Psalms 44
44
God’s Past Favor and Israel’s Present Need
1For the leader. A maskil of the Korahites.
I
2O God, we have heard with our own ears;
our ancestors have told us#Ps 78:3.
The deeds you did in their days,
with your own hand in days of old:
3You rooted out nations to plant them,#Ps 78:55; 80:9f.
crushed peoples and expelled them.
4Not with their own swords did they conquer the land,#Dt 8:17f; Jos 24:12.
nor did their own arms bring victory;
It was your right hand, your own arm,
the light of your face for you favored them.#Ps 4:7; 31:17; 67:2; 80:4; Nm 6:25; Dn 9:17.
5You are my king and my God,#Ps 145:1.
who bestows victories on Jacob.
6Through you we batter our foes;
through your name we trample our adversaries.
7Not in my bow do I trust,
nor does my sword bring me victory.
8You have brought us victory over our enemies,
shamed those who hate us.
9In God we have boasted all the day long;
your name we will praise forever.
Selah
II
10#Ps 89:39–52.But now you have rejected and disgraced us;
you do not march out with our armies.#Ps 60:12.
11You make us retreat#You make us retreat: the corollary of Ps 44:3. Defeat, like victory, is God’s doing; neither Israel nor its enemies can claim credit (Ps 44:23). before the foe;
those who hate us plunder us at will.#Lv 26:17; Dt 28:25.
12You hand us over like sheep to be slaughtered,
scatter us among the nations.#Lv 26:33; Dt 28:64.
13You sell your people for nothing;
you make no profit from their sale.#Dt 32:30; Is 52:3.
14You make us the reproach of our neighbors,#Ps 79:4; 80:7; 123:3–4; Jb 12:4; Dn 9:16.
the mockery and scorn of those around us.
15You make us a byword among the nations;
the peoples shake their heads at us.
16All day long my disgrace is before me;
shame has covered my face
17At the sound of those who taunt and revile,
at the sight of the enemy and avenger.
III
18All this has come upon us,
though we have not forgotten you,
nor been disloyal to your covenant.
19#Our hearts have not turned back: Israel’s defeat was not caused by its lack of fidelity.Our hearts have not turned back,
nor have our steps strayed from your path.
20Yet you have left us crushed,
desolate in a place of jackals;#A place of jackals: following Israel’s defeat and exile (Ps 44:11–12), the land lies desolate, inhabited only by jackals, cf. Is 13:22; Jer 9:10; 10:22. Others take tannim as “sea monster” (cf. Ez 29:3; 32:2) and render: “you crushed us as you did the sea monster.”#Jer 9:10.
you have covered us with a shadow of death.
21If we had forgotten the name of our God,
stretched out our hands to another god,
22Would not God have discovered this,
God who knows the secrets of the heart?
23For you we are slain all the day long,
considered only as sheep to be slaughtered.#Rom 8:36.
IV
24Awake! Why do you sleep, O Lord?
Rise up! Do not reject us forever!#Ps 10:1; 74:1; 77:8; 79:5; 83:2.
25Why do you hide your face;#Ps 10:11; 89:47; Jb 13:24.
why forget our pain and misery?
26For our soul has been humiliated in the dust;#Ps 119:25.
our belly is pressed to the earth.
27Rise up, help us!
Redeem us in your mercy.
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Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc
Psalm 44
44
To the chief Musician for the sons of Korah, Maschil.
1We have heard with our ears, O God, our fathers have told us,
What work thou didst in their days, in the times of old.
2 How thou didst drive out the heathen with thy hand, and plantedst them;
How thou didst afflict the people, and cast them out.
3For they got not the land in possession by their own sword,
Neither did their own arm save them:
But thy right hand, and thine arm, and the light of thy countenance,
Because thou hadst a favour unto them.
4Thou art my King, O God: Command deliverances for Jacob.
5Through thee will we push down our enemies:
Through thy name will we tread them under that rise up against us.
6For I will not trust in my bow,
Neither shall my sword save me.
7But thou hast saved us from our enemies,
And hast put them to shame that hated us.
8In God we boast all the day long,
And praise thy name for ever. Selah.
9But thou hast cast off, and put us to shame;
And goest not forth with our armies.
10Thou makest us to turn back from the enemy:
And they which hate us spoil for themselves.
11Thou hast given us like sheep appointed for meat;
And hast scattered us among the heathen.
12Thou sellest thy people for nought,
And dost not increase thy wealth by their price.
13Thou makest us a reproach to our neighbours,
A scorn and a derision to them that are round about us.
14Thou makest us a byword among the heathen,
A shaking of the head among the people.
15My confusion is continually before me,
And the shame of my face hath covered me,
16For the voice of him that reproacheth and blasphemeth;
By reason of the enemy and avenger.
17All this is come upon us; yet have we not forgotten thee,
Neither have we dealt falsely in thy covenant.
18Our heart is not turned back,
Neither have our steps declined from thy way;
19Though thou hast sore broken us in the place of dragons,
And covered us with the shadow of death.
20If we have forgotten the name of our God, or stretched out our hands to a strange god;
21Shall not God search this out? For he knoweth the secrets of the heart.
22Yea, for thy sake are we killed all the day long;
We are counted as sheep for the slaughter.
23Awake, why sleepest thou, O Lord?
Arise, cast us not off for ever.
24Wherefore hidest thou thy face,
And forgettest our affliction and our oppression?
25For our soul is bowed down to the dust:
Our belly cleaveth unto the earth.
26Arise for our help,
And redeem us for thy mercies' sake.
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