Psalms 44
1 For the choirmaster. A Maskil of the sons of Korah. We have heard with our ears, O God; our fathers have told us the work You did in their days, in the days of old.
For the leader. Of the Korahites. A maskil. O God, we have heard with our ears, all our ancestors have told us of the work that you wrought in their day, your wonders in days of old,
2 With Your hand You drove out the nations and planted our fathers there; You crushed the peoples and cast them out.
uprooting and crushing the nations, then planting and settling them. For it wasn’t their own sword that won them the land,
3 For 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.
it was not their own arm that brought them the victory. Yours was the hand and the arm, yours was the face that shone on them with favor.
4 You are my King, O God, who ordains victories for Jacob.
It was you, my king and my God, that ordained the victories of Jacob.
5 Through You we repel our foes; through Your name we trample our enemies.
Through you we can thrust back our foes, and by your name tread down our assailants:
6 For I do not trust in my bow, nor does my sword save me.
for not in my bow do I trust, nor can my sword win me the victory.
7 For You save us from our enemies; You put those who hate us to shame.
Our victory comes from you, and confusion to those who hate us.
8 In God we have boasted all day long, and Your name we will praise forever.
In God we boast all the day long, and your name will we praise forever. (Selah)
9 But You have rejected and humbled us; You no longer go forth with our armies.
Yet you have spurned and disgraced us, in not going forth with our armies,
10 You have made us retreat from the foe, and those who hate us have plundered us.
and in making us flee from the foe, so that those who hated us plundered us.
11 You have given us up as sheep to be devoured; You have scattered us among the nations.
You have let us be eaten like sheep, you have scattered us over the world,
12 You sell Your people for nothing; no profit do You gain from their sale.
sold your people for a pittance, and getting no gain from their price.
13 You have made us a reproach to our neighbors, a mockery and derision to those around us.
You have made us the butt of our neighbors, the derision and scorn of all round us.
14 You have made us a byword among the nations, a laughingstock among the peoples.
O’er the world you have made us a byword, the nations at us shake their heads.
15 All day long my disgrace is before me, and shame has covered my face,
My disgrace is forever before me, my face is covered with shame,
16 at the voice of the scorner and reviler, because of the enemy, bent on revenge.
at the words of blasphemer and scoffer, at the sight of the foe and the vengeful.
17 All this has come upon us, though we have not forgotten You or betrayed Your covenant.
All this has come upon us, yet we have not forgotten you nor falsely dealt with your covenant.
18 Our hearts have not turned back; our steps have not strayed from Your path.
Our heart has not turned back, nor our steps declined from your way,
19 But You have crushed us in the lair of jackals; You have covered us with deepest darkness.
that you thus should have crushed us down, and covered us over with gloom, in the place where the jackals roam.
20 If we had forgotten the name of our God or spread out our hands to a foreign god,
Had we forgotten the name of our God, or stretched out our hands to a god that was strange,
21 would not God have discovered, since He knows the secrets of the heart?
would God not have searched this out? For he knows the heart and its secrets.
22 Yet for Your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.
But in your cause it is we are killed all the day, and counted as sheep for the slaughter.
23 Wake up, O Lord! Why are You sleeping? Arise! Do not reject us forever.
Rouse yourself, why do you sleep Lord? Awake, cast us not off forever.
24 Why do You hide Your face and forget our affliction and oppression?
Why do you hide your face, forgetting our stress and our misery?
25 For our soul has sunk to the dust; our bodies cling to the earth.
For we have sunk down to the dust, our bodies cling to the ground.
26 Rise up; be our help! Redeem us on account of Your loving devotion.
Arise, come to our help: for your love’s sake, ransom us.
