44:1 WE HAVE heard with our ears, O God; our fathers have told us [what] work You did in their days, in the days of old. |
44:2 You drove out the nations with Your hand {and} it was Your power that gave [Israel] a home by rooting out the [heathen] peoples, but [Israel] You spread out. |
44:3 For they got not the land [of Canaan] in possession by their own sword, neither did their own arm save them; but Your right hand and Your arm and the light of Your countenance [did it], because You were favorable toward {and} did delight in them. |
44:4 You are my King, O God; command victories {and} deliverance for Jacob (Israel). |
44:5 Through You shall we push down our enemies; through Your name shall we tread them under who rise up against us. |
44:6 For I will not trust in {and} lean on my bow, neither shall my sword save me. |
44:7 But You have saved us from our foes and have put them to shame who hate us. |
44:8 In God we have made our boast all the day long, and we will give thanks to Your name forever. Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]! |
44:9 But now You have cast us off and brought us to dishonor, and You go not out with our armies. |
44:10 You make us to turn back from the enemy, and they who hate us take spoil for themselves. |
44:11 You have made us like sheep intended for mutton and have scattered us in exile among the nations. |
44:12 You sell Your people for nothing, and have not increased Your wealth by their price. |
44:13 You have made us the taunt of our neighbors, a scoffing and a derision to those who are round about us. |
44:14 You make us a byword among the nations, a shaking of the heads among the people. |
44:15 My dishonor is before me all day long, and shame has covered my face |
44:16 At the words of the taunter and reviler, by reason of the enemy and the revengeful. |
44:17 All this is come upon us, yet have we not forgotten You, neither have we been false to Your covenant [which You made with our fathers]. |
44:18 Our hearts are not turned back, neither have our steps declined from Your path, |
44:19 Though You have distressingly broken us in the place of jackals and covered us with deep darkness, even with the shadow of death. |
44:20 If we had forgotten the name of our God or stretched out our hands to a strange god, |
44:21 Would not God discover this? For He knows the secrets of the heart. |
44:22 No, but for Your sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. |
44:23 Awake! Why do You sleep, O Lord? Arouse Yourself, cast us not off forever! |
44:24 Why do You hide Your face {and} forget our affliction and our oppression? |
44:25 For our lives are bowed down to the dust; our bodies cleave to the ground. |
44:26 Rise up! Come to our help, and deliver us for Your mercy's sake {and} because of Your steadfast love! |