Psalm forty-Two- Longing for God

The palmist, perhaps a Levite, longs for the day when he can again come to the Temple of God.  He seems to be far away from Jerusalem, and in his memory relives the joyous pilgrimages he used to make in the past.

To the chief Musician, Maschil, for the sons of Korah.

As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God? My tears have been my meat day and night, while they continually say unto me, Where is thy God? When I remember these things, I pour out my soul in me: for I had gone with the multitude, I went with them to the house of God, with the voice of joy and praise, with a multitude that kept holyday.




Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance. O my God, my soul is cast down within me: therefore will I remember thee from the land of Jordan, and of the Hermonites, from the hill Mizar. Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of thy waterspouts: all thy waves and thy billows are gone over me. Yet the LORD will command his lovingkindness in the daytime, and in the night his song shall be with me, and my prayer unto the God of my life. I will say unto God my rock, Why hast thou forgotten me? why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy? As with a sword in my bones, mine enemies reproach me; while they say daily unto me, Where is thy God? Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God.  (KJV)

Psalms for the Soul: Psalms Forty-One

To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David.

 Blessed is he that consider the poor: the LORD will deliver him in time of trouble.

Psalms 41:2  The LORD will preserve him, and keep him alive; and he shall be blessed upon the earth: and you will not deliver him to the will of his enemies.

Psalms 41:3 The LORD will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing: you will make all his bed in his sickness.

Psalms 41:4 I said, LORD, be merciful to me: heal my soul; for I have sinned against you.

Psalms 41:5 Mine enemies speak evil of me, When shall he die, and his name perish?

Psalms 41:6 And if he come to see me, he speaks vanity: his heart gathers iniquity to itself; when he go abroad, he tell it.

Psalms 41:7 All that hate me whisper together against me: against me do they devise my hurt.

Psalms 41:8 An evil disease, say they, cleave fast to him: and now that he lie he shall rise up no more.

Psalms 41:9 Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, has lifted up his heel against me.

Psalms 41:10 But you, O LORD, be merciful to me, and raise me up, that I may requite them.

Psalms 41:11 By this I know that thou favor me, because mine enemy do not triumph over me.

Psalms 41:12 And as for me, you uphold me in mine integrity, and set me before thy face for ever.

Psalms 41:13 Blessed be the LORD God of Israel from everlasting, and to everlasting. Amen, and Amen.
 (KJV)

Psalms 23 | The LORD is My Shepherd

GOD, THE GOOD SHEPHERD
        A Psalm of David

He leads me

beside the still waters.

 The LORD is my shepherd I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures he leads me beside the still waters.

He restores my soul: he lead me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for you are with  your rod and your staff they comfort me.  You prepare a table before me in the presence of mine enemies You anoint my head with oil my cup runs over.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.

 Jesus in the New Testament, refers to Himself as the " Good Shepherd."

Psalms Twenty-Two | Psalms for the Soul

To the chief Musician upon Aijeleth Shahar

 A Psalm of David

 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from helping me, and from the
words of my roaring? O my God, I cry in the daytime, but you hear not; and in the night season, and am not silent.  But thou art holy, O You that inhabit the praises of Israel. Our fathers trusted in you: they trusted, and you did deliver them.

They cried unto you, and were delivered: they trusted in you, and were not confounded.  But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people.  All they that see me laugh me to scorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying,  He trusted on the LORD that he would deliver him: let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him.

But you are he that took me out of the womb: you did make me hope when I was upon my mother's breasts.  I was cast upon you from the womb: you are my God from my mother's belly.  Be not far from me; for trouble is near; for there is none to help.

Many bulls have compassed me: strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round.  They gaped upon me with their mouths, as a ravening and a roaring lion. 

I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels. My strength is dried up like a potsherd; and my tongue cleave to my jaws; and thou hast brought me into the dust of death.

For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet.  I may tell all my bones: they look and stare upon me.  They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture.

But be not thou far from me, O LORD: O my strength, haste thee to help me.  Deliver my soul from the sword; my darling from the power of the dog.

Save me from the lion's mouth: for thou hast heard me from the horns of the unicorns. I will declare thy name unto my brethren: in the midst of the congregation will I praise thee. Ye that fear the LORD, praise him; all ye the seed of Jacob, glorify him; and fear him, all ye the seed of Israel.

For he hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; neither hath he hid his face from him; but when he cried unto him, he heard.  My praise shall be of thee in the great congregation: I will pay my vows before them that fear him.

The meek shall eat and be satisfied: they shall praise the LORD that seek him: your heart shall live for ever.  All the ends of the world shall remember and turn to the LORD: and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before you.

For the kingdom is the LORD'S: and he is the governor among the nations. All they that be fat upon earth shall eat and worship: all they that go down to the dust shall bow before him: and none can keep alive his own soul.  A seed shall serve him; it shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation.

They shall come, and shall declare his righteousness to a people that shall be born, that he hath done this.

 (KJV)

Psalms - Twenty | Psalms for the Soul

 The LORD hear you in the day of trouble; the name of the God of Jacob defend you

Send you help from the sanctuary, and strengthen you out of Zion  Remember all your offerings, and accept your burnt sacrifice; Selah.  Grant you according to your own heart, and fulfill all your counsel.

We will rejoice in your salvation, and in the name of our God we will set up our banners: the LORD fulfill all your petitions.

Now know I that the LORD saves his anointed; he will hear him from his holy heaven with the saving strength of his right hand.

Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of the LORD our God.

They are brought down and fallen: but we are risen, and stand upright.  Save, LORD: let the king hear us when we call.

 (KJV)

Psalms Twelve | Psalms for the Soul -

It is supposed that David penned this psalm in Saul's reign, when there was a general decay of honesty and piety both in court and country, which he here complains of to God, and very feelingly, for he himself suffered by the treachery of his false friends and the insolence of his sworn enemies.

 Help, LORD; for the godly man cease; for the faithful fail from among the children of men.

They speak vanity every one with his neighbor: with flattering lips and with a double heart do they speak.

The LORD shall cut off all flattering lips, and the tongue that speak proud things:

Who have said, With our tongue will we prevail; our lips are our own: who is lord over us?

For the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy, now will I arise, says the LORD; I will set him in safety from him that puff at him.

The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.

You shall keep them, O LORD, you shall preserve them from this generation for ever.

The wicked walk on every side, when the vilest men are exalted.

 (KJV)

Psalms 1| How A Man is Blessed by God

Blessed is the man that walk not in the counsel of the ungodly nor stand in the way of sinners, nor sit in the seat of the scornful.

 But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.  And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bring forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he does shall prosper.

The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind drive away. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.  For the LORD know the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish.

 (KJV)