Psalms 44

For the choirmaster. Of the sons of Korah. A Maskil.

1God, we have heard with our ears; our fathers have told us the deed you did in their days, in days of old.

2With your hand you drove out nations and planted our ancestors; you crushed peoples and sent them away.

3For it was not by their sword that they possessed the land, and their arm did not save them, but by your right hand, your arm, and the light of your face, because you delighted in them.

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

5Through you we push back our foes; through your name we trample those who rise against us.

6For I do not trust in my bow, and my sword does not save me.

7For you have saved us from our adversaries, and you have put those who hate us to shame.

8In God we boast all day long, and we will give thanks to your name forever. Selah

9Yet you have rejected us and put us to shame, and you do not go out with our armies.

10You make us retreat from the foe, and those who hate us plunder for themselves.

11You give us over like sheep for food, and among the nations you have scattered us.

12You sell your people for nothing and make no profit from their price.

13You make us a reproach to our neighbors, a mockery and derision to those around us.

14You make us a byword among the nations, a shaking of the head among the peoples.

15All day long my disgrace is before me, and the shame of my face has covered me.

16because of the voice of one who taunts and reviles, because of the enemy and the avenger.

17All this has come upon us, yet we have not forgotten you, and we have not been false to your covenant.

18Our heart has not turned back, nor have our steps turned aside from your path.

19Yet you crushed us in a haunt of jackals and covered us with deep darkness.

20If we had forgotten the name of our God and spread out our hands to a foreign god—

21Would not God search this out? For he knows the hidden things of the heart.

22For your sake we are killed all day long; we are regarded as sheep for slaughter.

23Awake! Why do you sleep, Lord? Rouse yourself; do not reject us forever.

24Why do you hide your face and forget our affliction and our oppression?

25For our soul has sunk down to the dust; our belly clings to the earth.

26Rise up to help us and redeem us for the sake of your steadfast love.