Psalms 44
1 To the Chief Musician. For the Sons of Korah. An Instructive Psalm. O God! with our own ears, have we heard, Our fathers, have recounted to us, —The work thou didst work, In their day, In the days of aforetime:
For the music director. A psalm (maskil) of the sons of Korah. God, we have heard with our own ears—our forefathers have told us—all you did in their times, long ago.
2 Thou thyself, with thine own hand—Didst dispossess, nations, and didst plant them, Didst break peoples in pieces, and didst spread them out:
Through your power you drove out the other nations so you could settle our ancestors there; you defeated the nations and you sent our ancestors to occupy the land.
3 For, not by their own sword, gat they possession of the land, Nor did, their own arm, win victory for them, —But thine own right hand, and thine own arm, and the light of thy face, Because thou hadst accepted them.
They did not conquer the land using their swords; it was not through their own strength that the victory was won—it was by your strength, your power, and your presence with them, because you loved them.
4 Thou thyself, art my king, O God, Command thou the victories of Jacob.
God, you are my King; command victories for Jacob!
5 By thee, will we thrust at, our adversaries, In thy Name, will we tread down our assailants;
Only through you can we repel our enemies; only in your name can we defeat our opponents.
6 For, not in my bow, will I trust, Nor shall, my sword, give me victory;
I do not trust my bow; I do not have confidence in my sword to save me.
7 For thou hast saved us from our adversaries, And, them who hated us, hast thou put to shame.
You are the one who saves us from our enemies; you defeat those who hate us.
8 In God, have we boasted all the day, And, thy Name—unto times age-abiding, will we praise. (Selah)
God, we proudly thank you all day long, and praise your name forever. (Selah)
9 But nay thou hast rejected, and confounded us, And wilt not go forth with our hosts;
But now you have rejected and disgraced us; you no longer accompany our armies.
10 Thou sufferest us to turn back from the adversary, And, they who hate us, have plundered at will:
You made us run from our enemies, and those who hate us have taken whatever they wanted.
11 Thou dost give us up like sheep to be devoured, And, amongst the nations, hast thou scattered us.
You have handed us over like sheep to be slaughtered; you have scattered us among the other nations.
12 Thou dost sell thy people for, no-value, And hast not made increase by their price.
You have sold your own people for next to nothing, making no profit on the sale.
13 Thou dost make us, A reproach to our neighbours, A mockery and a derision to them who are round about us:
You have made a mockery of us before our neighbors, we are ridiculed and laughed at by those around us.
14 Thou dost make us, A by-word among the nations, —A shaking of the head among the peoples.
You have made us a joke to the other nations; they scornfully shake their heads at us.
15 All the day, is my confusion before me, And, the shame of my face, hath covered me:
We are humiliated all day long; we hold our heads in shame,
16 At the voice of him who reproacheth and revileth, At the face of the foe and avenger.
because of all the insults from the people mocking us, because our vengeful enemies are right in front of us.
17 All this, hath come upon us, Yet had we not forgotten thee, Neither had we dealt falsely with thy covenant;
All this has happened to us even though we didn't forget you; we haven't been unfaithful to the promises we made to you.
18 Our heart had not drawn back, Nor had our goings swerved from thy path;
We have not turned away from you, not in thought, nor in action.
19 That thou shouldst have crushed us down in the place of wild dogs, And covered us over with a deadly shadow.
Even so, you crushed us, and made us into a jackal's den. You have covered us with the darkness of death.
20 If we had forgotten the Name of our God, And had spread forth our hands unto the GOD of the foreigner,
If we had forgotten the name of our God, or worshiped other gods,
21 Would not, God, have searched into this, Seeing that, he, knoweth the secrets of the heart?
wouldn't God have been aware of this, because he knows everyone's thoughts?
22 Surely, for thy sake, have we been slain all the day, We have been accounted as sheep for slaughter.
But because of you we are killed all day long; we're considered just sheep to be slaughtered.
23 Awake thou! wherefore shouldst thou sleep, O Lord? Bestir thee! do not reject us altogether!
Lord, wake up! Why are you sleeping? Get up! Don't turn your back on us forever!
24 Wherefore shouldst thou hide, thy face? Shouldst forget our humiliation and our oppression?
Why do you look away from us and take no notice of our suffering and misery?
25 For our soul, sinketh down to the dust, Our body, cleaveth to the earth.
We lie ruined in the dust, our bodies face down in the dirt.
26 Arise to our help, And ransom us, because of thine own lovingkindness.
Stand up! Come and help us! Save us because of your trustworthy love!
