CLARITY EDITION · OLD TESTAMENT
Psalms 44
Chapter 44 of 150
Chapter Overview
What happens in Psalms 44
A maskil of the sons of Korah. A national lament where the people remind God of past victories and ask why he seems to have rejected them despite their faithfulness. Paul quotes verse 22 in Romans 8.
Scripture
Psalms 44
Remembering God's Past Help
Study note
The people recall how God drove out nations and planted Israel. Victory came not by their own sword but by God's right hand. They boasted in God all day long.
1 God, we have heard the stories with our own ears. Our ancestors told us everything you did back in their time — in the days of long ago. We have heard with our ears, O God, our fathers have told us, what work thou didst in their days, in the times of old.
2 With your own hand you drove out nations and planted our ancestors in their place. You smashed those peoples and made room for our ancestors to spread out. How thou didst drive out the heathen with thy hand, and plantedst them; how thou didst afflict the people, and cast them out.
3 For they got not the land 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, because you had a favour unto them. For they got not the land in possession by their own sword, neither did their own arm save them: but thy right hand, and thine arm, and the light of thy countenance, because thou hadst a favour unto them.
4 You are my King, O God. Give the command and send victories for Jacob. Thou art my King, O God: command deliverances for Jacob.
5 With you behind us we push back our enemies. Through your name we stomp on those who come against us. Through thee will we push down our enemies: through thy name will we tread them under that rise up against us.
6 I do not count on my bow, and my sword is not what gives me victory. For I will not trust in my bow, neither shall my sword save me.
7 No — you are the one who gives us victory over our enemies. You are the one who shames those who hate us. But thou hast saved us from our enemies, and hast put them to shame that hated us.
8 God has been our boast all day long, and we will keep praising your name forever. Selah. In God we boast all the day long, and praise thy name for ever. Selah.
Why Have You Rejected Us?
Study note
Now God seems to have cast them off. They are scattered, mocked by neighbors, and sold cheaply. Shame covers them daily.
9 But now you have pushed us aside and humiliated us. You no longer march out with our armies. But thou hast cast off, and put us to shame; and goest not forth with our armies.
10 You let us retreat from the battle, and the people who hate us have plundered us. Thou makest us to turn back from the enemy: and they which hate us spoil for themselves.
11 You handed us over like sheep headed for slaughter. You scattered us among foreign nations. Thou hast given us like sheep appointed for meat; and hast scattered us among the heathen.
12 You sold your own people for almost nothing. You made no profit from the deal. Thou sellest thy people for nought, and dost not increase thy wealth by their price.
13 You turned us into a joke for our neighbors. People all around us laugh at us and make fun of us. Thou makest us a reproach to our neighbours, a scorn and a derision to them that are round about us.
14 You made us a punchline among the nations. People shake their heads at us wherever we go. Thou makest us a byword among the heathen, a shaking of the head among the people.
15 All day long I carry this humiliation around with me. Shame is written all over my face My confusion is continually before me, and the shame of my face hath covered me,
16 because of the enemy who keeps hurling insults, because of those who are out for revenge. For the voice of him that reproacheth and blasphemeth; by reason of the enemy and avenger.
Faithful Despite Suffering
Study note
The people declare they have not forgotten God or broken his covenant. Yet they are being killed all day long — counted as sheep for slaughter.
17 All of this has crashed down on us, but we have not forgotten you. We have not broken our promises to you. All this is come upon us; yet have we not forgotten thee, neither have we dealt falsely in thy covenant.
18 Our hearts have not turned away from you. Our feet have not wandered off your path, Our heart is not turned back, neither have our steps declined from thy way;
19 even though you crushed us in a wasteland where jackals roam and covered us with the deepest darkness. Though thou hast sore broken us in the place of dragons, and covered us with the shadow of death.
20 If we had pushed God's name aside or lifted our hands in prayer to some foreign god, If we have forgotten the name of our God, or stretched out our hands to a strange god;
21 wouldn't God have figured that out? After all, he sees every secret hidden in the heart. Shall not God search this out? for he knoweth the secrets of the heart.
22 Yet because of you, death stares us in the face all day long. We are treated like sheep on their way to be butchered. Yea, for thy sake are we killed all the day long; we are counted as sheep for the slaughter.
Wake Up, God!
Study note
The psalm ends with bold cries: Wake up, Lord! Rise up and help us! Redeem us because of your faithful love.
23 Wake up, Lord! Why are you sleeping? Get up! Don't turn your back on us forever. Awake, why sleepest thou, O Lord? arise, cast us not off for ever.
24 Why are you hiding your face? Why are you ignoring how much we are suffering and being crushed? Wherefore hidest thou thy face, and forgettest our affliction and our oppression?
25 We have collapsed face-down into the dust. Our bodies are pressed flat against the ground. For our soul is bowed down to the dust: our belly cleaveth unto the earth.
26 Get up and come help us! Buy us back because of your loyal, never-ending love. Arise for our help, and redeem us for thy mercies' sake.
Key Themes
Themes in Psalms 44
National lament over military defeatFaithfulness to God despite sufferingRemembering past victoriesDemanding God to wake up and act
Prophetic Connections
How this chapter points to Christ
Psalms Psalm 44:22 Romans 8:36
Paul quotes this verse — 'For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered' — to show that suffering does not separate believers from God's love.
Apply This Today
Living Psalms 44
Sometimes communities of faith suffer despite their faithfulness. This psalm is brutally honest: 'We have not forgotten you... yet you have rejected us.' If your community is going through a hard season, cry out together. God honors honest corporate lament just as much as private prayer.
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