Psalms44

¹ We have heard with our ears, O God, Our fathers have told us, The deeds You did in their days, In days of old:

² You drove out the nations with Your hand, But them You planted; You afflicted the peoples, and cast them out.

³ For they 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, Because You favored them.

⁴ You are my King, O God; Command victories for Jacob.

⁵ Through You we will push down our enemies; Through Your name we will trample those who rise up against us.

⁶ For I 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 In God we boast all day long, And praise Your name forever. Selah

⁹ But You have cast us off and put us to shame, And You do not go out with our armies.

¹⁰ You make us turn back from the enemy, And those who hate us have taken spoil for themselves.

¹¹ You have given us up like sheep intended for food, And have scattered us among the nations.

¹² You sell Your people for next to nothing, And are not enriched by selling them.

¹³ You make us a reproach to our neighbors, A scorn and a derision to those all around us.

¹⁴ You make us a byword among the nations, A 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, Because of the enemy and the avenger.

¹⁷ All 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, Nor have our steps departed from Your way;

¹⁹ But You have severely broken us in the place of jackals, And covered us with the shadow of death.

²⁰ If we had forgotten the name of our God, Or stretched out our hands to a foreign god,

²¹ Would not God search this out? For He knows the secrets of the heart.

²² Yet for Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.

²³ Awake! Why do You sleep, O Lord? Arise! Do not cast us off forever.

²⁴ Why do You hide Your face, And forget our affliction and our oppression?

²⁵ For our soul is bowed down to the dust; Our body clings to the ground.

²⁶ Arise for our help, And redeem us for Your mercies’ sake.