Psalm 44

A Prayer for Help

For the director of music. A maskil of the sons of Korah.

44God, we have heard about you.

Our ancestors told us

what you did in their days,

in days long ago.

²With your power you forced the nations out of the land

and placed our ancestors here.

You destroyed those other nations,

but you made our ancestors grow strong.

³It wasn’t their swords that took the land.

It wasn’t their power that gave them victory.

But it was your great power and strength.

You were with them because you loved them.

⁴My God, you are my King.

Your commands led Jacob’s people to victory.

⁵With your help we pushed back our enemies.

In your name we trampled those who came against us.

⁶I don’t trust my bow to help me,

and my sword can’t save me.

⁷You saved us from our foes,

and you made our enemies ashamed.

⁸We will praise God every day;

we will praise your name forever.

Selah

⁹But you have rejected us and shamed us.

You don’t march with our armies anymore.

¹⁰You let our enemies push us back,

and those who hate us have taken our wealth.

¹¹You gave us away like sheep to be eaten

and have scattered us among the nations.

¹²You sold your people for nothing

and made no profit on the sale.

¹³You made us a joke to our neighbors;

those around us laugh and make fun of us.

¹⁴You made us a joke to the other nations;

people shake their heads.

¹⁵I am always in disgrace,

and I am covered with shame.

¹⁶My enemy is getting even

with insults and curses.

¹⁷All these things have happened to us,

but we have not forgotten you

or failed to keep our agreement with you.

¹⁸Our hearts haven’t turned away from you,

and we haven’t stopped following you.

¹⁹But you crushed us in this place where wild dogs live,

and you covered us with deep darkness.

²⁰If we had forgotten our God

or lifted our hands in prayer to foreign gods,

²¹God would have known,

because he knows what is in our hearts.

²²But for you we are in danger of death all the time.

People think we are worth no more than sheep to be killed.

²³Wake up, Lord! Why are you sleeping?

Get up! Don’t reject us forever.

²⁴Why do you hide from us?

Have you forgotten our pain and troubles?

²⁵We have been pushed down into the dirt;

we are flat on the ground.

²⁶Get up and help us.

Because of your love, save us.