For the choir director. A Maskil of the sons of Korah.

     1O God, we have heard with our ears,
            Our fathers have told us,
            The work that Thou didst in their days,
            In the days of old.

     2Thou with Thine own hand didst drive out the nations;
            Then Thou didst plant them;
            Thou didst afflict the peoples,
            Then Thou didst spread them abroad.

     3For by their own sword they did not possess the land;
            And their own arm did not save them;
            But Thy right hand, and Thine arm, and the light of Thy presence,
            For Thou didst favor them.

     4Thou art my King, O God;
            Command victories for Jacob.

     5Through Thee we will push back our adversaries;
            Through Thy 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 Thou hast saved us from our adversaries,
            And Thou hast put to shame those who hate us.

     8In God we have boasted all day long,
            And we will give thanks to Thy name forever. Selah.

     9Yet Thou hast rejected us and brought us to dishonor,
            And dost not go out with our armies.

     10Thou dost cause us to turn back from the adversary;
            And those who hate us have taken spoil for themselves.

     11Thou dost give us as sheep to be eaten,
            And hast scattered us among the nations.

     12Thou dost sell Thy people cheaply,
            And hast not profited by their sale.

     13Thou dost make us a reproach to our neighbors,
            A scoffing and a derision to those around us.

     14Thou dost make us a byword among the nations,
            A laughingstock among the peoples.

     15All day long my dishonor is before me,
            And my humiliation has overwhelmed me,

     16Because of the voice of him who reproaches and reviles,
            Because of the presence of the enemy and the avenger.

     17All this has come upon us, but we have not forgotten Thee,
            And we have not dealt falsely with Thy covenant.

     18Our heart has not turned back,
            And our steps have not deviated from Thy way,

     19Yet Thou hast crushed us in a place of jackals,
            And covered us with the shadow of death.

     20If we had forgotten the name of our God,
            Or extended our hands to a strange god;

     21Would not God find this out?
            For He knows the secrets of the heart.

     22But for Thy sake we are killed all day long;
            We are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.

     23Arouse Thyself, why dost Thou sleep, O Lord?
            Awake, do not reject us forever.

     24Why dost Thou hide Thy face,
            And forget our affliction and our oppression?

     25For our soul has sunk down into the dust;
            Our body cleaves to the earth.

     26Rise up, be our help,
            And redeem us for the sake of Thy lovingkindness.