Psalms 44
1 God, we ourselves have heard what our parents and grandparents told us. They told us about the miracles that you performed long ago.
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.
2 [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].
You, [with] Your hand, have dispossessed nations. And You plant them. You afflict peoples, and send them away.
3 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.
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.
4 You are my King and my God; it is you who enable us, your people [MTY], to defeat our enemies.
You [are] He, my King, O God, Command the deliverances of Jacob.
5 It is by your power that we knock our enemies down and tramp on them.
By You we push our adversaries, By Your Name we tread down our withstanders,
6 I do not trust that I will be saved by using my bow [and arrows] and my sword.
For I do not trust in my bow, And my sword does not save me.
7 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].
For You have saved us from our adversaries, And You have put to shame those hating us.
8 We have continually boasted about what God [has done for us], and we will thank him [MTY] forever.
In God we have boasted all the day, And we thank Your Name for all time. (Selah)
9 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.
In anger You have cast off and cause us to blush, And do not go forth with our hosts.
10 You have caused us to run away from our enemies, with the result that they captured the things that belonged to us.
You cause us to turn backward from an adversary, And those hating us, Have spoiled for themselves.
11 You have allowed us to become like [MET] sheep that were ready to be slaughtered; you scattered us [far away] among [other].
You make us food like sheep, And You have scattered us among nations.
12 [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!
You sell Your people—without wealth, And have not become great by their price.
13 People who live in nations near us make fun of us; they laugh at us and deride/belittle us.
You make us a reproach to our neighbors, A scorn and a reproach to our surrounders.
14 They make jokes using the name of [our country], they shake their heads [to indicate that they despise us].
You make us an allegory among nations, A shaking of the head among peoples.
15 All day I feel disgraced; from seeing my face, people know that I am ashamed.
All the day my confusion [is] before me, And the shame of my face has covered me.
16 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.
Because of the voice of a reproacher and reviler, Because of an enemy and a self-avenger.
17 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].
All this met us, and we did not forget You, Nor have we dealt falsely in Your covenant.
18 We have not stopped being loyal to you, and we have not stopped doing what you want us to do [IDM].
We do not turn our heart backward, Nor turn aside our step from Your path.
19 But [it is as though] you have allowed us to be helpless among wild animals, and abandoned us in a deep dark [ravine].
But You have struck us in a place of dragons, And cover us over with death-shade.
20 If we had forgotten to worship [MTY] our God, or if we had spread out our hands to [worship] a foreign god,
If we have forgotten the Name of our God, And spread our hands to a strange God,
21 you certainly would have known that, because you know [even] what we secretly think.
Does God not search this out? For He knows the secrets of the heart.
22 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.
Surely, for Your sake we have been slain all the day, Reckoned as sheep of the slaughter.
23 [So], Yahweh, arise! Why are you asleep [RHQ]? Get up! Do not reject us forever!
Stir up—why do You sleep, O Lord? Awake, do not cast us off forever.
24 Why are you not looking at us? Why are you forgetting that we are suffering and being oppressed [by our enemies]?
Why do You hide Your face? You forget our afflictions and our oppression,
25 We are pushed down to the ground and we cannot get up.
For our soul has bowed to the dust, Our belly has cleaved to the earth.
26 Arise, and come and help us! Rescue us because you faithfully love us!
Arise, a help to us, And ransom us for your kindness’ sake.
