Old Testament

Psalms 44

Praise, Protest, and Petition

5 passages

Overview

Israel recalls how God alone drove out the nations and planted them in the Promised Land, confesses that all victory belongs to Him, laments a crushing present defeat and humiliation suffered despite their fidelity to the covenant, and closes with a bold, urgent cry that God would arise and redeem his people.

Passages

1–3Not by Their Own Sword: Remembering God's Mighty Hand 4–8God Alone Is Our King: A Profession of Trust and Praise 9–16Dust and Dishonor: The Cry of a People Abandoned 17–22Faithful Under Fire: The Cry of the Innocent Sufferer 23–26Wake, O Lord: The Cry of the Forsaken People

Study Resources

No study guides, devotionals, or teaching outlines have been created for this chapter yet.

Psalms 44

¹For the Chief Musician. By the sons of Korah. A contemplative psalm. We have heard with our ears, God; our fathers have told us what work you did in their days, in the days of old.

²You drove out the nations with your hand, but you planted them. You afflicted the peoples, but you spread them abroad.

³For they didn’t get the land in possession by their own sword, neither did their own arm save them; but your right hand, your arm, and the light of your face, because you were favorable to them.

⁴God, you are my King. Command victories for Jacob!

⁵Through you, we will push down our adversaries. Through your name, we will tread down those who rise up against us.

⁶For I will not trust in my bow, neither will my sword save me.

⁷But you have saved us from our adversaries, and have shamed those who hate us.

⁸In God we have made our boast all day long. We will give thanks to your name forever. Selah.

⁹But now you rejected us, and brought us to dishonor, and don’t go out with our armies.

¹⁰You make us turn back from the adversary. Those who hate us take plunder for themselves.

¹¹You have made us like sheep for food, and have scattered us among the nations.

¹²You sell your people for nothing, and have gained nothing from their sale.

¹³You make us a reproach to our neighbors, a scoffing and a derision to those who are around us.

¹⁴You make us a byword among the nations, a shaking of the head among the peoples.

¹⁵All day long my dishonor is before me, and shame covers my face,

¹⁶at the taunt of one who reproaches and verbally abuses, because of the enemy and the avenger.

¹⁷All this has come on us, yet we haven’t forgotten you. We haven’t been false to your covenant.

¹⁸Our heart has not turned back, neither have our steps strayed from your path,

¹⁹though you have crushed us in the haunt of jackals, and covered us with the shadow of death.

²⁰If we have forgotten the name of our God, or spread out our hands to a strange god,

²¹won’t God search this out? For he knows the secrets of the heart.

²²Yes, for your sake we are killed all day long. We are regarded as sheep for the slaughter.

²³Wake up! Why do you sleep, Lord? Arise! Don’t reject us forever.

²⁴Why do you hide your face, and forget our affliction and our oppression?

²⁵For our soul is bowed down to the dust. Our body clings to the earth.

²⁶Rise up to help us. Redeem us for your loving kindness’ sake.

Psalms 43 Psalms 45