Psalms 44

¹Unto the end, for them that shall be changed, for the sons of Core, for understanding. A canticle for the Beloved.

²My heart hath uttered a good word: I speak my works to the king: My tongue is the pen of a scrivener that writeth swiftly.

³Thou art beautiful above the sons of men: grace is poured abroad in thy lips; therefore hath God blessed thee for ever.

⁴Gird thy sword upon thy thigh, O thou most mighty.

⁵With thy comeliness and thy beauty set out, proceed prosperously, and reign. Because of truth and meekness and justice: and thy right hand shall conduct thee wonderfully.

⁶Thy arrows are sharp: under thee shall people fall, into the hearts of the king's enemies.

⁷Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever: the sceptre of thy kingdom is a sceptre of uprightness.

⁸Thou hast loved justice, and hated iniquity: therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.

⁹Myrrh and stacte and cassia perfume thy garments, from the ivory houses: out of which

¹⁰The daughters of kings have delighted thee in thy glory. The queen stood on thy right hand, in gilded clothing; surrounded with variety.

¹¹Hearken, O daughter, and see, and incline thy ear: and forget thy people and thy father's house.

¹²And the king shall greatly desire thy beauty; for he is the Lord thy God, and him they shall adore.

¹³And the daughters of Tyre with gifts, yea, all the rich among the people, shall entreat thy countenance.

¹⁴All the glory of the king's daughter is within in golden borders,

¹⁵Clothed round about with varieties. After her shall virgins be brought to the king: her neighbours shall be brought to thee.

¹⁶They shall be brought with gladness and rejoicing: they shall be brought into the temple of the king.

¹⁷Instead of thy fathers, sons are born to thee: thou shalt make them princes over all the earth.

¹⁸They shall remember thy name throughout all generations. Therefore shall people praise thee for ever; yea, for ever and ever.

Psalms 44

¹We have heard with our ears, O God, our fathers have told us, what work thou didst in their days, in the times of old.

²How thou didst drive out the heathen with thy hand, and plantedst them; how thou didst afflict the people, and cast them out.

³For they got 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 hadst a favour unto them.

⁴Thou art my King, O God: command deliverances for Jacob.

⁵Through thee will we push down our enemies: through thy name will we tread them under that rise up against us.

⁶For I will not trust in my bow, neither shall my sword save me.

⁷But thou hast saved us from our enemies, and hast put them to shame that hated us.

⁸In God we boast all the day long, and praise thy name for ever. Selah.

⁹But thou hast cast off, and put us to shame; and goest not forth with our armies.

¹⁰Thou makest us to turn back from the enemy: and they which hate us spoil for themselves.

¹¹Thou hast given us like sheep appointed for meat; and hast scattered us among the heathen.

¹²Thou sellest thy people for nought, and dost not increase thy wealth by their price.

¹³Thou makest us a reproach to our neighbours, a scorn and a derision to them that are round about us.

¹⁴Thou makest us a byword among the heathen, a shaking of the head among the people.

¹⁵My confusion is continually before me, and the shame of my face hath covered me,

¹⁶For the voice of him that reproacheth and blasphemeth; by reason of the enemy and avenger.

¹⁷All this is come upon us; yet have we not forgotten thee, neither have we dealt falsely in thy covenant.

¹⁸Our heart is not turned back, neither have our steps declined from thy way;

¹⁹Though thou hast sore broken us in the place of dragons, and covered us with the shadow of death.

²⁰If we have forgotten the name of our God, or stretched out our hands to a strange god;

²¹Shall not God search this out? for he knoweth the secrets of the heart.

²²Yea, for thy sake are we killed all the day long; we are counted as sheep for the slaughter.

²³Awake, why sleepest thou, O Lord? arise, cast us not off for ever.

²⁴Wherefore hidest thou thy face, and forgettest our affliction and our oppression?

²⁵For our soul is bowed down to the dust: our belly cleaveth unto the earth.

²⁶Arise for our help, and redeem us for thy mercies’ sake.