PSALM 44

National Lament and Prayer for Help

Psalm 44:1 We have heard with our ears, O God, our fathers have told us, what deeds you performed in their days, in the days of old:

Psalm 44:2 you with your own hand drove out the nations, but you planted them; you afflicted the peoples, but you set them free;

Psalm 44:3 for not by their own sword did they win the land, nor did their own arm give them victory; but your right hand, and your arm, and the light of your countenance; for you delighted in them.

Psalm 44:4 You are my King and my God, who ordain  victories for Jacob.

Psalm 44:5 Through you we push down our foes; through your name we tread down our assailants.

Psalm 44:6 For not in my bow do I trust, nor can my sword save me.

Psalm 44:7 But you have saved us from our foes, and have put to confusion those who hate us.

Psalm 44:8 In God we have boasted continually, and we will give thanks to your name for ever.

Psalm 44:9 Yet you have cast us off and abased us, and have not gone out with our armies.

Psalm 44:10 You have made us turn back from the foe; and our enemies have gotten spoil.

Psalm 44:11 You have made us like sheep for slaughter, and have scattered us among the nations.

Psalm 44:12 You have sold your people for a trifle, demanding no high price for them.

Psalm 44:13 You have made us the taunt of our neighbors, the derision and scorn of those about us.

Psalm 44:14 You have made us a byword among the nations, a laughingstock  among the peoples.

Psalm 44:15 All day long my disgrace is before me, and shame has covered my face,

Psalm 44:16 at the words of the taunters and revilers, at the sight of the enemy and the avenger.

Psalm 44:17 All this has come upon us, though we have not forgotten you, or been false to your covenant.

Psalm 44:18 Our heart has not turned back, nor have our steps departed from your way,

Psalm 44:19 that you should have broken us in the place of jackals, and covered us with deep darkness.

Psalm 44:20 If we had forgotten the name of our God, or spread forth our hands to a strange god,

Psalm 44:21 would not God discover this? For he knows the secrets of the heart.

Psalm 44:22 No, for your sake we are slain all the day long, and accounted as sheep for the slaughter.

Psalm 44:23 Rouse yourself! Why do you sleep, O Lord? Awake! Do not cast us off for ever!

Psalm 44:24 Why do you hide your face?Why do you forget our affliction and oppression?

Psalm 44:25 For our soul is bowed down to the dust; our body clings to the ground.

Psalm 44:26 Rise up, come to our help! Deliver us for the sake of your merciful love!