• Redemption Remembered in Present Dishonor

  • 1 We have heard with our ears, O God, Our fathers have told us, The deeds You did in their days, In days of old:
  • 2 You drove out the nations with Your hand, But them You planted; You afflicted the peoples, and cast them out.
  • 3 For they did not gain possession of the land by their own sword, Nor did their own arm save them; But it was Your right hand, Your arm, and the light of Your countenance, Because You favored them.
  • 4 You are my King, O God; Command victories for Jacob.
  • 5 Through You we will push down our enemies; Through Your name we will trample those who rise up against us.
  • 6 For I will not trust in my bow, Nor shall my sword save me.
  • 7 But You have saved us from our enemies, And have put to shame those who hated us.
  • 8 In God we boast all day long, And praise Your name forever. Selah
  • 9 But You have cast us off and put us to shame, And You do not go out with our armies.
  • 10 You make us turn back from the enemy, And those who hate us have taken spoil for themselves.
  • 11 You have given us up like sheep intended for food, And have scattered us among the nations.
  • 12 You sell Your people for next to nothing, And are not enriched by selling them.
  • 13 You make us a reproach to our neighbors, A scorn and a derision to those all around us.
  • 14 You make us a byword among the nations, A shaking of the head among the peoples.
  • 15 My dishonor is continually before me, And the shame of my face has covered me,
  • 16 Because of the voice of him who reproaches and reviles, Because of the enemy and the avenger.
  • 17 All this has come upon us; But we have not forgotten You, Nor have we dealt falsely with Your covenant.
  • 18 Our heart has not turned back, Nor have our steps departed from Your way;
  • 19 But You have severely broken us in the place of jackals, And covered us with the shadow of death.
  • 20 If we had forgotten the name of our God, Or stretched out our hands to a foreign god,
  • 21 Would not God search this out? For He knows the secrets of the heart.
  • 22 Yet for Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
  • 23 Awake! Why do You sleep, O Lord? Arise! Do not cast us off forever.
  • 24 Why do You hide Your face, And forget our affliction and our oppression?
  • 25 For our soul is bowed down to the dust; Our body clings to the ground.
  • 26 Arise for our help, And redeem us for Your mercies’ sake.