Former Times of Help and Present Troubles.

For the music director. A [a]Maskil of the sons of Korah.

1God, we have heard with our ears,

Our fathers have told us

The work that You did in their days,

In the days of old.

2You with Your own hand drove out the nations;

Then You planted them;

You afflicted the peoples,

Then You let them go free.

3For by their own sword they did not possess the land,

And their own arm did not save them,

But Your right hand and Your arm and the light of Your presence,

For You favored them.

4You are my King, God;

Command [b]victories for Jacob.

5Through You we will push back our adversaries;

Through Your name we will trample down those who rise up against us.

6For I will not trust in my bow,

Nor will my sword save me.

7But You have saved us from our adversaries,

And You have put to shame those who hate us.

8In God we have boasted all day long,

And we will give thanks to Your name forever. Selah

9Yet You have rejected us and brought us to dishonor,

And do not go out with our armies.

10You cause us to turn back from the enemy;

And those who hate us have taken spoils for themselves.

11You turn us over [c]to be eaten like sheep,

And have scattered us among the nations.

12You sell Your people [d]cheaply,

And have not [e]profited by their sale.

13You make us an object of reproach to our neighbors,

Of scoffing and ridicule to those around us.

14You make us a proverb among the nations,

A [f]laughingstock among the peoples.

15All day long my dishonor is before me

And [g]I am covered with my humiliation,

16Because of the voice of one who taunts and reviles,

Because of the presence of the enemy and the avenger.

17All this has come upon us, but we have not forgotten You,

And we have not dealt falsely with Your covenant.

18Our heart has not turned back,

And our steps have not deviated from Your way,

19Yet You have crushed us in a place of jackals

And covered us with [h]deep darkness.

20If we had forgotten the name of our God

Or extended our [i]hands to a strange god,

21Would God not find this out?

For He knows the secrets of the heart.

22But for Your sake we are killed all day long;

We are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.

23Wake Yourself up, why do You sleep, Lord?

Awake, do not reject us forever.

24Why do You hide Your face

And forget our affliction and oppression?

25For our souls have sunk down into the dust;

Our bodies cling to the earth.

26Rise up, be our help,

And redeem us because of Your mercy.