Psalms 41-44

1Blessed is the one who cares for the poor; the LORD will deliver him in the day of trouble.

2The LORD will protect and preserve him; He will bless him in the land and refuse to give him over to the will of his foes.

3The LORD will sustain him on his bed of illness and restore him from his bed of sickness.

4I said, “O LORD, be gracious to me; heal me, for I have sinned against You.”

5My enemies say with malice: “When will he die and be forgotten?”

6My visitor speaks falsehood; he gathers slander in his heart; he goes out and spreads it abroad.

7All who hate me whisper against me; they imagine the worst for me:

8“A vile disease has been poured into him; he will never get up from where he lies!”

9Even my close friend whom I trusted, the one who shared my bread, has lifted up his heel against me.

10But You, O LORD, be gracious to me and raise me up, that I may repay them.

11By this I know that You delight in me, for my enemy does not triumph over me.

12In my integrity You uphold me and set me in Your presence forever.

13Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting. Amen and Amen.

1As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul longs after You, O God.

2My soul thirsts for God, the living God. When shall I come and appear in God’s presence?

3My tears have been my food both day and night, while men ask me all day long, “Where is your God?”

4These things come to mind as I pour out my soul: how I walked with the multitude, leading the festive procession to the house of God with shouts of joy and praise.

5Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why the unease within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise Him for the salvation of His presence.

6O my God, my soul despairs within me. Therefore I remember You from the land of Jordan and the peaks of Hermon— even from Mount Mizar.

7Deep calls to deep in the roar of Your waterfalls; all Your breakers and waves have rolled over me.

8The LORD decrees His loving devotion by day, and at night His song is with me as a prayer to the God of my life.

9I say to God my Rock, “Why have You forgotten me? Why must I walk in sorrow because of the enemy’s oppression?”

10Like the crushing of my bones, my enemies taunt me, while they say to me all day long, “Where is your God?”

11Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why the unease within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise Him, my Savior and my God.

1Vindicate me, O God, and plead my case against an ungodly nation; deliver me from deceitful and unjust men.

2For You are the God of my refuge. Why have You rejected me? Why must I walk in sorrow because of the enemy’s oppression?

3Send out Your light and Your truth; let them lead me. Let them bring me to Your holy mountain and to the place where You dwell.

4Then I will go to the altar of God, to God, my greatest joy. I will praise You with the harp, O God, my God.

5Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why the unease within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise Him, my Savior and my God.

1We have heard with our ears, O God; our fathers have told us the work You did in their days, in the days of old.

2With Your hand You drove out the nations and planted our fathers there; You crushed the peoples and cast them out.

3For it was not by their sword that they took the land; their arm did not bring them victory. It was by Your right hand, Your arm, and the light of Your face, because You favored them.

4You are my King, O God, who ordains victories for Jacob.

5Through You we repel our foes; through Your name we trample our enemies.

6For I do not trust in my bow, nor does my sword save me.

7For You save us from our enemies; You put those who hate us to shame.

8In God we have boasted all day long, and Your name we will praise forever. Selah

9But You have rejected and humbled us; You no longer go forth with our armies.

10You have made us retreat from the foe, and those who hate us have plundered us.

11You have given us up as sheep to be devoured; You have scattered us among the nations.

12You sell Your people for nothing; no profit do You gain from their sale.

13You have made us a reproach to our neighbors, a mockery and derision to those around us.

14You have made us a byword among the nations, a laughingstock among the peoples.

15All day long my disgrace is before me, and shame has covered my face,

16at the voice of the scorner and reviler, because of the enemy, bent on revenge.

17All this has come upon us, though we have not forgotten You or betrayed Your covenant.

18Our hearts have not turned back; our steps have not strayed from Your path.

19But You have crushed us in the lair of jackals; You have covered us with deepest darkness.

20If we had forgotten the name of our God or spread out our hands to a foreign god,

21would not God have discovered, since He knows the secrets of the heart?

22Yet for Your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.

23Wake up, O Lord! Why are You sleeping? Arise! Do not reject us forever.

24Why do You hide Your face and forget our affliction and oppression?

25For our soul has sunk to the dust; our bodies cling to the earth.

26Rise up; be our help! Redeem us on account of Your loving devotion.