^1aTo the choirmaster.↑

For the sons of Korah, an Instructive Psalm.

^1bO God, we have heard with our ears

– Our fathers told us –

Of the work you performed

In days of old.

²You disinherited nations with your hand

And planted them.

You did harm to various peoples

And cast them out.

³For they did not take possession of the land by their sword,

Nor did their own arm save them.

Rather, your right hand did,

And your arm,

And the light of your presence,

For you had pleasure in them.

⁴You are my king, O God;

Command the salvations of Jacob.

⁵Through you we will butt our adversaries;

Through your name, we will trample down

Those who rise up against us.

⁶For I do not put trust in my bow,

And my sword will not save me.

⁷For you have saved us from our adversaries

And have put those who hate us to shame.

⁸We have praised God throughout the day,

And we will be thankful to your name age-abidingly.

Selah.

⁹But you are averse to us,

And you have put us to shame,

And you do not go out in our armies.

¹⁰You drive us back from the adversary,

And those who hate us

Plunder away.

¹¹You make us like sheep for food,

And you have scattered us among the Gentiles.

¹²You have sold your people at no value,

And you did not bid up their price.

¹³You make us a reproach to our neighbours

– A mockery and derision to those round about us.

¹⁴You make us a byword among the Gentiles

– A shaking of the head among the various peoples.

¹⁵All day long my ignominy is before me,

And the shame of my face covers me

¹⁶At the sound of the reproacher and the reviler

– At the presence of the enemy and the avenger.

¹⁷All this has come upon us,

But we have not forgotten you,

And we have not violated your covenant.

¹⁸Our heart has not withdrawn,

Nor do our steps deviate from your path,

¹⁹Although you have crushed us in a place of jackals,

And you have covered us with a shadow of death.

²⁰If we have forgotten the name of our God

Or spread our hands to a strange god,

²¹Will not God search this out?

For he knows the hidden things of the heart.

²³Awake; why do you sleep, O Lord^*?

Arise; do not be averse for all time.

²⁴Why do you hide your face

And forget our affliction and our oppression?

²⁵For our spirit is sinking into the dust;

Our belly is stuck to the earth.

²⁶Arise and be our help,

And redeem us

For your kindness' sake.

Reference(s) in Chapter 44: v.22 ↔ Romans 8:36.