Psalms 44

¹The title of the foure and fourtithe salm. To the ouercomere for the lilies, the most loued song of lernyng of the sones of Chore.

²Myn herte hath teld out a good word; Y seie my workis `to the kyng. Mi tunge is `a penne of a writere; writynge swiftli.

³Crist, thou art fairer in schap than the sones of men; grace is spred abrood in thi lippis; therfor God blessid thee withouten ende.

⁴Be thou gird with thi swerd; on thi hipe most myytili.

⁵Biholde thou in thi schaplynesse and thi fairnesse; come thou forth with prosperite, and regne thou. For treuthe, and myldenesse, and riytfulnesse; and thi riyt hond schal lede forth thee wondurfuli.

⁶Thi scharpe arowis schulen falle in to the hertis of the enemyes of the kyng; puplis schulen be vndur thee.

⁷God, thi seete is in to the world of world; the yerde of thi rewme is a yerde of riyt reulyng, `ethir of equite.

⁸Thou louedist riytfulnesse, and hatidist wickidnesse; therfor thou, God, thi God, anoyntide thee with the oile of gladnesse, more than thi felowis.

⁹Mirre, and gumme, and cassia, of thi clothis, of the `housis yuer;

¹⁰of whiche the douytris of kyngis delitiden thee. A queen stood nyy on thi riyt side in clothing ouergildid; cumpassid with dyuersitee.

¹¹Douyter, here thou, and se, and bowe doun thin eere; and foryete thi puple, and the hows of thi fadir.

¹²And the kyng schal coueyte thi fairnesse; for he is thi Lord God, and thei schulen worschipe hym.

¹³And the douytris of Tire in yiftis; alle the riche men of the puple schulen biseche thi cheer.

¹⁴Al the glorye of that douyter of the kyng is with ynne in goldun hemmes;

¹⁵sche is clothid aboute with dyuersitees. Virgyns schulen be brouyt to the kyng aftir hir; hir neiyboressis schulen be brouyt to thee.

¹⁶Thei schulen be brouyt in gladnesse, and ful out ioiyng; thei schulen be brouyt in to the temple of the kyng.

¹⁷Sones ben borun to thee, for thi fadris; thou schalt ordeyne hem princes on al erthe.

¹⁸Lord, thei schulen be myndeful of thi name; in ech generacioun, and in to generacioun. Therfor puplis schulen knouleche to thee withouten ende; and in to the world of world.

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.