Psalms 44
1 TO THE OVERSEER. AN INSTRUCTION OF THE SONS OF KORAH. O God, we have heard with our ears, Our fathers have recounted to us, The work You worked 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 You, [with] Your hand, have dispossessed nations. And You plant them. You afflict peoples, and send them away.
uprooting and crushing the nations, then planting and settling them. For it wasn’t their own sword that won them the land,
3 For they did not possess the land by their sword, And their arm did not give salvation to them, But Your right hand, and Your arm, And the light of Your countenance, Because You had accepted 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 favour.
4 You [are] He, my King, O God, Command the deliverances of Jacob.
It was you, my king and my God, that ordained the victories of Jacob.
5 By You we push our adversaries, By Your Name we tread down our withstanders,
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, And my sword does not save me.
for not in my bow do I trust, nor can my sword win me the victory.
7 For You have saved us from our adversaries, And You have put to shame those hating us.
Our victory comes from you, and confusion to those who hate us.
8 In God we have boasted all the day, And we thank Your Name for all time. (Selah)
In God we boast all the day long, and your name will we praise forever. (Selah)
9 In anger You have cast off and cause us to blush, And do not go forth with our hosts.
Yet you have spurned and disgraced us, in not going forth with our armies,
10 You cause us to turn backward from an adversary, And those hating us, Have spoiled for themselves.
and in making us flee from the foe, so that those who hated us plundered us.
11 You make us food like sheep, And You have scattered us among nations.
You have let us be eaten like sheep, you have scattered us over the world,
12 You sell Your people—without wealth, And have not become great by their price.
sold your people for a pittance, and getting no gain from their price.
13 You make us a reproach to our neighbors, A scorn and a reproach to our surrounders.
You have made us the butt of our neighbours, the derision and scorn of all round us.
14 You make us an allegory among nations, A shaking of the head among peoples.
O’er the world you have made us a byword, the nations at us shake their heads.
15 All the day my confusion [is] before me, And the shame of my face has covered me.
My disgrace is forever before me, my face is covered with shame,
16 Because of the voice of a reproacher and reviler, Because of an enemy and a self-avenger.
at the words of blasphemer and scoffer, at the sight of the foe and the vengeful.
17 All this met us, and we did not forget You, Nor have we dealt falsely in Your covenant.
All this has come upon us, yet we have not forgotten you nor falsely dealt with your covenant.
18 We do not turn our heart backward, Nor turn aside our step from Your path.
Our heart has not turned back, nor our steps declined from your way,
19 But You have struck us in a place of dragons, And cover us over with death-shade.
that you thus should have crushed us down, and covered us over with gloom, in the place where the jackals roam.
20 If we have forgotten the Name of our God, And spread our hands to a strange God,
Had we forgotten the name of our God, or stretched out our hands to a god that was strange,
21 Does God not search this out? For He knows the secrets of the heart.
would God not have searched this out? For he knows the heart and its secrets.
22 Surely, for Your sake we have been slain all the day, Reckoned as sheep of the slaughter.
But in your cause it is we are killed all the day, and counted as sheep for the slaughter.
23 Stir up—why do You sleep, O Lord? Awake, do not cast us off forever.
Rouse yourself, why do you sleep Lord? Awake, cast us not off forever.
24 Why do You hide Your face? You forget our afflictions and our oppression,
Why do you hide your face, forgetting our stress and our misery?
25 For our soul has bowed to the dust, Our belly has cleaved to the earth.
For we have sunk down to the dust, our bodies cling to the ground.
26 Arise, a help to us, And ransom us for your kindness’ sake.
Arise, come to our help: for your love’s sake, ransom us.
