Come to Our Help

To the choirmaster. A Maskil44:0 Probably a musical or liturgical term of the Sons of Korah.

1O God, we have heard with our ears,

our fathers have told us,

what deeds you performed in their days,

in the days of old:

2you with your own hand drove out the nations,

but them you planted;

you afflicted the peoples,

but them you set free;

3for not by their own sword did they win the land,

nor did their own arm save them,

but your right hand and your arm,

and the light of your face,

for you delighted in them.

4You are my King, O God;

ordain salvation for Jacob!

5Through you we push down our foes;

through your name we tread down those who rise up against us.

6For not in my bow do I trust,

nor can my sword save me.

7But you have saved us from our foes

and have put to shame those who hate us.

8In God we have boasted continually,

and we will give thanks to your name for ever. Selah

9But you have rejected us and disgraced us

and have not gone out with our armies.

10You have made us turn back from the foe,

and those who hate us have taken spoil.

11You have made us like sheep for slaughter

and have scattered us among the nations.

12You have sold your people for a trifle,

demanding no high price for them.

13You have made us the taunt of our neighbours,

the derision and scorn of those around us.

14You have made us a byword among the nations,

a laughing-stock44:14 Hebrew a shaking of the head among the peoples.

15All day long my disgrace is before me,

and shame has covered my face

16at the sound of the taunter and reviler,

at the sight of the enemy and the avenger.

17All this has come upon us,

though we have not forgotten you,

and we have not been false to your covenant.

18Our heart has not turned back,

nor have our steps departed from your way;

19yet you have broken us in the place of jackals

and covered us with the shadow of death.

20If we had forgotten the name of our God

or spread out our hands to a foreign god,

21would not God discover this?

For he knows the secrets of the heart.

22Yet for your sake we are killed all the day long;

we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.

23Awake! Why are you sleeping, O Lord?

Rouse yourself! Do not reject us for ever!

24Why do you hide your face?

Why do you forget our affliction and oppression?

25For our soul is bowed down to the dust;

our belly clings to the ground.

26Rise up; come to our help!

Redeem us for the sake of your steadfast love!