Psalms 44
1 To the Overseer. — By sons of Korah. An Instruction. O God, with our ears we have heard, Our fathers have recounted to us, The work Thou didst work 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 Thou, [with] Thy hand, nations hast dispossessed. And Thou dost plant them. Thou afflictest peoples, and sendest 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, not by their sword Possessed they the land, And their arm gave not salvation to them, But Thy right hand, and Thine arm, And the light of Thy countenance, Because Thou hadst 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 Thou [art] 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 Thee our adversaries we do push, By Thy name tread down our withstanders,
Through you we can thrust back our foes, and by your name tread down our assailants:
6 For, not in my bow do I trust, And my sword doth not save me.
for not in my bow do I trust, nor can my sword win me the victory.
7 For Thou hast saved us from our adversaries, And those hating us Thou hast put to shame.
Our victory comes from you, and confusion to those who hate us.
8 In God we have boasted all the day, And Thy name to the age we thank. (Selah)
In God we boast all the day long, and your name will we praise forever. (Selah)
9 In anger Thou hast cast off and causest us to blush, And goest not forth with our hosts.
Yet you have spurned and disgraced us, in not going forth with our armies,
10 Thou causest 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 Thou makest us food like sheep, And among nations Thou hast scattered us.
You have let us be eaten like sheep, you have scattered us over the world,
12 Thou sellest Thy people — without wealth, And hast not become great by their price.
sold your people for a pittance, and getting no gain from their price.
13 Thou makest us a reproach to our neighbours, 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 Thou makest us a simile 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 hath 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 Thee, Nor have we dealt falsely in Thy covenant.
All this has come upon us, yet we have not forgotten you nor falsely dealt with your covenant.
18 We turn not backward our heart, Nor turn aside doth our step from Thy path.
Our heart has not turned back, nor our steps declined from your way,
19 But Thou hast smitten us in a place of dragons, And dost 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 Doth not God search out this? For He knoweth the secrets of the heart.
would God not have searched this out? For he knows the heart and its secrets.
22 Surely, for Thy 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 dost Thou sleep, O Lord? Awake, cast us not off for ever.
Rouse yourself, why do you sleep Lord? Awake, cast us not off forever.
24 Why Thy face hidest Thou? Thou forgettest our afflictions and our oppression,
Why do you hide your face, forgetting our stress and our misery?
25 For bowed to the dust hath our soul, Cleaved to the earth hath our belly.
For we have sunk down to the dust, our bodies cling to the ground.
26 Arise, a help to us, And ransom us for thy kindness' sake.
Arise, come to our help: for your love’s sake, ransom us.
