Psalms 44:9-26

44:9 But ¹  you rejected and embarrassed us!

You did not go into battle with our armies. ² 

44:10 You made us retreat ³  from the enemy.

Those who hate us take whatever they want from us. ⁴ 

44:11 You handed us ⁵  over like sheep to be eaten;

you scattered us among the nations.

44:12 You sold ⁶  your people for a pittance; ⁷ 

you did not ask a high price for them. ⁸ 

44:13 You made us ⁹  an object of disdain to our neighbors;

those who live on our borders taunt and insult us. ¹⁰ 

44:14 You made us ¹¹  an object of ridicule ¹²  among the nations;

foreigners treat us with contempt. ¹³ 

44:15 All day long I feel humiliated ¹⁴ 

and am overwhelmed with shame, ¹⁵ 

44:16 before the vindictive enemy

who ridicules and insults me. ¹⁶ 

44:17 All this has happened to us, even though we have not rejected you ¹⁷ 

or violated your covenant with us. ¹⁸ 

44:18 We have not been unfaithful, ¹⁹ 

nor have we disobeyed your commands. ²⁰ 

44:19 Yet you have battered us, leaving us a heap of ruins overrun by wild dogs; ²¹ 

you have covered us with darkness. ²² 

44:20 If we had rejected our God, ²³ 

and spread out our hands in prayer to another god, ²⁴ 

44:21 would not God discover it,

for he knows ²⁵  one’s thoughts? ²⁶ 

44:22 Yet because of you ²⁷  we are killed all day long;

we are treated like ²⁸  sheep at the slaughtering block. ²⁹ 

44:23 Rouse yourself! Why do you sleep, O Lord?

Wake up! ³⁰  Do not reject us forever!

44:24 Why do you look the other way, ³¹ 

and ignore ³²  the way we are oppressed and mistreated? ³³ 

44:25 For we lie in the dirt,

with our bellies pressed to the ground. ³⁴ 

44:26 Rise up and help us!

Rescue us ³⁵  because of your loyal love!

Psalms 60:1

Psalm 60 ³⁶ 

For the music director; according to the shushan-eduth style; ³⁷  a prayer ³⁸  of David written to instruct others. ³⁹  It was written when he fought against Aram Naharaim and Aram-Zobah. That was when Joab turned back and struck down ⁴⁰  12,000 Edomites ⁴¹  in the Valley of Salt. ⁴² 

60:1 O God, you have rejected us. ⁴³ 

You suddenly turned on us in your anger. ⁴⁴ 

Please restore us! ⁴⁵ 

Psalms 60:10

60:10 Have you not rejected us, O God?

O God, you do not go into battle with our armies.

Psalms 77:7

77:7 I asked, ⁴⁶  “Will the Lord reject me forever?

Will he never again show me his favor?

Psalms 77:1

Psalm 77 ⁴⁷ 

For the music director, Jeduthun; a psalm of Asaph.

77:1 I will cry out to God ⁴⁸  and call for help!

I will cry out to God and he will pay attention ⁴⁹  to me.

Psalms 28:9

28:9 Deliver your people!

Empower ⁵⁰  the nation that belongs to you! ⁵¹ 

Care for them like a shepherd and carry them in your arms ⁵²  at all times! ⁵³ 

Jeremiah 12:1

12:1 Lord, you have always been fair

whenever I have complained to you. ⁵⁴ 

However, I would like to speak with you about the disposition of justice. ⁵⁵ 

Why are wicked people successful? ⁵⁶ 

Why do all dishonest people have such easy lives?

Hosea 9:17

9:17 My God will reject them,

for they have not obeyed him;

so they will be fugitives among the nations.

[44:9]  ¹ tn The particle אַף (’af, “but”) is used here as a strong adversative contrasting the following statement with what precedes.

[44:9]  ² tn Heb “you did not go out with our armies.” The prefixed verbal form is a preterite (without vav [ו] consecutive).

[44:10]  ³ tn Heb “you caused us to turn backward.”

[44:10]  ⁴ tn Heb “plunder for themselves.” The prepositional phrase לָמוֹ (lamo, “for themselves”) here has the nuance “at their will” or “as they please” (see Ps 80:6).

[44:11]  ⁵ tn The prefixed verbal form is a preterite (without vav [ו] consecutive).

[44:12]  ⁶ tn The prefixed verbal form is a preterite (without vav [ו] consecutive).

[44:12]  ⁷ tn Heb “for what is not wealth.”

[44:12]  ⁸ tn Heb “you did not multiply their purchase prices.”

[44:13]  ⁹ tn The prefixed verbal form is a preterite (without vav [ו] consecutive).

[44:13]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “an [object of] taunting and [of] mockery to those around us.”

[44:14]  ¹¹ tn The prefixed verbal form is a preterite (without vav [ו] consecutive).

[44:14]  ¹² tn Heb “a proverb,” or “[the subject of] a mocking song.”

[44:14]  ¹³ tn Heb “a shaking of the head among the peoples.” Shaking the head was a derisive gesture (see Jer 18:16; Lam 2:15).

[44:15]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “all the day my humiliation [is] in front of me.”

[44:15]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “and the shame of my face covers me.”

[44:16]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “from the voice of one who ridicules and insults, from the face of an enemy and an avenger.” See Ps 8:2.

[44:17]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “we have not forgotten you.” To “forget” God refers here to worshiping false gods and thereby refusing to recognize his sovereignty (see v. 20, as well as Deut 8:19; Judg 3:7; 1 Sam 12:9; Isa 17:10; Jer 3:21; Ps 9:17).Thus the translation “we have not rejected you” has been used.

[44:17]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “and we did not deal falsely with your covenant.”

[44:18]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “our heart did not turn backward.” Cf. Ps 78:57.

[44:18]  ²⁰ tn Heb “and our steps did [not] turn aside from your path.” The negative particle is understood by ellipsis (see the preceding line). God’s “path” refers to his commands, i.e., the moral pathway he has prescribed for the psalmist. See Pss 17:5; 25:4.

[44:19]  ²¹ tn Heb “yet you have battered us in a place of jackals.”

[44:19]  ²² tn The Hebrew term צַלְמָוֶת (tsalmavet) has traditionally been understood as a compound noun meaning “shadow of death” (צֵל+מָוֶת [mavet + tsel]; see BDB 853 s.v. צַלְמָוֶת; cf. NASB). Other scholars prefer to vocalize the form צַלְמוּת (tsalmut) and understand it as an abstract noun (from the root צלם) meaning “darkness” (cf. NIV, NRSV). An examination of the word’s usage favors the latter derivation. It is frequently associated with darkness/night and contrasted with light/morning (see Job 3:5; 10:21-22; 12:22; 24:17; 28:3; 34:22; Ps 107:10, 14; Isa 9:1; Jer 13:16; Amos 5:8). In some cases the darkness described is associated with the realm of death (Job 10:21-22; 38:17), but this is a metaphorical application of the word and does not reflect its inherent meaning. In Ps 44:19 darkness symbolizes defeat and humiliation.

[44:20]  ²³ tn Heb “If we had forgotten the name of our God.” To “forget the name” here refers to rejecting the Lord’s authority (see Jer 23:27) and abandoning him as an object of prayer and worship (see the next line).

[44:20]  ²⁴ tn Heb “and spread out your hands to another god.” Spreading out the hands was a prayer gesture (see Exod 9:29, 33; 1 Kgs 8:22, 38; 2 Chr 6:12-13, 29; Ezra 9:15; Job 11:13; Isa 1:15). In its most fundamental sense זר (“another; foreign; strange”) refers to something that is outside one’s circle, often making association with it inappropriate. A “strange” god is an alien deity, an “outside god” (see L. A. Snijders, TDOT 4:54-55).

[44:21]  ²⁵ tn The active participle describes what is characteristically true.

[44:21]  ²⁶ tn Heb “would not God search out this, for he knows the hidden things of [the] heart?” The expression “search out” is used metonymically here, referring to discovery, the intended effect of a search. The “heart” (i.e., mind) is here viewed as the seat of one’s thoughts. The rhetorical question expects the answer, “Of course he would!” The point seems to be this: There is no way the Israelites who are the speakers in the psalm would reject God and turn to another god, for the omniscient God would easily discover such a sin.

[44:22]  ²⁷ tn The statement “because of you” (1) may simply indicate that God is the cause of the Israelites’ defeat (see vv. 9-14, where the nation’s situation is attributed directly to God’s activity, and cf. NEB, NRSV), or (2) it may suggest they suffer because of their allegiance to God (see Ps 69:7 and Jer 15:15). In this case one should translate, “for your sake” (cf. NASB, NIV). The citation of this verse in Rom 8:36 follows the LXX (Ps 43:23 LXX), where the Greek term ἕνεκεν (Jeneken; LXX ἕνεκα) may likewise mean “because of” or “for the sake of” (BDAG 334 s.v. ἕνεκα 1).

[44:22]  ²⁸ tn Or “regarded as.”

[44:22]  ²⁹ tn Heb “like sheep of slaughtering,” that is, sheep destined for slaughter.

[44:23]  ³⁰ sn Wake up! See Ps 35:23.

[44:24]  ³¹ 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).

[44:24]  ³² tn Or “forget.”

[44:24]  ³³ tn Heb “our oppression and our affliction.”

[44:25]  ³⁴ 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.

[44:26]  ³⁵ tn Or “redeem us.” See Pss 25:22; 26:11; 69:18; 119:134.

[60:1]  ³⁶ sn Psalm 60. The psalmist grieves over Israel’s humiliation, but in response to God’s assuring word, he asks for divine help in battle and expresses his confidence in victory.

[60:1]  ³⁷ tn The Hebrew expression means “lily of the testimony.” It may refer to a particular music style or to a tune title.

[60:1]  ³⁸ tn The precise meaning of the Hebrew word מִכְתָּם (miktam), which also appears in the heading to Pss 16, 56-59, is uncertain. HALOT 582-83 s.v. defines it as “inscription.”

[60:1]  ³⁹ tn Heb “to teach.”

[60:1]  ⁴⁰ tn In Josh 8:21 and Judg 20:48 the two verbs “turn back” and “strike down” are also juxtaposed. There they refer to a military counter-attack.

[60:1]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “12,000 of Edom.” Perhaps one should read אֲרַם (’aram, “Aram”) here rather than אֱדוֹם (’edom, “Edom”).

[60:1]  ⁴² sn The heading apparently refers to the military campaign recorded in 2 Sam 10 and 1 Chr 19.

[60:1]  ⁴³ sn You have rejected us. See Pss 43:2; 44:9, 23.

[60:1]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “you broke out upon us, you were angry.”

[60:1]  ⁴⁵ tn The imperfect verbal form here expresses the psalmist’s wish or prayer.

[77:7]  ⁴⁶ tn As in vv. 4 and 6a, the words of vv. 7-9 are understood as a quotation of what the psalmist said earlier. Therefore the words “I asked” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[77:1]  ⁴⁷ sn Psalm 77. The psalmist recalls how he suffered through a time of doubt, but tells how he found encouragement and hope as he recalled the way in which God delivered Israel at the Red Sea.

[77:1]  ⁴⁸ tn Heb “my voice to God.” The Hebrew verb קָרָא (qara’, “to call out; to cry out”) should probably be understood by ellipsis (see Ps 3:4) both here and in the following (parallel) line.

[77:1]  ⁴⁹ tn The perfect with vav (ו) consecutive is best taken as future here (although some translations render this as a past tense; cf. NEB, NIV). The psalmist expresses his confidence that God will respond to his prayer. This mood of confidence seems premature (see vv. 3-4), but v. 1 probably reflects the psalmist’s attitude at the end of the prayer (see vv. 13-20). Having opened with an affirmation of confidence, he then retraces how he gained confidence during his trial (see vv. 2-12).

[28:9]  ⁵⁰ tn Or “bless.”

[28:9]  ⁵¹ tn Heb “your inheritance.” The parallelism (note “your people”) indicates that Israel is in view.

[28:9]  ⁵² tn Heb “shepherd them and lift them up.”

[28:9]  ⁵³ tn Or “forever.”

[12:1]  ⁵⁴ tn Or “Lord, you are fair when I present my case before you.”

[12:1]  ⁵⁵ tn Heb “judgments” or “matters of justice.” For the nuance of “complain to,” “fair,” “disposition of justice” assumed here, see BDB 936 s.v. רִיב Qal.4 (cf. Judg 21:22); BDB 843 s.v. צַדִּיק 1.d (cf. Ps 7:12; 11:7); BDB 1049 s.v. מִשְׁפָּט 1.f (cf. Isa 26:8; Ps 10:5; Ezek 7:27).

[12:1]  ⁵⁶ tn Heb “Why does the way [= course of life] of the wicked prosper?”