Psalm 44

Come to Our Help

44To the choirmaster. ^cA Maskil¹ of the Sons of Korah.

¹O God, we have heard with our ears,

^dour fathers have told us,

what deeds you performed in their days,

^ein the days of old:

²you with your own hand ^fdrove out the nations,

but ^gthem you planted;

you afflicted the peoples,

but ^hthem you set free;

³for not ⁱby their own sword did they win the land,

nor did their own arm save them,

but your right hand and your arm,

and ^jthe light of your face,

^kfor you delighted in them.

^4lYou are my King, O God;

^mordain salvation for Jacob!

⁵Through you we ⁿpush down our foes;

through your name we ^otread down those who rise up against us.

⁶For not in ^pmy bow do I trust,

nor can my sword save me.

⁷But you have saved us from our foes

and have ^qput to shame those who hate us.

^8rIn God we have boasted continually,

and we will give thanks to your name forever. Selah

⁹But you have ^srejected us and disgraced us

and ^thave not gone out with our armies.

¹⁰You have made us ^uturn back from the foe,

and those who hate us have gotten spoil.

¹¹You have made us like ^vsheep for slaughter

and have ^wscattered us among the nations.

^12xYou have sold your people for a trifle,

demanding no high price for them.

¹³You have made us ^ythe taunt of our neighbors,

the derision and ^zscorn of those around us.

¹⁴You have made us ^aa byword among the nations,

^ba laughingstock² among the peoples.

¹⁵All day long my disgrace is before me,

and ^cshame has covered my face

¹⁶at the sound of the taunter and reviler,

at the sight of ^dthe enemy and the avenger.

^17eAll this has come upon us,

though we have not forgotten you,

and we have not been false to your covenant.

¹⁸Our heart has not turned back,

nor have our ^fsteps ^gdeparted from your way;

¹⁹yet you have ^hbroken us in the place of ⁱjackals

and covered us with ^jthe shadow of death.

²⁰If we had forgotten the name of our God

or ^kspread out our hands to ^la foreign god,

^21mwould not God discover this?

ⁿFor he knows the secrets of the heart.

²²Yet ^ofor your sake we are killed all the day long;

we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.

^23pAwake! Why are you sleeping, O Lord?

Rouse yourself! ^qDo not reject us forever!

²⁴Why ^rdo you hide your face?

Why do you forget our affliction and oppression?

²⁵For our ^ssoul is bowed down to the dust;

our belly clings to the ground.

²⁶Rise up; ^tcome to our help!

^uRedeem us for the sake of your steadfast love!