Psalms 44
44
Wake Up, Lord, We’re in Trouble
For the Pure and Shining One by the prophetic singers of Korah’s clan
A contemplative poem for instruction
The Past
1-2God, we’ve heard about all the glorious miracles
you’ve done for our ancestors in days gone by.
They told us about the ancient times, how by your power
you drove out the ungodly nations from this land,
crushing all their strongholds and giving the land to us.
Now the people of Israel cover the land
from one end to the other,
all because of your grace and power!
3Our forefathers didn’t take the land by their own strength
or their own skill or strategy.
But it was through the shining forth of your radiant presence
and the display of your mighty power.
You loved to give them victory,
for you took great delight in them.
4You are my God, my King!
It’s now time to decree majesties for Jacob!
5Through your glorious name and your awesome power,
we can push through to any victory and defeat every enemy.
6For I will not trust in the weapons of the world; # 44:6 Or “bow and sword.”
I know they will never save me.
7Only you will be our Savior from all our enemies.
All those who hate us you have brought to shame.
8So now I constantly boast in you.
I can never thank you enough!
Pause in his presence
The Present
9But you have turned your back on us; you walked off and left us!
You’ve rejected us, tossing us aside in humiliating shame.
You don’t go before us anymore in our battles.
10We retreat before our enemies in defeat,
for you are no longer helping us.
Those who hate us have invaded our land
and plundered our people.
11You have treated us like sheep in the slaughter pen,
ready to be butchered.
You’ve scattered us to the four winds.
12You have sold us as slaves for nothing!
You have counted us, your precious ones, as worthless.
13You have caused our neighbors to despise and scorn us.
All those around us mock and curse us.
14You have made us the butt of their jokes.
Disliked by all, we are the laughingstock of the people.
15-16There’s no escape from this constant curse, this humiliation!
We are despised, jeered, overwhelmed by shame,
and overcome at every turn
by our hateful and heartless enemies.
17Despite all of this, we have not forgotten you;
we have not broken covenant with you.
18We have not betrayed you; our hearts are still yours.
Our steps have not strayed from your path.
19Yet you have crushed us,
leaving us in this wilderness place of misery and desperation. # 44:19 Or “in this place of jackals.”
With nowhere else to turn,
death’s dark door seems to be the only way out.
20-21If we had forsaken your holy name, wouldn’t you know it?
You’d be right in leaving us.
If we had worshiped before other gods,
no one would blame you for punishing us.
God, you know our every heart-secret.
You know we still want you!
22Because of you we face death threats every day.
Like martyrs we are dying daily.
We are seen as lambs lined up to be slaughtered as sacrifices.
The Future
23So wake up, Lord God!
Why would you sleep when we’re in trouble?
Are you forsaking us forever?
24You can’t hide your face any longer from us!
How could you forget our agonizing sorrow?
25Now we lay facedown, sinking into the dust of death,
the quicksand of the grave.
26Arise, awake, and come to help us, O Lord.
Let your unfailing love save us from this sorrow!
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Psalms 44: TPT
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Learn More About The Passion TranslationPsalms 44
44
God’s Past Favor and Israel’s Present Need
1For the leader. A maskil of the Korahites.
I
2O God, we have heard with our own ears;
our ancestors have told us#Ps 78:3.
The deeds you did in their days,
with your own hand in days of old:
3You rooted out nations to plant them,#Ps 78:55; 80:9f.
crushed peoples and expelled them.
4Not with their own swords did they conquer the land,#Dt 8:17f; Jos 24:12.
nor did their own arms bring victory;
It was your right hand, your own arm,
the light of your face for you favored them.#Ps 4:7; 31:17; 67:2; 80:4; Nm 6:25; Dn 9:17.
5You are my king and my God,#Ps 145:1.
who bestows victories on Jacob.
6Through you we batter our foes;
through your name we trample our adversaries.
7Not in my bow do I trust,
nor does my sword bring me victory.
8You have brought us victory over our enemies,
shamed those who hate us.
9In God we have boasted all the day long;
your name we will praise forever.
Selah
II
10#Ps 89:39–52.But now you have rejected and disgraced us;
you do not march out with our armies.#Ps 60:12.
11You make us retreat#You make us retreat: the corollary of Ps 44:3. Defeat, like victory, is God’s doing; neither Israel nor its enemies can claim credit (Ps 44:23). before the foe;
those who hate us plunder us at will.#Lv 26:17; Dt 28:25.
12You hand us over like sheep to be slaughtered,
scatter us among the nations.#Lv 26:33; Dt 28:64.
13You sell your people for nothing;
you make no profit from their sale.#Dt 32:30; Is 52:3.
14You make us the reproach of our neighbors,#Ps 79:4; 80:7; 123:3–4; Jb 12:4; Dn 9:16.
the mockery and scorn of those around us.
15You make us a byword among the nations;
the peoples shake their heads at us.
16All day long my disgrace is before me;
shame has covered my face
17At the sound of those who taunt and revile,
at the sight of the enemy and avenger.
III
18All this has come upon us,
though we have not forgotten you,
nor been disloyal to your covenant.
19#Our hearts have not turned back: Israel’s defeat was not caused by its lack of fidelity.Our hearts have not turned back,
nor have our steps strayed from your path.
20Yet you have left us crushed,
desolate in a place of jackals;#A place of jackals: following Israel’s defeat and exile (Ps 44:11–12), the land lies desolate, inhabited only by jackals, cf. Is 13:22; Jer 9:10; 10:22. Others take tannim as “sea monster” (cf. Ez 29:3; 32:2) and render: “you crushed us as you did the sea monster.”#Jer 9:10.
you have covered us with a shadow of death.
21If we had forgotten the name of our God,
stretched out our hands to another god,
22Would not God have discovered this,
God who knows the secrets of the heart?
23For you we are slain all the day long,
considered only as sheep to be slaughtered.#Rom 8:36.
IV
24Awake! Why do you sleep, O Lord?
Rise up! Do not reject us forever!#Ps 10:1; 74:1; 77:8; 79:5; 83:2.
25Why do you hide your face;#Ps 10:11; 89:47; Jb 13:24.
why forget our pain and misery?
26For our soul has been humiliated in the dust;#Ps 119:25.
our belly is pressed to the earth.
27Rise up, help us!
Redeem us in your mercy.
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