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:
God, we ourselves have heard what our parents and grandparents told us. They told us about the miracles that you performed 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:
[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, 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.
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 Thou thyself, art my king, O God, Command thou the victories of Jacob.
You are my King and my God; it is you who enable us, your people [MTY], to defeat our enemies.
5 By thee, will we thrust at, our adversaries, In thy Name, will we tread down our assailants;
It is by your power that we knock our enemies down and tramp on them.
6 For, not in my bow, will I trust, Nor shall, my sword, give me victory;
I do not trust that I will be saved by using my bow [and arrows] and my sword.
7 For thou hast saved us from our adversaries, And, them who hated us, hast thou put 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, have we boasted all the day, And, thy Name—unto times age-abiding, will we praise. (Selah)
We have continually boasted about what God [has done for us], and we will thank him [MTY] forever.
9 But nay thou hast rejected, and confounded us, And wilt not go forth with our hosts;
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 Thou sufferest us to turn back from the adversary, And, they who hate us, have plundered at will:
You have caused us to run away from our enemies, with the result that they captured the things that belonged to us.
11 Thou dost give us up like sheep to be devoured, And, amongst the nations, hast thou scattered us.
You have allowed us to become like [MET] sheep that were ready to be slaughtered; you scattered us [far away] among [other].
12 Thou dost sell thy people for, no-value, And hast not made increase by their price.
[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 Thou dost make us, A reproach to our neighbours, A mockery and a derision to them who are round about us:
People who live in nations near us make fun of us; they laugh at us and deride/belittle us.
14 Thou dost make us, A by-word among the nations, —A shaking of the head among the peoples.
They make jokes using the name of [our country], they shake their heads [to indicate that they despise us].
15 All the day, is my confusion before me, And, the shame of my face, hath covered me:
All day I feel disgraced; from seeing my face, people know that I am ashamed.
16 At the voice of him who reproacheth and revileth, At the face of the foe and avenger.
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, hath come upon us, Yet had we not forgotten thee, Neither had we dealt falsely with thy 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 heart had not drawn back, Nor had our goings swerved from thy path;
We have not stopped being loyal to you, and we have not stopped doing what you want us to do [IDM].
19 That thou shouldst have crushed us down in the place of wild dogs, And covered us over with a deadly shadow.
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, And had spread forth our hands unto the GOD of the foreigner,
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 searched into this, Seeing that, he, knoweth the secrets of the heart?
you certainly would have known that, because you know [even] what we secretly think.
22 Surely, for thy sake, have we been slain all the day, We have been accounted as sheep for slaughter.
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 Awake thou! wherefore shouldst thou sleep, O Lord? Bestir thee! do not reject us altogether!
[So], Yahweh, arise! Why are you asleep [RHQ]? Get up! Do not reject us forever!
24 Wherefore shouldst thou hide, thy face? Shouldst forget our humiliation and our 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, sinketh down to the dust, Our body, cleaveth to the earth.
We are pushed down to the ground and we cannot get up.
26 Arise to our help, And ransom us, because of thine own lovingkindness.
Arise, and come and help us! Rescue us because you faithfully love us!
