PSALM II
至其他聖詠
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PSALM ¤42 {41} {When shall I go to contemplate the face of the Lord?— In exile, the psalmist remembers the years of grace.} °2 As a deer longs for flowing streams, so my soul longs for you, O God. °3 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I go and see the face of God? °4 Day and night my tears have been my food, as people ask me day after day, “Where is your God?” °5 Now as I pour out my soul, I remember all this – how I used to lead the faithful in procession to the house of God, amid shouts of joy and thanksgiving, among the feasting throng. °6 Why are you so downcast, my soul, why so troubled within me? Hope in God, for I will praise him again, my savior and my God. °7 My soul is downcast when I remember from these lands of Jordan and Hermon, “Where are you, small mountain?” °8 Deep calls to deep as your cataracts thunder; your waves and torrents have gone over me. °9 May the Lord bestow his love by day, by night his song is upon my lips – a prayer to the God of my life. °10 I say to God, my rock, “Why have you forgotten me? Why do I go about mourning, oppressed by the enemy?” °11 My whole being suffers in mortal agony, as my adversaries continually taunt me, “Where is your God?” °12 Why are you so downcast, my soul, why so troubled within me? Hope in God, for again I will praise him – my savior and my God. PSALM ¤43 {42} {Continuation of the previous psalm.— Here we have the fervent prayer that the believer – immersed in adversity – addressed to God in order not to waver in his faith.} °1 Make justice, O God, and defend my cause against an ungodly people; deliver me from the wicked and deceitful. °2 You are my God, my stronghold, why have you cast me out? Why should I go about mourning, oppressed by the enemy? °3 Send forth your light and your truth; let them be my guide, let them take me to your holy mountain, to the place where you reside. °4 Then will I go to the altar of God, to God, my gladness and delight. I will praise you with the lyre and harp, O God, my God. °5 Why are you so downcast, my soul, why so troubled within me? Hope in God, for again I will praise him – my savior and my God. PSALM ¤44 {43} {National lament.— The believing people has suffered a defeat and complain to God.} °2 With our ears, O God, we have heard; our ancestors have declared to us the works you did in their days of old. °3 You drove out the nations and settled them in their land; you conquered the peoples to make room for them. °4 For it was not with their own sword that they conquered the land nor were they victors by their own hand; but it was by your right hand and arm and by the light of your countenance; for you truly loved them. °5 It is you, my King and my God, who ordain victories for Jacob. °6 Through you we batter down our foes; through your name we shatter our enemies. °7 For it is not in my bow that I trust, nor in my sword to make me victorious. °8 But it is you who give us victory, you who bring our adversaries to shame. °9 It is always in God that we find glory. Forever shall we praise your name. °10 Yet now you have rejected and humbled us; you no longer go forth with our armies. °11 You have let our enemies drive us back and our adversaries plunder us. °12 You have let us be driven for slaughter like sheep, scattered among nations as captives. °13 You have handed us over to them for nothing: the sale was of no benefit for you. °14 You have made us the butt of our neighbors’ insult, the scorn and laughingstock of those around us. °15 You have made us a byword among the nations; they look at us and shake their heads. °16 All day long my disgrace is before me and shame covers my face, °17 at the voice of the one who mocks and reviles, in the presence of the enemy and the avenger. °18 All this has happened to us, although we have not forgotten you, nor have we been untrue to your covenant. °19 Our heart has not turned back nor have our steps faltered; °20 yet you have crushed us in the desert of the snakes and covered us with deep darkness. °21 Had we forgotten the name of our God and stretched forth our hands to an alien god, °22 God would have discovered this, for the secrets of the heart are not hidden from him. °23 For your sake we are slain all day and accounted as sheep for slaughter. °24 Awake, O Lord! Why are you asleep? Arise! Reject us not forever. °25 Why hide your face from us? Why forget our misery and woes? °26 Our souls are humbled in the dust, our bodies smashed to the ground. °27 Come to our help, deliver us for the sake of your kindness. PSALM ¤45 {44} {For the king’s wedding.— Human love is a mystery that touches the mystery of God himself. God wishes to be united with humanity as a husband to his wife: he has already done so in the person of Christ.} °2 My heart is moved by an exalted theme as I deliver my ode to the king, my tongue as nimble as a writer’s pen. °3 You are the finest among all others, your lips are anointed with graciousness, for God has blessed you forever. °4 Gird your sword upon your thigh, O mighty one, array yourself with splendor and majesty. °5 Glorious and triumphant, ride on for the sake of truth, for a just cause. You will see marvelous deeds of your right hand. °6 Your arrows are sharp, O king, they pierce the hearts of your enemies; nations fall beneath your feet. °7 Your throne, O God, will last forever; a scepter of justice is your scepter. °8 You love righteousness and hate wickedness; therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness, above your fellow kings. °9 Your robes are fragrant with myrrh, aloes and cassia. The music of strings gladdens your palace adorned and glowing with ivory. °10 Among your ladies of honor are daughters of kings; at your right hand, in gold of Ophir, stands the queen. °11 Listen, O daughter, pay attention; forget your father’s house and your nation, °12 and your beauty will charm the King, for he is your lord. °13 The people of Tyre will bow before him. The wealthiest nations will seek your favor. °14 All glorious as she enters is the princess in her gold-woven robes. °15 She is led in royal attire to the king, following behind is her train of virgins. °16 Amid cheers and general rejoicing, they enter the palace of the king. °17 Forget your fathers and think of your sons, you will make them princes throughout the land. °18 I will make your name famous through all generations; may all nations praise you forever! PSALM ¤46 {45} {God is with us.— A river whose streams bring joy to the city of God. To the upheavals mentioned in the first stanza the psalmist contrasts a vision of tranquility, the Holy City, Jerusalem, the Church.} °2 God is our strength and protection, an ever-present help in affliction. °3 We will not fear, therefore, though the earth be shaken and the mountains plunge into the seas, °4 though its waters foam and roar, though the mountains quake and totter. For the Lord of hosts is with us, the God of Jacob, our stronghold. °5 There is a river whose streams bring joy to the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells. °6 God is within, the city cannot quake, for God’s help is upon it at the break of day. °7 Kingdoms tottered, nations were in turmoil; at the sound of his voice the earth melts away. °8 For with us is the Lord of hosts, the God of Jacob, our refuge. °9 Come, see the works of the Lord – the marvelous things he has done in the world. °10 He has put an end to wars, broken the bows and splintered the spears, set the shields and chariots afire. °11 Be still, know that I am God. I am exalted among the nations, exalted over the earth! °12 With us is the Lord of hosts, the God of Jacob, our refuge. PSALM ¤47 {46} {To the king of all the nations.— The Lord comes at the end of time to begin his reign.} °2 Clap your hands, all you peoples; acclaim God with shouts of joy. °3 For the Lord, the Most High, is to be feared; he is a great king all over the earth. °4 He brings peoples under our dominion and puts nations under our feet. °5 He chose our inheritance for us – the pride of Jacob whom he loves! °6 God ascends amid joyful shouts, the Lord amid trumpet blasts. °7 Sing praises to God, sing praises! Sing praises to our King, sing praises! °8 God is king of all the earth; sing to him a hymn of praise. °9 For God now rules over the nations, God reigns from his holy throne. °10 The leaders of the nations rally together with the people of the God of Abraham. For in his hands are the great of the earth, God reigns far above. PSALM ¤48 {47} {The Church-Zion: mountain of God.— Zion is the other name for Jerusalem, the Holy City. God favored it and protected it on several occasions. Let the faithful rejoice: God watches over it!} °2 Great is the Lord, most worthy of praise in the city of God, his holy mountain. °3 Beautifully elevated, it is the joy of all the earth – Mount Zion, heavenly mountain, the city of the great King. °4 Here within her lines of defense, God has shown himself to be a sure fortress. °5 The kings assembled together, advanced toward the city. °6 But as soon as they saw it, they were astounded; they panicked and took to flight. °7 Seized with fear, they trembled, like a woman in travail, °8 or like the ships of Tarshish, shattered by a strong wind from the east. °9 As we have heard, so have we seen, in the city of the Lord of hosts, in the city of our God, the city God founded forever. °10 Let us recall your unfailing love, O God, inside your temple. °11 Let your praise as does your name, O God, reach to the ends of the earth. Your right hand is ever victorious. °12 Let Mount Zion rejoice, let the villages of Judah be glad, for your justice prevails. °13 Walk around Zion, count her towers, °14 consider her ramparts, examine her castles, that you may tell the next generation °15 that such is God; God is our guide forever. PSALM ¤49 {48} {The irresponsibility of the rich.— “Beware of every desire to possess, for even when one has everything, it is not possessions which give life.”} °2 Hear this, all you peoples! Listen, all you inhabitants of the world, °3 high and low together, rich and poor alike! °4 My mouth will speak wisdom, my deep thoughts will bring discernment. °5 To a proverb I will incline my ear, and solve my riddle to the rhythm of my lyre. °6 Why should I fear when evil days come, when wicked deceivers ring me round – °7 those who trust in their wealth and boast of their great riches? °8 For no ransom avails for one’s life, there is no price one can give to God for it. °9 For redeeming one’s life demands too high a price, and all is lost forever. °10 Who can remain forever alive and never see the grave? °11 For we see that the wise die, and pass away like the fool and the stupid leaving to others their fortune and wealth. °12 Their graves are their eternal homes, from generation to generation, no matter how big the tracts of land they own. °13 People of wealth have no thought, they will be silenced like the beasts. °14 This is the fate of people trusting themselves, the future of those who rely on their strength. °15 Like sheep led to the grave, they have death as their shepherd and ruler; quickly their form will be consumed in the world of the dead, which is their home. °16 But God will rescue my soul from the grave by receiving me unto himself. °17 Fear not when someone grows rich, when his power becomes oppressively great, °18 for nothing will he take when he dies; his wealth and pomp he will leave behind. °19 Though he praised himself in his lifetime, “All will say that I have enjoyed life,” °20 he will join the generation of his forebears, who will never again see the light. °21 People of wealth have no thought, they will be silenced like the beasts. PSALM ¤50 {49} {Serve God with a sincere heart.— God is coming to judge his people. He condemns those who replace the obedience of the heart with offerings and material sacrifices, and those who recite the commandments instead of practicing them.} °1 The God of gods, the Lord has spoken, he
summons the earth from the rising of the sun to its setting. °2 God has shone from Zion, perfect in beauty. °3 God is no longer silent, he comes; before him is a devouring fire, around him a raging storm. °4 He calls to the heavens above, and to the earth below, that he may judge his people: °5 “Gather before me my faithful ones, who made a covenant with me by sacrifice.” °6 The heavens will proclaim his sentence, for God himself is the judge. °7 “Hear, O my people, for I am speaking. I will accuse you, O Israel, I am God, your God! °8 Not for your sacrifices do I reprove you, for your burnt offerings are ever before me. °9 I need no bull from your stalls, nor he-goat from your pens. °10 For I own all the beasts of the forest and the animals of my thousand hills. °11 All the birds of the air I know; all that move in the fields are mine. °12 I need not tell you if I were hungry, for mine is the world and all that it contains. °13 Do I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of goats? °14 Yet offer to God a sacrifice of thanks, and fulfill your vows to the Most High. °15 Call on me in time of calamity; I will deliver you, and you will glorify me.” °16 But God says this to the wicked: “What right have you to mouth my laws, or to talk about my covenant? °17 You hate my commands and cast my words behind you. °18 You join a thief when you meet one; you keep company with adulterers. °19 You have a mouth of evil and a deceitful tongue. °20 You speak ill of your brother, and slander your own mother’s son. °21 Because I was silent while you did these things, you thought I was like you. But now I rebuke you and make this charge against you. °22 Give this a thought, you who forget God, lest I tear you to pieces with no one to help you. °23 Those who give with thanks offerings honor me, but the one who walks blamelessly, I will show him the salvation of God.” PSALM ¤51 {50} {Have mercy on me, Lord.— Let us admit our sin before the God of truth. Our humiliation will not be without hope, since we know God is able to give us a new heart.} °3 Have mercy on me, O God, in your love. In your great compassion blot out my sin. °4 Wash me thoroughly of my guilt; cleanse me of evil. °5 For I acknowledge my wrongdoings and have my sins ever in mind. °6 Against you alone have I sinned; what is evil in your sight I have done. You are right when you pass sentence and blameless in your judgment. °7 For I have been guilt-ridden from birth, a sinner from my mother’s womb. °8 I know you desire truth in the heart, teach me wisdom in my inmost being. °9 Cleanse me with hyssop and I shall be clean, wash me, I shall be whiter than snow. °10 Fill me with joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice. °11 Turn your face away from my sins and blot out all my offenses. °12 Create in me, O God, a pure heart; give me a new and steadfast spirit. °13 Do not cast me out of your presence nor take your holy spirit from me. °14 Give me again the joy of your salvation and sustain me with a willing spirit. °15 Then I will show wrongdoers your ways and sinners will return to you. °16 Deliver me, O God, from the guilt of blood, and of your justice I shall sing aloud. °17 O Lord, open my lips, and I will declare your praise. °18 You take no pleasure in sacrifice; were I to give a burnt offering, you would not delight in it. °19 O God, my sacrifice is a broken spirit; a contrite heart you will not despise. °20 Shower Zion with your favor: rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. °21 Then you will delight in fitting sacrifices, in burnt offerings and bulls offered on your altar. PSALM ¤52 {51} § God will destroy the wicked person.
°3 Why boast of your wickedness, strong man? Why boast all day long °4 that you are plotting crimes? Your tongue is like a sharp razor; °5 you love evil more than good, and falsehood more than truth. °6 You love words that inflict harm, O you deceitful tongue! °7 But God will bring you down forever; he will snatch you, tear you away from your tent; he will uproot you from the land of the living. °8 The good will know fear at the sight; they will say concerning his fate: °9 “See the one who would not rely on God, but trusted in riches and drew strength from wickedness.” °10 But I am as a green olive tree that thrives in the house of God: I trust in God’s unfailing love forever and ever. °11 I will praise you forever for all you have done, and proclaim your good name before the faithful ones. PSALM ¤53 {52} § The world without God.°2 The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, their ways are wicked; not one of them does good. °3 From heaven God looks down upon the people, to see if there is anyone who seeks God and understands. °4 None! They have all fallen away. Depraved – they are all alike. There is no one who does good, no, not even one. °5 Will these evildoers never learn? They devour my people just as they devour food and never call on God. °6 There they are – afraid when there is nothing to be feared. God
will scatter their bones; they will be put to shame because God has rejected
them. °7 May I see Israel’s salvation coming forth from Zion! When God restores his people’s fortune, Jacob will be glad, Israel will rejoice. PSALM ¤54 {53} °3 By your name, O God, save me; you, the Valiant, uphold my cause. °4 Hear my prayer, O God; listen to the words of my mouth. °5 Strangers are against me – the ruthless seek my life; they have no regard for God. °6 See, God is my helper; the Lord upholds my life. °7 May their evil plots rebound on them; in your faithfulness destroy them! °8 Freely will I offer sacrifice to you and praise your name, O Lord, for it is good. °9 You have delivered me from calamity, and I look down on my foes. PSALM ¤55 {54} {Prayer of the persecuted.— The supremacy of money, violence, luxury, prostitution and the exploitation of people. In the midst of a perverted society, the just feel trapped and threatened. Cast your care upon the Lord.} °2 Listen to my prayer, O God, do not be deaf to my pleading; °3 give heed to me and answer me. I am greatly troubled °4 at the outcry of the enemy and the clamor of the wicked. I am distraught at the way they revile me and persecute me in their fury. °5 My heart agonizes within me; the terrors of death fall upon me. °6 I tremble in fear – horror has got the better of me. °7 I said, “If I had wings like a dove, I would fly away and be at rest; °8 I would seek a home in the desert °9 or hurry to find a cave for shelter from the tempest.” °10 O Lord, shatter their plans. In the city I see strife and violence; °11 day and night they prowl about its walls, while inside, evil prevails. °12 Forces of tyranny and treachery are at work undermining the city. °13 If it were a rival insulting me, I could bear with him; if it were a foe in pursuit of me, I could hide from him. °14 But it is you, an equal of mine, my bosom friend, my companion °15 whose fellowship I enjoyed as we walked together in the house of God. °16 Let death come upon them suddenly, let them go down to the grave alive, for within them evil and mischief thrive. °17 But in God I seek refuge; the Lord will rescue me. °18 Morning, evening, and even at noon, I cry out my grievance and moan; surely he will hear my voice. °19 He will deliver me in safety from my opponents, for they are many. °20 God who is enthroned forever will hear me and humble them, for they do not repent nor do they stand in awe of God. °21 My friend has attacked his associates and has violated his pact with them. °22 His words were smoother than butter, yet war was in his heart; his utterances, more soothing than oil, were swords ready and drawn. °23 Place your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you, for he never allows the upright to fall. °24 But you, O God, will cast the wicked into a pit; bloodthirsty and treacherous, they will not live out half their days. As for me, I trust in you alone, O Lord. PSALM ¤56 {55} {The just will not fall.— Prayer of the millions of oppressed who live, and no doubt will die crushed. You, Lord, have gathered our tears!} °2 O God, show your mercy to me, for my foes are in hot pursuit; they press their attack on me all the time. °3 My accusers pursue me all day long, many attack me. °4 But when I am afraid, O Mighty One, I put my trust in you, °5 In God whose word I praise, in God I trust without fear. What can mortals do against me? °6 All day long they hatch their evil plans, plotting mischief to injure my cause. °7 They conspire and lurk around, watching my every move, bent upon taking my life. °8 They must not be allowed to go unpunished; therefore, O God, in your fury bring the nations down. °9 You have a record of my laments; my tears are stored in your wineskin. Are they not written on your scroll? °10 My enemies turn back when I call on you for help; now I know that God is for me. °11 In God whose word I praise, °12 in God I trust without fear. What can mortals do against me? °13 I am bound to you by vows, O God; I shall offer my thanksgiving. °14 For you have rescued my soul from death and my feet from stumbling, that I might walk in God’s presence in the light of the living. PSALM ¤57 {56} § O Lord, I live in the midst of lions.
°2 Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy, for my soul takes refuge in you; I will find shelter in the shadow of your wings till the disaster has passed. °3 I call on God the Most High, on God who has done everything for me: °4 may he send from heaven a savior and put my oppressors to shame. May God send me his love and faithfulness. °5 I lie prostrate in the midst of lions that greedily devour people, their teeth are pointed spears and arrows, their tongues, sharpened swords. °6 Be exalted, O God, above the heavens! Your glory be over all the earth! °7 They have set a snare for my steps; my soul was bowed down in distress. They dug a pit along my path, but they themselves fell into it. °8 My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast. I will sing and make music. °9 Awake, my soul, awake, O harp and lyre! I will wake the dawn. °10 I will give thanks to you, O Lord, among the peoples; I will sing praise to you among the nations. °11 For your love reaches to the heavens, and your faithfullness, to the clouds. °12 Be exalted, O God, above the heavens! Let your Glory be over all the earth! PSALM ¤58 {57} {God judges judges.— God denounces leaders who establish and maintain a corrupt order instead of being agents of his justice.} °2 You gods, are your decrees just, and are your judgments upright? °3 No, you willfully commit crimes; you deal in violence and corruption. °4 Even from the womb the wicked go astray; from birth they are wayward liars. °5 They are poisonous like deadly snakes, deaf as the adder °6 that blocks its ears so as not to hear the charmer’s voice casting spells. °7 Break the teeth in their mouths, O God; tear out the fangs of the lions, O Lord. °8 Let them vanish like spilled water; let them be trodden down like grass that withers. °9 Let them be like snails that sink into slime, like untimely births that never see the sun. °10 Like green grass that is burned before the thorns are dry – let them be swept away! °11 The upright will rejoice when they are avenged; they will bathe their feet in the blood of the wicked. °12 Then will people say, “Surely the righteous are rewarded; surely there is a God who gives judgment on earth.” PSALM ¤59 {58} § The city is in the hands of the violent.°2 Deliver me from my enemies, O God, from those who rise up against me. °3 Deliver me from evildoers; rescue me from the bloodthirsty. °4 Look, they lie in wait for my life; the mighty conspiring against me, for no fault of mine, O Lord. °5 I have done them no wrong, yet they prepare to attack me. Rise and help me, look on my plight, °6 O Lord God of hosts, God of Israel! Arise and punish the nations; have no mercy on the wicked traitors. °7 Each evening they return, howling like dogs, prowling about the city. °8 To their mind, God does not hear or see their wicked deeds. °9 But you, O Lord, laugh at them; you look down upon the wicked. °10 O my Strength, I look up to you, for you, O God, are my fortress. °11 My loving God will come to help me and let me see my enemies fall. °12 But slay them not, lest my people forget; just shake them by your power, and bring them down, O Lord, our shield. °13 Give us your help against the foe, for human help is worthless. For the curses and lies they utter, °14 destroy them in your vengeance, destroy them till they are no more. Then it will be known that God rules over Jacob to the ends of the earth. °15 Each evening let them return, howling like dogs, prowling about the city, °16 roaming about for food, growling and never filled. °17 But I will sing of your might; in the morning I will sing of your love. For you have been a fortress to me, a refuge in time of distress. °18 O my Strength, I will sing praises to you, for you, O God, are my stronghold; you are a loving God. PSALM ¤60 {59} § Petition after a defeat.°3 O God, you have rejected us and have broken our defenses; you have been angry, but now turn back to us. °4 You have shaken the land and torn it open; mend its cracks for it totters. °5 You have made your people suffer; you have given us wine that makes us stagger. °6 You set the banner behind us and your people fled from bow and arrow. °7 Help us and listen to us, that your beloved may be rescued. °8 God has spoken in his sanctuary: “In triumph I will divide up Shechem and parcel out the Valley of Succoth. °9 Gilead is mine; Manasseh is mine; Ephraim is my helmet, Judah my scepter. °10 Moab is my washbasin; upon Edom I cast my sandal; over Philistia I shout in triumph.” °11 Who will take me to the fortified city? Who will lead me to Edom? °12 Have you not rejected us, O God? You no longer go with our armies. °13 Give us aid against the foe, for human help is not worth a straw. °14 With God we will gain victory; he will crush the enemy for us. |
至其他聖詠