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.
God, we ourselves have heard what our parents and grandparents told us. They told us about the miracles that you performed long ago.
2 With Your hand You drove out the nations and planted our fathers there; You crushed the peoples and cast them out.
[They told us] how you expelled the ungodly people and enabled us to live in their land. [They told us] that you punished those ungodly people and enabled your own people to prosper [IDM].
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 by using their own swords that they conquered the people that lived in that land, and it was not by their own power that they were victorious; it was only by your power [MTY, DOU] [that they did those things]; and they were sure that you were with them, and that showed that you were pleased with them.
4 You are my King, O God, who ordains victories for Jacob.
You are my King and my God; it is you who enable us, your people [MTY], to defeat our enemies.
5 Through You we repel our foes; through Your name we trample our enemies.
It is by your power that we knock our enemies down and tramp on them.
6 For I do not trust in my bow, nor does my sword save me.
I do not trust that I will be saved by using my bow [and arrows] and my sword.
7 For You save us from our enemies; You put those who hate us to shame.
No, it is you who have rescued us from our enemies, it is you who have caused those who hate us to become ashamed [because they were defeated].
8 In God we have boasted all day long, and Your name we will praise forever.
We have continually boasted about what God [has done for us], and we will thank him [MTY] forever.
9 But You have rejected and humbled us; You no longer go forth with our armies.
But [now] you have rejected us and caused us to be disgraced; when our armies march out [to fight a battle], you no [longer] go with them.
10 You have made us retreat from the foe, and those who hate us have plundered us.
You have caused us to run away from our enemies, with the result that they captured the things that belonged to us.
11 You have given us up as sheep to be devoured; You have scattered us among the nations.
You have allowed us to become like [MET] sheep that were ready to be slaughtered; you scattered us [far away] among [other].
12 You sell Your people for nothing; no profit do You gain from their sale.
[It is as though] [MET] you sold us, your people, [to our enemies] for a very small price, and you did not gain much profit from selling us!
13 You have made us a reproach to our neighbors, a mockery and derision to those around us.
People who live in nations near us make fun of us; they laugh at us and deride/belittle us.
14 You have made us a byword among the nations, a laughingstock among the peoples.
They make jokes using the name of [our country], they shake their heads [to indicate that they despise us].
15 All day long my disgrace is before me, and shame has covered my face,
All day I feel disgraced; from seeing my face, people know that I am ashamed.
16 at the voice of the scorner and reviler, because of the enemy, bent on revenge.
I hear what those who sneer at me and revile me say; I am ashamed in front of my enemies and those who want to harm me.
17 All this has come upon us, though we have not forgotten You or betrayed Your covenant.
All these things have happened to us [even] though we have not forgotten you, and we are not the ones who disobeyed the agreement you made with [our ancestors].
18 Our hearts have not turned back; our steps have not strayed from Your path.
We have not stopped being loyal to you, and we have not stopped doing what you want us to do [IDM].
19 But You have crushed us in the lair of jackals; You have covered us with deepest darkness.
But [it is as though] you have allowed us to be helpless among wild animals, and abandoned us in a deep dark [ravine].
20 If we had forgotten the name of our God or spread out our hands to a foreign god,
If we had forgotten to worship [MTY] our God, or if we had spread out our hands to [worship] a foreign god,
21 would not God have discovered, since He knows the secrets of the heart?
you certainly would have known that, because you know [even] what we secretly think.
22 Yet for Your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.
But it is because we belong to you, [that our enemies] are constantly killing us. They act toward us as though we were only sheep to be slaughtered.
23 Wake up, O Lord! Why are You sleeping? Arise! Do not reject us forever.
[So], Yahweh, arise! Why are you asleep [RHQ]? Get up! Do not reject us forever!
24 Why do You hide Your face and forget our affliction and oppression?
Why are you not looking at us? Why are you forgetting that we are suffering and being oppressed [by our enemies]?
25 For our soul has sunk to the dust; our bodies cling to the earth.
We are pushed down to the ground and we cannot get up.
26 Rise up; be our help! Redeem us on account of Your loving devotion.
Arise, and come and help us! Rescue us because you faithfully love us!
