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!