Book Second
Chap. 44.
1 To the chief musician; to the sons of Korah, Maschil.
2 O God, with our ears have we heard; our fathers have declared unto us the work [which] thou didst in their days, in the days of old.
3 Thou [with] thy hand didst drive out the Gentiles and plant them; thou didst evil to nations and didst send them forth.
4 For not with their sword did they take possession of the land, neither did their arm deliver them; but thy right hand and thine arm and the light of thy countenance, because thou takedst pleasure in them.
5 Thou [art] he, my king, O God; command the deliverances of Jacob.
6 By thee will we push down our adversaries; in thy name will we tread under foot those that rise up against us.
7 For not in my bow will I trust, and my sword shall not save me.
8 For thou hast saved us from our adversaries, and those who hate us thou hast put to shame.
9 In God have we praised all the day, and we will give thanks to thy name forever. Selah.
10 But now thou hast cast off and put us to shame, and thou goest not forth with our armies.
11 Thou causest us to turn back before the enemy, and those who hate us have taken spoil for themselves.
12 Thou givest us as sheep (for) food, and among the Gentiles hast thou scattered us.
13 Thou sellest thy people without gain, and hast not increased by their price.
14 Thou settest us [as] a reproach to our neighbors, a scorn and a derision to those that are round about us.
15 Thou settest us a by-word among the Gentiles, a shaking of the head among the nations.
16 All the day my shame [is] before me, and the confusion of my face hath covered me,
17 Because of the voice of him who reproacheth and blasphemeth, because of the face of the enemy and the avenger.
18 All this has come upon us; yet have we not forgotten thee, and we have not acted falsely to thy covenant.
19 Our heart hath not turned backward, nor hath our step declined from thy path.
20 But thou hast broken us to pieces in the place of large serpents, and hast covered us over with the shadow of death.
21 If we have forgotten the name of our God, and have stretched out our hands to a strange god,
22 Will not God search this out? For he knoweth the secrets of the heart.
23 But for thy sake we have been killed all the day, we have been counted as sheep for slaughter.
24 Awake; why sleepest thou, Ο Lord? Arise, cast us not off forever.
25 Why hidest thou thy face? [Why] forgettest thou our affliction and our oppression?
26 For our soul hath been bowed down to the dust, our belly hath cleaved unto the earth.
27 Arise, a help unto us, and redeem us for thy mercy's sake.