Psalms 44

Berean Standard Bible

Chapter summary

The psalm opens with the congregation recalling the historical deeds God performed for their ancestors, driving out nations and planting their forebears in the land not by their own swords, but through His favor and power. The speakers acknowledge God as their King who grants victories over their foes, noting that they trust in Him rather than their weapons. However, the tone shifts as the community laments that God has now rejected them, causing them to retreat, become plundered, and be scattered among the nations like sheep destined for slaughter. They assert that despite facing continuous disgrace, mockery, and being crushed in darkness, they have not forgotten God or betrayed His covenant. The psalm concludes with a plea for the Lord to awake, stop hiding His face, and rise up to redeem and help them on account of His steadfast love.

Summary automatically generated from the Bible text.

Words of Jesus in red

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