1 ARST God, we ourselves have heard what our ancestors told us. They told us about the amazing wonders that you performed long ago. BSB BSB: For the choirmaster. A Maskil of the sons of Korah. We have heard with our ears, O God; our fathers have told us the work You did in their days, in the days of old.
2 ARST They told us about how you powerfully expelled the ungodly people and settled our ancestors in their land, as one plants a plant. They also told us that you punished those ungodly people and brought our ancestors into the land. BSB BSB: With Your hand You drove out the nations and planted our fathers there; You crushed the peoples and cast them out.
3 ARST It was not because our ancestors had a strong military that they conquered the people that lived in that land. Similarly, it was not because they were powerful that they were victorious. Rather, it was because you are powerful and desired to favor them that they did those things, for you delighted in them. BSB BSB: For it was not by their sword that they took the land; their arm did not bring them victory. It was by Your right hand, Your arm, and the light of Your face, because You favored them.
4 ARST You rule over me like a king, God. Empower your people to defeat our enemies. BSB BSB: You are my King, O God, who ordains victories for Jacob.
5 ARST You empower us to defeat our enemies, and because of you we completely overwhelm those who fight against us. BSB BSB: Through You we repel our foes; through Your name we trample our enemies.
6 ARST I do not trust that I can save myself by using my bow and arrows and my sword. BSB BSB: For I do not trust in my bow, nor does my sword save me.
7 ARST This is because you have rescued us from our enemies. This is because you have disgraced our adversaries by defeating them. BSB BSB: For You save us from our enemies; You put those who hate us to shame.
8 ARST We have always been proud about what God has done for us, and we will thank him forever. BSB BSB: In God we have boasted all day long, and Your name we will praise forever. Selah
9 ARST But now you have rejected us and embarrassed us. When our armies march out to fight a battle, you no longer go with them to empower them to be victorious. BSB BSB: But You have rejected and humbled us; You no longer go forth with our armies.
10 ARST You have caused us to retreat from our enemies, and they robbed anything they wanted from us. BSB BSB: You have made us retreat from the foe, and those who hate us have plundered us.
11 ARST You have made us helpless victims to our enemies, like sheep that people are about to kill in order to eat. You have spread us out among many foreign peoples. BSB BSB: You have given us up as sheep to be devoured; You have scattered us among the nations.
12 ARST You allowed our enemies to take us captive. It is as though you sold us to them for a very small price. You did not gain any profit from selling us! BSB BSB: You sell Your people for nothing; no profit do You gain from their sale.
13 ARST You have caused our neighbors to reproach us. They laugh at us and deride us. BSB BSB: You have made us a reproach to our neighbors, a mockery and derision to those around us.
14 ARST You caused them to make jokes about our country, and to shake their heads to indicate that they despise us. BSB BSB: You have made us a byword among the nations, a laughingstock among the peoples.
15 ARST People constantly make me think about how I am disgraceful, and I am completely shameful. BSB BSB: All day long my disgrace is before me, and shame has covered my face,
16 ARST This happens because people speak harshly to me, My enemies and those who want to harm me shame me. BSB BSB: at the voice of the scorner and reviler, because of the enemy, bent on revenge.
17 ARST All of these things have happened to us, even though we have not ceased from worshipping you, and we have not disobeyed the agreement that you made with our ancestors. BSB BSB: All this has come upon us, though we have not forgotten You or betrayed Your covenant.
18 ARST We have continued to be loyal to you, and we have continued doing what you have commanded us to do. BSB BSB: Our hearts have not turned back; our steps have not strayed from Your path.
19 ARST But it is as though you have destroyed us in battle, so that our bodies are laying in a place where wild animals could eat them. It is also as though you have thrown us into a very dark place. BSB BSB: But You have crushed us in the lair of jackals; You have covered us with deepest darkness.
20 ARST If we had stopped worshipping you, our God, and began worshipping a foreign god, BSB BSB: If we had forgotten the name of our God or spread out our hands to a foreign god,
21 ARST you surely would have known that. This is because you know even what we secretly think. BSB BSB: would not God have discovered, since He knows the secrets of the heart?
22 ARST It is surely because you allow our enemies to attack us that they are constantly killing us. They kill us easily, for we are as defenseless as sheep that people kill in order to eat them. BSB BSB: Yet for Your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.
23 ARST Defend us, Yahweh! It certainly seems as though you are asleep! Help us! Do not treat us as though we are not your people forever! BSB BSB: Wake up, O Lord! Why are You sleeping? Arise! Do not reject us forever.
24 ARST You certainly are not favoring us! You surely are not saving us from our afflicters and oppressors. BSB BSB: Why do You hide Your face and forget our affliction and oppression?
25 ARST We have fallen down hopelessly, with our bellies on the ground. BSB BSB: For our soul has sunk to the dust; our bodies cling to the earth.
26 ARST Rescue us! Come and help us! Save us from our enemies, for you promised to love us faithfully. BSB BSB: Rise up; be our help! Redeem us on account of Your loving devotion.
Select verses for actions: Enter goes to them and Escape comes back.