Psalms 44

1 For the end, a Psalm for instruction, for the sons of Core. O God, we have heard with our ears, our fathers have told us, the work which thou wroughtest in their days, in the days of old.

For the leader. Of the Korahites. A maskil. O God, we have heard with our ears, all our ancestors have told us of the work that you wrought in their day, your wonders in days of old,

2 Thine hand utterly destroyed the heathen, and thou didst plant them: thou didst afflict the nations, and cast them out.

uprooting and crushing the nations, then planting and settling them. For it wasn’t their own sword that won them the land,

3 For they inherited not the land by their [own] sword, and their [own] arm did not deliver them; but thy right hand, and thine arm, and the light of thy countenance, because thou wert well pleased in them.

it was not their own arm that brought them the victory. Yours was the hand and the arm, yours was the face that shone on them with favor.

4 Thou art indeed my King and my God, who commandest deliverances for Jacob.

It was you, my king and my God, that ordained the victories of Jacob.

5 In thee will we push down our enemies, and in thy name will we bring to nought them that rise up against us.

Through you we can thrust back our foes, and by your name tread down our assailants:

6 For I will not trust in my bow, and my sword shall not save me.

for not in my bow do I trust, nor can my sword win me the victory.

7 For thou hast saved us from them that afflicted us, and hast put to shame them that hated us.

Our victory comes from you, and confusion to those who hate us.

8 In God will we make our boast all the day, and to thy name will we give thanks for ever. (Pause)

In God we boast all the day long, and your name will we praise forever. (Selah)

9 But now thou hast cast off, and put us to shame; and thou wilt not go forth with our hosts.

Yet you have spurned and disgraced us, in not going forth with our armies,

10 Thou hast turned us back before our enemies; and they that hated us spoiled for themselves.

and in making us flee from the foe, so that those who hated us plundered us.

11 Thou madest us as sheep for meat; and thou scatteredst us among the nations.

You have let us be eaten like sheep, you have scattered us over the world,

12 Thou hast sold thy people without price, and there was no profit by their exchange.

sold your people for a pittance, and getting no gain from their price.

13 Thou hast made us a reproach to our neighbours, a scorn and derision them that are round about us.

You have made us the butt of our neighbors, the derision and scorn of all round us.

14 Thou hast made us a proverb among the Gentiles, a shaking of the head among the nations.

O’er the world you have made us a byword, the nations at us shake their heads.

15 All the day my shame is before me, and the confusion of my face has covered me,

My disgrace is forever before me, my face is covered with shame,

16 because of the voice of the slanderer and reviler; because of the enemy and avenger.

at the words of blasphemer and scoffer, at the sight of the foe and the vengeful.

17 All these things are come upon us: but we have not forgotten thee, neither have we dealt unrighteously in thy covenant.

All this has come upon us, yet we have not forgotten you nor falsely dealt with your covenant.

18 And our heart has not gone back; but thou hast turned aside our paths from thy way.

Our heart has not turned back, nor our steps declined from your way,

19 For thou hast laid us low in a place of affliction, and the shadow of death has covered us.

that you thus should have crushed us down, and covered us over with gloom, in the place where the jackals roam.

20 If we have forgotten the name of our God, and if we have spread out our hands to a strange god; shall not God search these things out?

Had we forgotten the name of our God, or stretched out our hands to a god that was strange,

21 for he knows the secrets of the heart.

would God not have searched this out? For he knows the heart and its secrets.

22 For, for thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are counted as sheep for slaughter.

But in your cause it is we are killed all the day, and counted as sheep for the slaughter.

23 Awake, wherefore sleepest thou, O Lord? arise, and do not cast [us] off for ever.

Rouse yourself, why do you sleep Lord? Awake, cast us not off forever.

24 Wherefore turnest thou thy face away, [and] forgettest our poverty and our affliction?

Why do you hide your face, forgetting our stress and our misery?

25 For our soul has been brought down to the dust; our belly has cleaved to the earth.

For we have sunk down to the dust, our bodies cling to the ground.

26 Arise, O Lord, help us, and redeem us for thy name's sake.

Arise, come to our help: for your love’s sake, ransom us.