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For the director of music. Of the Sons of Korah. A maskil.

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1 We have heard with our ears, O God;
our fathers have told us
what you did in their days,
in days long ago.

² With your hand you drove out the nations
and planted our fathers;
you crushed the peoples
and made our fathers flourish.

³ It was not by their sword that they won the land,
nor did their arm bring them victory;
it was your right hand, your arm,
and the light of your face, for you loved them.

⁴ You are my King and my God,
who decrees victories for Jacob.

⁵ Through you we push back our enemies;
through your name we trample our foes.

⁶ I do not trust in my bow,
my sword does not bring me victory;

⁷ but you give us victory over our enemies,
you put our adversaries to shame.

⁸ In God we make our boast all day long,
and we will praise your name forever.
Selah

⁹ But now you have rejected and humbled us;
you no longer go out with our armies.

¹⁰ You made us retreat before the enemy,
and our adversaries have plundered us.

¹¹ You gave us up to be devoured like sheep
and have scattered us among the nations.

¹² You sold your people for a pittance,
gaining nothing from their sale.

¹³ You have made us a reproach to our neighbors,
the scorn and derision of those around us.

¹⁴ You have made us a byword among the nations;
the peoples shake their heads at us.

¹⁵ My disgrace is before me all day long,
and my face is covered with shame

¹⁶ at the taunts of those who reproach and revile me,
because of the enemy, who is bent on revenge.

¹⁷ All this happened to us,
though we had not forgotten you
or been false to your covenant.

¹⁸ Our hearts had not turned back;
our feet had not strayed from your path.

¹⁹ But you crushed us and made us a haunt for jackals
and covered us over with deep darkness.

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

²¹ would not God have discovered it,
since he knows the secrets of the heart?

²² Yet for your sake we face death all day long;
we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.

²³ Awake, O Lord! Why do you sleep?
Rouse yourself! Do not reject us forever.

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

²⁵ We are brought down to the dust;
our bodies cling to the ground.

²⁶ Rise up and help us;
redeem us because of your unfailing love.