PSALM 44

Former Deliverances and Present Troubles.

For the choir director. A †Maskil of the sons of Korah.

1 O God, we have heard with our ears,

Our afathers have told us

The bwork that You did in their days,

In the cdays of old.

2 You with Your own hand adrove out the nations;

Then You bplanted them;

You cafflicted the peoples,

Then You dspread them abroad.

3 For by their own sword they adid not possess the land,

And their own arm did not save them,

But Your right hand and Your barm and the clight of Your presence,

For You dfavored them.

4 You are amy King, O God;

bCommand 1victories for Jacob.

5 Through You we will apush back our adversaries;

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

6 For I will anot trust in my bow,

Nor will my sword save me.

7 But You ahave saved us from our adversaries,

And You have bput to shame those who hate us.

8 In God we have aboasted all day long,

And we will bgive thanks to Your name forever.

1Selah.

9 Yet You ahave rejected us and brought us to bdishonor,

And cdo not go out with our armies.

10 You cause us to aturn back from the adversary;

And those who hate us bhave taken spoil for themselves.

11 You give us as asheep 1to be eaten

And have bscattered us among the nations.

12 You asell Your people 1cheaply,

And have not 2profited by their sale.

13 You make us a areproach to our neighbors,

A scoffing and a bderision to those around us.

14 You make us aa byword among the nations,

A 1blaughingstock among the peoples.

15 All day long my dishonor is before me

And 1my ahumiliation has overwhelmed me,

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

Because of the presence of the benemy and the avenger.

17 All this has come upon us, but we have anot forgotten You,

And we have not bdealt falsely with Your covenant.

18 Our heart has not aturned back,

And our steps bhave not deviated from Your way,

19 Yet You have acrushed us in a place of bjackals

And covered us with cthe shadow of death.

20 If we had aforgotten the name of our God

Or extended our 1hands to ba strange god,

21 Would not God afind this out?

For He knows the secrets of the heart.

22 But afor Your sake we are killed all day long;

We are considered as bsheep to be slaughtered.

23 aArouse Yourself, why bdo You sleep, O Lord?

Awake, cdo not reject us forever.

24 Why do You ahide Your face

And bforget our affliction and our oppression?

25 For our asoul has sunk down into the dust;

Our body cleaves to the earth.

26 aRise up, be our help,

And bredeem us for the sake of Your lovingkindness.