Psalm 44
Redeem Us, O God
(Romans 8:35–39)
For the choirmaster. A Maskil 1 of the sons of Korah.
¹ We have heard with our ears, O God; our fathers have told us the work You did in their days, in the days of old.
² With Your hand You drove out the nations and planted our fathers there; You crushed the peoples and cast them out.
³ For it was not by their sword that they took the land; their arm did not bring them victory. It was by Your right hand, Your arm, and the light of Your face, because You favored them.
⁴ You are my King, O God, who ordains victories for Jacob.
⁵ Through You we repel our foes; through Your name we trample our enemies.
⁶ For I do not trust in my bow, nor does my sword save me.2
⁷ For You save us from our enemies; You put those who hate us to shame.
⁸ In God we have boasted all day long, and Your name we will praise forever. Selah
⁹ But You have rejected and humbled us; You no longer go forth with our armies.
¹⁰ You have made us retreat from the foe, and those who hate us have plundered us.
¹¹ You have given us up as sheep to be devoured; You have scattered us among the nations.
¹² You sell Your people for nothing; no profit do You gain from their sale.
¹³ You have made us a reproach to our neighbors, a mockery and derision to those around us.
¹⁴ You have made us a byword among the nations, a laughingstock 3 among the peoples.
¹⁵ All day long my disgrace is before me, and shame has covered my face,
¹⁶ at the voice of the scorner and reviler, because of the enemy, bent on revenge.
¹⁷ All this has come upon us, though we have not forgotten You or betrayed Your covenant.
¹⁸ Our hearts have not turned back; our steps have not strayed from Your path.
¹⁹ But You have crushed us in the lair of jackals;4 You have covered us with deepest darkness.
²⁰ If we had forgotten the name of our God or spread out our hands to a foreign god,
²¹ would not God have discovered, since He knows the secrets of the heart?
²² Yet for Your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.5
²³ Wake up, O Lord! Why are You sleeping? Arise! Do not reject us forever.
²⁴ Why do You hide Your face and forget our affliction and oppression?
²⁵ For our soul has sunk to the dust; our bodies cling to the earth.
²⁶ Rise up; be our help! Redeem us on account of Your loving devotion.