Send Out Your Light and Your Truth
1 rVindicate me, O God, and sdefend my cause
against an ungodly people,
from tthe deceitful and unjust man
deliver me!
2 For you are uthe God in whom I take refuge;
why have you vrejected me?
Why do I wgo about mourning
because of the oppression of the enemy?
3 xSend out your light and your truth;
let them lead me;
let them bring me to your yholy hill
and to your zdwelling!
4 Then I will go to the altar of God,
to God my exceeding joy,
and I will praise you with the lyre,
O God, my God.
5 aWhy are you cast down, O my soul,
and why are you in turmoil within me?
bHope in God; for I shall again praise him,
my salvation and my God.
Come to Our Help
To the choirmaster. cA Maskil1 of the Sons of Korah.
1 O God, we have heard with our ears,
dour fathers have told us,
what deeds you performed in their days,
ein the days of old:
2 you with your own hand fdrove out the nations,
but gthem you planted;
you afflicted the peoples,
but hthem you set free;
3 for not iby their own sword did they win the land,
nor did their own arm save them,
but your right hand and your arm,
and jthe light of your face,
kfor you delighted in them.
4 lYou are my King, O God;
mordain salvation for Jacob!
5 Through you we npush down our foes;
through your name we otread down those who rise up against us.
6 For not in pmy bow do I trust,
nor can my sword save me.
7 But you have saved us from our foes
and have qput to shame those who hate us.
8 rIn God we have boasted continually,
and we will give thanks to your name forever. Selah
9 But you have srejected us and disgraced us
and thave not gone out with our armies.
10 You have made us uturn back from the foe,
and those who hate us have gotten spoil.
11 You have made us like vsheep for slaughter
and have wscattered us among the nations.
12 xYou have sold your people for a trifle,
demanding no high price for them.
13 You have made us ythe taunt of our neighbors,
the derision and zscorn of those around us.
14 You have made us aa byword among the nations,
ba laughingstock2 among the peoples.
15 All day long my disgrace is before me,
and cshame has covered my face
16 at the sound of the taunter and reviler,
at the sight of dthe enemy and the avenger.
17 eAll this has come upon us,
though we have not forgotten you,
and we have not been false to your covenant.
18 Our heart has not turned back,
nor have our fsteps gdeparted from your way;
19 yet you have hbroken us in the place of ijackals
and covered us with jthe shadow of death.
20 If we had forgotten the name of our God
or kspread out our hands to la foreign god,
21 mwould not God discover this?
nFor he knows the secrets of the heart.
22 Yet ofor your sake we are killed all the day long;
we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.
23 pAwake! Why are you sleeping, O Lord?
Rouse yourself! qDo not reject us forever!
24 Why rdo you hide your face?
Why do you forget our affliction and oppression?
25 For our ssoul is bowed down to the dust;
our belly clings to the ground.
26 Rise up; tcome to our help!
uRedeem us for the sake of your steadfast love!
Your Throne, O God, Is Forever
To the choirmaster: according to Lilies. A Maskil3 of vthe Sons of Korah; a love song.
1 My heart overflows with a pleasing theme;
I address my verses to the king;
my tongue is like the pen of wa ready scribe.
2 You are xthe most handsome of the sons of men;
ygrace is poured upon your lips;
therefore God has blessed you forever.
3 zGird your asword on your thigh, O bmighty one,
in cyour splendor and majesty!
4 In your majesty dride out victoriously
for the cause of truth and meekness and righteousness;
let your right hand teach you eawesome deeds!
5 Your arrows are sharp
in the heart of the king’s enemies;
the peoples fall under you.
6 fYour throne, O God, is forever and ever.
The gscepter of your kingdom is a scepter of uprightness;
7 hyou have loved righteousness and hated wickedness.
Therefore iGod, your God, has janointed you
with the oil of kgladness lbeyond your companions;
8 your robes are all fragrant with mmyrrh and aloes and cassia.
From ivory palaces nstringed instruments make you glad;
9 daughters of kings are among your ladies of honor;
10 Hear, O daughter, and consider, and incline your ear:
forget your people and your father’s house,
11 and the king will desire your beauty.
Since he is your qlord, rbow to him.
13 All glorious is vthe princess in her chamber, with robes interwoven with gold.
14 wIn many-colored robes xshe is led to the king,
with her virgin companions following behind her.
15 With joy and gladness they are led along
as they enter the palace of the king.
16 In place of your fathers shall be your sons;
you will make them yprinces in all the earth.
17 zI will cause your name to be remembered in all generations;
therefore nations will praise you forever and ever.
Why Should I Fear in Times of Trouble?
To the choirmaster. A Psalm of fthe Sons of Korah.
1 gHear this, all peoples!
Give ear, all inhabitants of the world,
2 hboth low and high,
rich and poor together!
3 My mouth shall speak iwisdom;
the meditation of my heart shall be understanding.
4 I will incline my ear to ja proverb;
I will solve my kriddle to the music of the lyre.
5 lWhy should I fear in mtimes of trouble,
when the iniquity of those who cheat me surrounds me,
6 those who ntrust in their wealth
and boast of the abundance of their riches?
7 Truly no man ocan ransom another,
or pgive to God qthe price of his life,
8 for rthe ransom of their life is costly
and can never suffice,
9 that he should live on forever
and snever see the pit.
10 For he sees tthat even the wise die;
uthe fool and the stupid alike must perish
and vleave their wealth to others.
11 Their wgraves are their homes forever,1
their dwelling places xto all generations,
though they ycalled lands by their own names.
12 Man in his pomp zwill not remain;
ahe is like the beasts that perish.
13 This is the path of those who have bfoolish confidence;
yet after them people approve of their boasts.2 Selah
14 Like sheep they are appointed for Sheol;
death shall be their shepherd,
and the upright cshall rule over them in the morning.
dTheir form shall be consumed ein Sheol, with no place to dwell.
15 But God will fransom my soul from the power of Sheol,
for he will greceive me. Selah
16 Be not afraid when a man becomes rich,
when the glory of his house increases.
17 hFor when he dies he will icarry nothing away;
his glory will not go down after him.
18 For though, while he lives, he counts himself jblessed
—and though you get praise when you do well for yourself—
19 his soul will kgo to the generation of his fathers,
who will never again lsee light.
20 mMan in his pomp yet without understanding is like the beasts that perish.
My Soul Longs for the Courts of the Lord
To the choirmaster: according to pThe Gittith.1 A Psalm of qthe Sons of Korah.
1 How rlovely is your sdwelling place,
O Lord of hosts!
2 My soul tlongs, yes, ufaints
for the courts of the Lord;
my heart and flesh sing for joy
to vthe living God.
3 Even the sparrow finds a home,
and the swallow a nest for herself,
where she may lay her young,
at your altars, O Lord of hosts,
wmy King and my God.
4 xBlessed are those who dwell in your house,
ever ysinging your praise! Selah
5 Blessed are those whose strength is in you,
zin whose heart are the highways to Zion.2
6 As they go through the Valley of Baca
they make it a place of springs;
athe early rain also covers it with bpools.
7 They go cfrom strength to strength;
each one dappears before God in Zion.
8 O eLord God of hosts, hear my prayer;
give ear, O God of Jacob! Selah
look on the face of your anointed!
10 For a day hin your courts is better
than a thousand elsewhere.
I would rather be ia doorkeeper in the house of my God
than dwell in the tents of wickedness.
11 For the Lord God is ja sun and gshield;
the Lord bestows favor and honor.
kNo good thing does he withhold
from those who lwalk uprightly.
12 O Lord of hosts,
mblessed is the one who trusts in you!
Revive Us Again
To the choirmaster. A Psalm of nthe Sons of Korah.
1 Lord, you were ofavorable to your land;
you prestored the fortunes of Jacob.
2 You qforgave the iniquity of your people;
you qcovered all their sin. Selah
3 You withdrew all your wrath;
you rturned from your hot anger.
4 sRestore us again, O God of our salvation,
and put away your indignation toward us!
5 tWill you be angry with us forever?
Will you prolong your anger to all generations?
6 Will you not urevive us again,
that your people may vrejoice in you?
7 Show us your steadfast love, O Lord,
and grant us your salvation.
8 wLet me hear what God the Lord will speak,
for he will xspeak peace to his people, to his ysaints;
but let them not zturn back to afolly.
9 Surely his bsalvation is near to those who fear him,
that cglory may dwell in our land.
10 dSteadfast love and faithfulness meet;
erighteousness and peace kiss each other.
11 Faithfulness springs up from the ground,
and righteousness looks down from the sky.
12 Yes, fthe Lord will give what is good,
and our land gwill yield its increase.
13 hRighteousness will go before him
and make his footsteps a way.
Glorious Things of You Are Spoken
A Psalm of lthe Sons of Korah. A Song.
1 On mthe holy mount nstands the city he founded;
2 the Lord oloves the gates of Zion
more than all the dwelling places of Jacob.
3 pGlorious things of you are spoken,
O qcity of God. Selah
4 Among those who rknow me I mention sRahab and Babylon;
behold, Philistia and Tyre, with tCush1—
“This one was born there,” they say.
5 And of Zion it shall be said,
“This one and that one were born in her”;
for the Most High himself will uestablish her.
6 The Lord records as he vregisters the peoples,
“This one was born there.” Selah
7 wSingers and xdancers alike say,
“All my ysprings are in you.”