1 WE HAVE heard with our ears, O God; our fathers have told us [what] work You did in their days, in the days of old. 2 You drove out the nations with Your hand and it was Your power that gave [Israel] a home by rooting out the [heathen] peoples, but [Israel] You spread out. 3 For they got not the land [of Canaan] in possession by their own sword, neither did their own arm save them; but Your right hand and Your arm and the light of Your countenance [did it], because You were favorable toward and did delight in them.
4 You are my King, O God; command victories and deliverance for Jacob (Israel). 5 Through You shall we push down our enemies; through Your name shall we tread them under who rise up against us. 6 For I will not trust in and lean on my bow, neither shall my sword save me. 7 But You have saved us from our foes and have put them to shame who hate us. 8 In God we have made our boast all the day long, and we will give thanks to Your name forever. Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]!
9 But now You have cast us off and brought us to dishonor, and You go not out with our armies. 10 You make us to turn back from the enemy, and they who hate us take spoil for themselves. 11 You have made us like sheep intended for mutton and have scattered us in exile among the nations. 12 You sell Your people for nothing, and have not increased Your wealth by their price. 13 You have made us the taunt of our neighbors, a scoffing and a derision to those who are round about us. 14 You make us a byword among the nations, a shaking of the heads among the people. 15 My dishonor is before me all day long, and shame has covered my face 16 At the words of the taunter and reviler, by reason of the enemy and the revengeful.
17 All this is come upon us, yet have we not forgotten You, neither have we been false to Your covenant [which You made with our fathers]. 18 Our hearts are not turned back, neither have our steps declined from Your path, 19 Though You have distressingly broken us in the place of jackals and covered us with deep darkness, even with the shadow of death. 20 If we had forgotten the name of our God or stretched out our hands to a strange god, 21 Would not God discover this? For He knows the secrets of the heart. 22 No, but for Your sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
23 Awake! Why do You sleep, O Lord? Arouse Yourself, cast us not off forever! 24 Why do You hide Your face and forget our affliction and our oppression? 25 For our lives are bowed down to the dust; our bodies cleave to the ground. 26 Rise up! Come to our help, and deliver us for Your mercy's sake and because of Your steadfast love!