44:23 Rouse yourself! Why do you sleep, O Lord?
Wake up! 1 Do not reject us forever!
44:24 Why do you look the other way, 2
and ignore 3 the way we are oppressed and mistreated? 4
44:25 For we lie in the dirt,
with our bellies pressed to the ground. 5
44:26 Rise up and help us!
Rescue us 6 because of your loyal love!
1 sn Wake up! See Ps 35:23.
2 tn Heb “Why do you hide your face?” The idiom “hide the face” can mean “ignore” (see Pss 10:11; 13:1; 51:9) or carry the stronger idea of “reject” (see Pss 30:7; 88:14).
3 tn Or “forget.”
4 tn Heb “our oppression and our affliction.”
5 tn Heb “for our being/life sinks down to the dirt, our belly clings to the earth.” The suffixed form of נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh, “being, life”) is often equivalent to a pronoun in poetic texts.
6 tn Or “redeem us.” See Pss 25:22; 26:11; 69:18; 119:134.