1 - For the Chief Musician. [A Psalm] of the sons of Korah. Maschil. We have heard with our ears, O God, Our fathers have told us, What work thou didst in their days, In the days of old.
2 - Thou didst drive out the nations with thy hand; But them thou didst plant: Thou didst afflict the peoples; But them thou didst spread abroad.
3 - For they gat 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 wast favorable unto them.
4 - Thou art my King, O God: Command deliverance for Jacob.
5 - Through thee will we push down our adversaries: Through thy name will we tread them under that rise up against us.
6 - For I will not trust in my bow, Neither shall my sword save me.
7 - But thou hast saved us from our adversaries, And hast put them to shame that hate us.
8 - In God have we made our boast all the day long, And we will give thanks unto thy name for ever. Selah
9 - But now thou hast cast [us] off, and brought us to dishonor, And goest not forth with our hosts.
10 - Thou makest us to turn back from the adversary; And they that hate us take spoil for themselves.
11 - Thou hast made us like sheep [appointed] for food, And hast scattered us among the nations.
12 - Thou sellest thy people for nought, And hast not increased [thy wealth] by their price.
13 - Thou makest us a reproach to our neighbors, A scoffing and a derision to them that are round about us.
14 - Thou makest us a byword among the nations, A shaking of the head among the peoples.
15 - All the day long is my dishonor before me, And the shame of my face hath covered me,
16 - For the voice of him that reproacheth and blasphemeth, By reason of the enemy and the avenger.
17 - All this is come upon us; Yet have we not forgotten thee, Neither have we dealt falsely in thy covenant.
18 - Our heart is not turned back, Neither have our steps declined from thy way,
19 - That thou hast sore broken us in the place of jackals, And covered us with the shadow of death.
20 - If we have forgotten the name of our God, Or spread forth our hands to a strange god;
21 - Will not God search this out? For he knoweth the secrets of the heart.
22 - Yea, for thy sake are we killed all the day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
23 - Awake, why sleepest thou, O Lord? Arise, cast [us] not off for ever.
24 - Wherefore hidest thou thy face, And forgettest our affliction and our oppression?
25 - For our soul is bowed down to the dust: Our body cleaveth unto the earth.
26 - Rise up for our help, And redeem us for thy lovingkindness' sake.