Psalm 44

Redemption Remembered in Present Dishonor

To the Chief Musician. A aContemplation 1Of the Sons of Korah.

1 We have heard with our ears, O God, bOur fathers have told us,

The deeds You did in their days,

In days of old:

2 cYou drove out the 2nations with Your hand,

But them You planted;

You afflicted the peoples, and cast them out.

3 For dthey did not gain possession of the land by their own sword,

Nor did their own arm save them;

But it was Your right hand, Your arm, and the light of Your countenance,

eBecause You favored them.

4 fYou are my King, 3O God;

4Command victories for Jacob.

5 Through You gwe will push down our enemies;

Through Your name we will trample those who rise up against us.

6 For hI will not trust in my bow,

Nor shall my sword save me.

7 But You have saved us from our enemies,

And have put to shame those who hated us.

8 iIn God we boast all day long,

And praise Your name forever.

Selah

9 But jYou have cast us off and put us to shame,

And You do not go out with our armies.

10 You make us kturn back from the enemy,

And those who hate us have taken 5spoil for themselves.

11 lYou have given us up like sheep intended for food,

And have mscattered us among the nations.

12 nYou sell Your people for next to nothing,

And are not enriched by selling them.

13 oYou make us a reproach to our neighbors,

A scorn and a derision to those all around us.

14 pYou make us a byword among the nations,

qA shaking of the head among the peoples.

15 My dishonor is continually before me,

And the shame of my face has covered me,

16 Because of the voice of him who reproaches and reviles,

rBecause of the enemy and the avenger.

17 sAll this has come upon us;

But we have not forgotten You,

Nor have we dealt falsely with Your covenant.

18 Our heart has not turned back,

tNor have our steps departed from Your way;

19 But You have severely broken us in uthe place of jackals,

And covered us vwith the shadow of death.

20 If we had forgotten the name of our God,

Or wstretched 6out our hands to a foreign god,

21 xWould not God search this out?

For He knows the secrets of the heart.

22 yYet for Your sake we are killed all day long;

We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.

23 zAwake! Why do You sleep, O Lord?

Arise! Do not cast us off forever.

24 aWhy do You hide Your face,

And forget our affliction and our oppression?

25 For bour soul is bowed down to the 7dust;

Our body clings to the ground.

26 Arise for our help,

And redeem us for Your mercies’ sake.