Psalms — Chapter 44
For the leader. Of the Korahites. A maskil.
We have heard, O God,our ancestors have told usthe deeds You performed in their time,in days of old.
With Your hand You planted them,displacing nations;You brought misfortune on peoples,and drove them out.
It was not by their sword that they took the land,their arm did not give them victory,but Your right hand, Your arm, and Your goodwill,for You favored them.
You are my king,aking See note at 24.7. O God;decree victories for Jacob!
Through You we gore our foes;by Your name we trample our adversaries;
I do not trust in my bow;it is not my sword that gives me victory;
You give us victory over our foes;You thwart those who hate us.
In God we glory at all times,and praise Your name unceasingly. Selah.
Yet You have rejected and disgraced us;You do not go with our armies.
You make us retreat before our foe;our enemies plunder us at will.
You let them devour us like sheep;You disperse us among the nations.
You sell Your people for no fortune,You set no high price on them.
You make us the butt of our neighbors,the scorn and derision of those around us.
You make us a byword among the nations,a laughingstockblaughingstock Lit. “wagging of the head.” among the peoples.
I am always aware of my disgrace;I am wholly covered with shame
at the sound of taunting revilers,in the presence of the vengeful foe.
All this has come upon us,yet we have not forgotten You,or been false to Your covenant.
Our hearts have not gone astray,nor have our feet swerved from Your path,
though You cast us, crushed, to where the sea monstercsea monster Heb. tannim = tannin, as in Ezek. 29.3; 32.2. is,and covered us over with deepest darkness.
If we forgot the name of our Godand spread forth our hands to a foreign god,
God would surely search it out,as the One who knows the secrets of the heart.
It is for Your sake that we are slain all day long,that we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.
Rouse Yourself; why do You sleep, O my Sovereign?Awaken, do not reject us forever!
Why do You hide Your face,ignoring our affliction and distress?
We lie prostrate in the dust;our body clings to the ground.
Arise and help us,redeem us, as befits Your faithfulness.
✦ Connected Across Traditions
The Golden Rule
Matthew 7:12
“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”
Hadith (An-Nawawi 13)
“None of you truly believes until he wishes for his brother what he wishes for himself.”
Mahabharata 5.1517
“One should never do to another what one regards as injurious to oneself.”
Dhammapada 10:1
“All tremble at violence; all fear death. Putting oneself in the place of another, one should not kill nor cause another to kill.”
Good vs Evil / Light vs Darkness
Yasna 30:3
“Now the two primal Spirits, who reveal themselves as Twins, are the Better and the Bad, in thought and word and action.”
John 1:5
“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”
Dhammapada 1:1-2
“Mind is the forerunner of all actions. If one speaks or acts with a pure mind, happiness follows like a shadow.”
Bhagavad Gita 16:21
“There are three gates to self-destructive hell: lust, anger, and greed. Therefore, one must learn to give these up.”