Psalms 44
44
To the director: A maskil from the Korah family.
1God, we have heard about you.
Our fathers told us what you did in their lifetime.
They told us what you did long ago.
2With your great power you took this land from other people,
and you gave it to us.
You crushed those foreigners
and forced them to leave this land.
3It was not our fathers’ swords that took the land.
It was not their strong arms that brought them victory.
It was your power.
It was because you accepted them and smiled down on them.
4God, you are my king.
Give the command and lead Jacob’s people to victory.
5We need your help to push our enemies back.
Only in your name can we trample those who attacked us.
6I don’t put my trust in my bow.
My sword cannot save me.
7You are the one who saved us from our enemies.
You are the one who put our enemies to shame.
8We have praised you all day long,
and we will praise your name forever. Selah
9But you left us and put us to shame.
You did not go with us into battle.
10You let our enemies push us back.
You let them take our wealth.
11You gave us away like sheep to be killed and eaten.
You scattered us among the nations.
12You sold your people for nothing.
You did not even argue over the price.
13You made us a joke to our neighbors.
They laugh and make fun of us.
14You made us one of the stories that people love to tell.
People all over the world laugh at us and shake their heads.
15All I can think about is my shame.
Just look at my face, and you will see it.
16All I can hear are the jokes and insults of my enemies,
as I watch them take their revenge.
17We have not forgotten you.
But you do all those things to us.
We did not break the agreement you gave us.
18We did not turn away from you.
We did not stop following you.
19But you crushed us in this home of jackals.
You left us in this place as dark as death.
20Did we forget the name of our God?
Did we pray to foreign gods?
21If we did, then God knows it,
because he knows our deepest secrets.
22All day long we died for you.
We are like sheep being led away to be killed.
23Lord, wake up!
Why are you sleeping?
Get up! Don’t ignore us forever!
24Why are you hiding from us?
Have you forgotten our pain and troubles?
25We have been pushed down into the dirt.
We are lying face down in the dust.#44:25 This shows that the people were being treated like slaves who must bow down to their masters.
26Get up and help us!
Rescue us because of your faithful love.
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© 1987, 2004 Bible League International
Psalms 44
44
Psalm 44
Former Times of Help and Present Troubles.
To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of the sons of Korah. A skillful song, or a didactic or reflective poem.
1We have heard with our ears, O God,
Our fathers have told us
The work You did in their days,
In the days of old.
2You drove out the [pagan] nations with Your own hand;
Then you planted and established them (Israel);
[It was by Your power that] You uprooted the [pagan] peoples,
Then You spread them abroad.
3For our fathers did not possess the land [of Canaan] by their own sword,
Nor did their own arm save them,
But Your right hand and Your arm and the light of Your presence,
Because You favored and delighted in them.
4¶You are my King, O God;
Command victories and deliverance for Jacob (Israel).
5Through You we will gore our enemies [like a bull];
Through Your name we will trample down those who rise up against us.
6For I will not trust in my bow,
Nor will my sword save me.
7But You have saved us from our enemies,
And You have put them to shame and humiliated those who hate us.
8In God we have boasted all the day long,
And we will praise and give thanks to Your name forever. Selah.
9¶But now You have rejected us and brought us to dishonor,
And You do not go out with our armies [to lead us to victory].
10You make us turn back from the enemy,
And those who hate us have taken spoil for themselves.
11You have made us like sheep to be eaten [as mutton]
And have scattered us [in exile] among the nations.
12You sell Your people cheaply,
And have not increased Your wealth by their sale.
13You have made us the reproach and taunt of our neighbors,
A scoffing and a derision to those around us.
14You make us a byword among the nations,
A #44:14 Lit shaking of the head.laughingstock among the people.
15My dishonor is before me all day long,
And humiliation has covered my face,
16Because of the voice of the taunter and reviler,
Because of the presence of the enemy and the avenger.
17¶All this has come upon us, yet we have not forgotten You,
Nor have we been false to Your covenant [which You made with our fathers].
18Our heart has not turned back,
Nor have our steps wandered from Your path,
19Yet You have [distressingly] crushed us in the place of jackals
And covered us with [the deep darkness of] the shadow of death.
20¶If we had forgotten the name of our God
Or stretched out our hands to a strange god,
21Would not God discover this?
For He knows the secrets of the heart.
22 # 44:22 The ancient rabbis applied this verse to Israel under persecution, especially to those who suffered under the reign of Hadrian following the Bar Cochba revolt (a.d. 132-135). One rabbi said that he was ready to die for God provided that he be killed immediately, because he could not endure the tortures of what was called “the great persecution.” The tortures included placing red-hot iron discs under the victim’s armpits or sticking needles under the nails until the victim died from the pain (shock). But for Your sake we are killed all the day long;
We are considered as sheep to be slaughtered. [Rom 8:35-39]
23Awake! Why do You sleep, O Lord?
Awaken, do not reject us forever.
24Why do You hide Your face
And forget our affliction and our oppression?
25For our life has melted away into the dust;
Our body clings to the ground.
26Rise up! Come be our help,
And ransom us for the sake of Your steadfast love.
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