Psalms 44

₁With our own ears we have heard it, O God —

our ancestors have told us about it,

about the great things you did in their time,

in the days of long ago:

₂how you yourself drove out the heathen

and established your people in their land;

how you punished the other nations

and caused your own to prosper.

₃Your people did not conquer the land with their swords;

they did not win it by their own power;

it was by your power and your strength,

by the assurance of your presence,

which showed that you loved them.

₄You are my king and my God;

you give victory to your people,

₅and by your power we defeat our enemies.

₆I do not trust in my bow

or in my sword to save me;

₇but you have saved us from our enemies

and defeated those who hate us.

₈We will always praise you

and give thanks to you for ever.

₉But now you have rejected us and let us be defeated;

you no longer march out with our armies.

₁₀You made us run from our enemies,

and they took for themselves what was ours.

₁₁You allowed us to be slaughtered like sheep;

you scattered us in foreign countries.

₁₂You sold your own people for a small price

as though they had little value.

₁₃Our neighbours see what you did to us,

and they mock us and laugh at us.

₁₄You have made us an object of contempt among the nations;

they shake their heads at us in scorn.

₁₅I am always in disgrace;

I am covered with shame

₁₆from hearing the sneers and insults

of my enemies and those who hate me.

₁₇All this has happened to us,

even though we have not forgotten you

or broken the covenant you made with us.

₁₈We have not been disloyal to you;

we have not disobeyed your commands.

₁₉Yet you left us helpless among wild animals;

you abandoned us in deepest darkness.

₂₀If we had stopped worshipping our God

and prayed to a foreign god,

₂₁you would surely have discovered it,

because you know our secret thoughts.

₂₂But it is on your account that we are being killed all the time,

that we are treated like sheep to be slaughtered.

₂₃Wake up, Lord! Why are you asleep?

Rouse yourself! Don't reject us for ever!

₂₄Why are you hiding from us?

Don't forget our suffering and trouble!

₂₅We fall crushed to the ground;

we lie defeated in the dust.

₂₆Come to our aid!

Because of your constant love save us!