Mount Zion be glad! Let the daughters of Judah rejoice because of your judgments. ^48:12Walk about Zion, and go around her. Number its towers. ^48:13Notice her bulwarks. Consider her palaces, that you may tell it to the next generation. ^48:14For this God is our God forever and ever. He will be our guide even to death. ^49:1For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by the sons of Korah. Hear this, all you peoples. Listen, all you inhabitants of the world, ^49:2both low and high, rich and poor together. ^49:3My mouth will speak words of wisdom. My heart will utter understanding. ^49:4I will incline my ear to a proverb. I will solve my riddle on the harp. ^49:5Why should I fear in the days of evil, when iniquity at my heels surrounds me? ^49:6Those who trust in their wealth, and boast in the multitude of their riches— ^49:7none of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give God a ransom for him. ^49:8For the redemption of their life is costly, no payment is ever enough, ^49:9that he should live on forever, that he should not see corruption. ^49:10For he sees that wise men die; likewise the fool and the senseless perish, and leave their wealth to others. ^49:11Their inward thought is that their houses will endure forever, and their dwelling places to all generations. They name their lands after themselves. ^49:12But man, despite his riches, doesn’t endure. He is like the animals that perish. ^49:13This is the destiny of those who are foolish, and of those who approve their sayings. Selah. ^49:14They 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. ^49:15But God will redeem my soul from the power of Sheol, for he will receive me. Selah. ^49:16Don’t be afraid when a man is made rich, when the glory of his house is increased; ^49:17for when he dies he will carry nothing away. His glory won’t descend after him. ^49:18Though while he lived he blessed his soul— and men praise you when you do well for yourself— ^49:19he shall go to the generation of his fathers. They shall never see the light. ^49:20A man who has riches without understanding, is like the animals that perish.