For the Chief Musician. A Psalm of the sons of Korah. Maschil.
44:1We have heard with our ears, O God,
Our fathers have told us,
What work thou didst in their days,
In the days of old.
44:2Thou didst drive out the nations with thy hand;
But them thou didst plant:
Thou didst afflict the peoples;
But them thou didst spread abroad.
44:3For they gat 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 wast favorable unto them.
Command deliverance for Jacob.
44:5Through thee will we push down our adversaries:
Through thy name will we tread them under that rise up against us.
44:6For I will not trust in my bow,
Neither shall my sword save me.
44:7But thou hast saved us from our adversaries,
And hast put them to shame that hate us.
44:8In God have we made our boast all the day long,
And we will give thanks unto thy name for ever.
44:9But now thou hast cast us off, and brought us to dishonor,
And goest not forth with our hosts.
44:10Thou makest us to turn back from the adversary;
And they that hate us take spoil for themselves.
44:11Thou hast made us like sheep appointed for food,
And hast scattered us among the nations.
44:12Thou sellest thy people for nought,
And hast not increased thy wealth by their price.
44:13Thou makest us a reproach to our neighbors,
A scoffing and a derision to them that are round about us.
44:14Thou makest us a byword among the nations,
A shaking of the head among the peoples.
44:15All the day long is my dishonor before me,
And the shame of my face hath covered me,
44:16For the voice of him that reproacheth and blasphemeth,
By reason of the enemy and the avenger.
44:17All this is come upon us;
Yet have we not forgotten thee,
Neither have we dealt falsely in thy covenant.
44:18Our heart is not turned back,
Neither have our steps declined from thy way,
44:19That thou hast sore broken us in the place of jackals,
And covered us with the shadow of death.
44:20If we have forgotten the name of our God,
Or spread forth our hands to a strange god;
44:21Will not God search this out?
For he knoweth the secrets of the heart.
44:22Yea, for thy sake are we killed all the day long;
We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
44:23Awake, why sleepest thou, O Lord?
Arise, cast us not off for ever.
44:24Wherefore hidest thou thy face,
And forgettest our affliction and our oppression?
44:25For our soul is bowed down to the dust:
Our body cleaveth unto the earth.
44:26Rise up for our help,
And redeem us for thy lovingkindness' sake.
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