PSALMS 47-52

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God the King of the Earth.For the choir director. A Psalm of the sons of Korah.
47:1 O clap your hands, all peoples;

Shout to God with the voice of joy.

2 For the LORD Most High is to be feared,

A great King over all the earth.

3 He subdues peoples under us

And nations under our feet.

4 He chooses our inheritance for us,

The glory of Jacob whom He loves. Selah.

5 God has ascended with a shout,

The LORD, with the sound of a trumpet.

6 Sing praises to God, sing praises;

Sing praises to our King, sing praises.

7 For God is the King of all the earth;

Sing praises with a skillful psalm.

8 God reigns over the nations,

God sits on His holy throne.

9 The princes of the people have assembled themselves as the people of the God of Abraham,

For the shields of the earth belong to God;

He is highly exalted.

The Beauty and Glory of Zion.A Song; a Psalm of the sons of Korah.
48:1 Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised,

In the city of our God, His holy mountain.

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

Is Mount Zion in the far north,

The city of the great King.

3 God, in her palaces,

Has made Himself known as a stronghold.

4 For, lo, the kings assembled themselves,

They passed by together.

5 They saw it, then they were amazed;

They were terrified, they fled in alarm.

6 Panic seized them there,

Anguish, as of a woman in childbirth.

7 With the east wind

You break the ships of Tarshish.

8 As we have heard, so have we seen

In the city of the LORD of hosts, in the city of our God;

God will establish her forever. Selah.

9 We have thought on Your lovingkindness, O God,

In the midst of Your temple.

10 As is Your name, O God,

So is Your praise to the ends of the earth;

Your right hand is full of righteousness.

11 Let Mount Zion be glad,

Let the daughters of Judah rejoice

Because of Your judgments.

12 Walk about Zion and go around her;

Count her towers;

13 Consider her ramparts;

Go through her palaces,

That you may tell it to the next generation.

14 For such is God,

Our God forever and ever;

He will guide us until death.

The Folly of Trusting in Riches.For the choir director. A Psalm of the sons of Korah.
49:1 Hear this, all peoples;

Give ear, all inhabitants of the world,

2 Both low and high,

Rich and poor together.

3 My mouth will speak wisdom,

And the meditation of my heart will be understanding.

4 I will incline my ear to a proverb;

I will express my riddle on the harp.

5 Why should I fear in days of adversity,

When the iniquity of my foes surrounds me,

6 Even those who trust in their wealth

And boast in the abundance of their riches?

7 No man can by any means redeem his brother

Or give to God a ransom for him--

8 For the redemption of his soul is costly,

And he should cease trying forever--

9 That he should live on eternally,

That he should not undergo decay.

10 For he sees that even wise men die;

The stupid and the senseless alike perish

And leave their wealth to others.

11 Their inner thought is that their houses are forever

And their dwelling places to all generations;

They have called their lands after their own names.

12 But man in his pomp will not endure;

He is like the beasts that perish.

13 This is the way of those who are foolish,

And of those after them who approve their words. Selah.

14 As sheep they are appointed for Sheol;

Death shall be their shepherd;

And the upright shall rule over them in the morning,

And their form shall be for Sheol to consume

So that they have no habitation.

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

For He will receive me. Selah.

16 Do not be afraid when a man becomes rich,

When the glory of his house is increased;

17 For when he dies he will carry nothing away;

His glory will not descend after him.

18 Though while he lives he congratulates himself--

And though men praise you when you do well for yourself--

19 He shall go to the generation of his fathers;

They will never see the light.

20 Man in his pomp, yet without understanding,

Is like the beasts that perish.

God the Judge of the Righteous and the Wicked.A Psalm of Asaph.
50:1 The Mighty One, God, the LORD, has spoken,

And summoned the earth from the rising of the sun to its setting.

2 Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty,

God has shone forth.

3 May our God come and not keep silence;

Fire devours before Him,

And it is very tempestuous around Him.

4 He summons the heavens above,

And the earth, to judge His people:

5 “Gather My godly ones to Me,

Those who have made a covenant with Me by sacrifice.”

6 And the heavens declare His righteousness,

For God Himself is judge. Selah.

7 “Hear, O My people, and I will speak;

O Israel, I will testify against you;

I am God, your God.

8 “I do not reprove you for your sacrifices,

And your burnt offerings are continually before Me.

9 “I shall take no young bull out of your house

Nor male goats out of your folds.

10 “For every beast of the forest is Mine,

The cattle on a thousand hills.

11 “I know every bird of the mountains,

And everything that moves in the field is Mine.

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

For the world is Mine, and all it contains.

13 “Shall I eat the flesh of bulls

Or drink the blood of male goats?

14 “Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving

And pay your vows to the Most High;

15 Call upon Me in the day of trouble;

I shall rescue you, and you will honor Me.”

16 But to the wicked God says,

“What right have you to tell of My statutes

And to take My covenant in your mouth?

17 “For you hate discipline,

And you cast My words behind you.

18 “When you see a thief, you are pleased with him,

And you associate with adulterers.

19 “You let your mouth loose in evil

And your tongue frames deceit.

20 “You sit and speak against your brother;

You slander your own mother’s son.

21 “These things you have done and I kept silence;

You thought that I was just like you;

I will reprove you and state the case in order before your eyes.

22 “Now consider this, you who forget God,

Or I will tear you in pieces, and there will be none to deliver.

23 “He who offers a sacrifice of thanksgiving honors Me;

And to him who orders his way aright

I shall show the salvation of God.”

A Contrite Sinner’s Prayer for Pardon.For the choir director. A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet came to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.
51:1 Be gracious to me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness;

According to the greatness of Your compassion blot out my transgressions.

2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity

And cleanse me from my sin.

3 For I know my transgressions,

And my sin is ever before me.

4 Against You, You only, I have sinned

And done what is evil in Your sight,

So that You are justified when You speak

And blameless when You judge.

5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,

And in sin my mother conceived me.

6 Behold, You desire truth in the innermost being,

And in the hidden part You will make me know wisdom.

7 Purify me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;

Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

8 Make me to hear joy and gladness,

Let the bones which You have broken rejoice.

9 Hide Your face from my sins

And blot out all my iniquities.

10 Create in me a clean heart, O God,

And renew a steadfast spirit within me.

11 Do not cast me away from Your presence

And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.

12 Restore to me the joy of Your salvation

And sustain me with a willing spirit.

13 Then I will teach transgressors Your ways,

And sinners will be converted to You.

14 Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, the God of my salvation;

Then my tongue will joyfully sing of Your righteousness.

15 O Lord, open my lips,

That my mouth may declare Your praise.

16 For You do not delight in sacrifice, otherwise I would give it;

You are not pleased with burnt offering.

17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;

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

18 By Your favor do good to Zion;

Build the walls of Jerusalem.

19 Then You will delight in righteous sacrifices,

In burnt offering and whole burnt offering;

Then young bulls will be offered on Your altar.

Futility of Boastful Wickedness.For the choir director. A Maskil of David, when Doeg the Edomite came and told Saul and said to him, “David has come to the house of Ahimelech.”
52:1 Why do you boast in evil, O mighty man?

The lovingkindness of God endures all day long.

2 Your tongue devises destruction,

Like a sharp razor, O worker of deceit.

3 You love evil more than good,

Falsehood more than speaking what is right. Selah.

4 You love all words that devour,

O deceitful tongue.

5 But God will break you down forever;

He will snatch you up and tear you away from your tent,

And uproot you from the land of the living. Selah.

6 The righteous will see and fear,

And will laugh at him, saying,

7 “Behold, the man who would not make God his refuge,

But trusted in the abundance of his riches

And was strong in his evil desire.”

8 But as for me, I am like a green olive tree in the house of God;

I trust in the lovingkindness of God forever and ever.

9 I will give You thanks forever, because You have done it,

And I will wait on Your name, for it is good, in the presence of Your godly ones.

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