Redemption Remembered in Present Dishonor

To the Chief Musician. A Contemplation^[a] of the sons of Korah.

44 We have heard with our ears, O God,Our fathers have told us,The deeds You did in their days,In days of old:² You drove out the nations with Your hand,But them You planted;You afflicted the peoples, and cast them out.³ For they did not gain possession of the land by their own sword,Nor did their own arm save them;But it was Your right hand, Your arm, and the light of Your countenance,Because You favored them.

⁴ You are my King, O God;^[b]Command^[c] victories for Jacob.⁵ Through You we will push down our enemies;Through Your name we will trample those who rise up against us.⁶ For I will not trust in my bow,Nor shall my sword save me.⁷ But You have saved us from our enemies,And have put to shame those who hated us.⁸ In God we boast all day long,And praise Your name forever. Selah

⁹ But You have cast us off and put us to shame,And You do not go out with our armies.¹⁰ You make us turn back from the enemy,And those who hate us have taken spoil for themselves.¹¹ You have given us up like sheep intended for food,And have scattered us among the nations.¹² You sell Your people for next to nothing,And are not enriched by selling them.

¹³ You make us a reproach to our neighbors,A scorn and a derision to those all around us.¹⁴ You make us a byword among the nations,A shaking of the head among the peoples.¹⁵ My dishonor is continually before me,And the shame of my face has covered me,¹⁶ Because of the voice of him who reproaches and reviles,Because of the enemy and the avenger.

¹⁷ All this has come upon us;But we have not forgotten You,Nor have we dealt falsely with Your covenant.¹⁸ Our heart has not turned back,Nor have our steps departed from Your way;¹⁹ But You have severely broken us in the place of jackals,And covered us with the shadow of death.

²⁰ If we had forgotten the name of our God,Or stretched out our hands to a foreign god,²¹ Would not God search this out?For He knows the secrets of the heart.²² Yet for Your sake we are killed all day long;We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.

²³ Awake! Why do You sleep, O Lord?Arise! Do not cast us off forever.²⁴ Why do You hide Your face,And forget our affliction and our oppression?²⁵ For our soul is bowed down to the dust;Our body clings to the ground.²⁶ Arise for our help,And redeem us for Your mercies’ sake.