Psalm 44

PSALM 44

To the choirmaster. A Maskil of the Sons of Korah.

¹We have heard with our ears, O God,

our fathers have told us,

what deeds thou didst perform in their days,

in the days of old:

²thou with thy own hand didst drive out the nations,

but them thou didst plant;

thou didst afflict the peoples,

but them thou didst set free;

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

nor did their own arm give them victory;

but thy right hand, and thy arm,

and the light of thy countenance;

for thou didst delight in them.

⁴Thou art my King and my God,

who ordainest victories for Jacob.

⁵Through thee we push down our foes;

through thy name we tread down our assailants.

⁶For not in my bow do I trust,

nor can my sword save me.

⁷But thou hast saved us from our foes,

and hast put to confusion those who hate us.

⁸In God we have boasted continually,

and we will give thanks to thy name for ever. [Selah]

⁹Yet thou hast cast us off and abased us,

and hast not gone out with our armies.

¹⁰Thou hast made us turn back from the foe;

and our enemies have gotten spoil.

¹¹Thou hast made us like sheep for slaughter,

and hast scattered us among the nations.

¹²Thou hast sold thy people for a trifle,

demanding no high price for them.

¹³Thou hast made us the taunt of our neighbors,

the derision and scorn of those about us.

¹⁴Thou hast made us a byword among the nations,

a laughingstock among the peoples.

¹⁵All day long my disgrace is before me,

and shame has covered my face,

¹⁶at the words of the taunters and revilers,

at the sight of the enemy and the avenger.

¹⁷All this has come upon us,

though we have not forgotten thee,

or been false to thy covenant.

¹⁸Our heart has not turned back,

nor have our steps departed from thy way,

¹⁹that thou shouldst have broken us in the place of jackals,

and covered us with deep darkness.

²⁰If we had forgotten the name of our God,

or spread forth our hands to a strange god,

²¹would not God discover this?

For he knows the secrets of the heart.

²²Nay, for thy sake we are slain all the day long,

and accounted as sheep for the slaughter.

²³Rouse thyself! Why sleepest thou, O Lord?

Awake! Do not cast us off for ever!

²⁴Why dost thou hide thy face?

Why dost thou forget our affliction and oppression?

²⁵For our soul is bowed down to the dust;

our body cleaves to the ground.

²⁶Rise up, come to our help!

Deliver us for the sake of thy steadfast love!