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Psalm 44

1  We have heard with our ears, O God, our forebears have told us, ♦︎
   all that you did in their days, in time of old;
2  How with your hand you drove out nations and planted us in, ♦︎
   and broke the power of peoples and set us free.
3  For not by their own sword did our ancestors take the land ♦︎
   nor did their own arm save them,
4  But your right hand, your arm, and the light of your countenance, ♦︎
   because you were gracious to them.
5  You are my King and my God, ♦︎
   who commanded salvation for Jacob.
6  Through you we drove back our adversaries; ♦︎
   through your name we trod down our foes.
7  For I did not trust in my bow; ♦︎
   it was not my own sword that saved me;
8  It was you that saved us from our enemies ♦︎
   and put our adversaries to shame.
9  We gloried in God all the day long, ♦︎
   and were ever praising your name.
10  But now you have rejected us and brought us to shame, ♦︎
   and go not out with our armies.
11  You have made us turn our backs on our enemies, ♦︎
   and our enemies have despoiled us.
12  You have made us like sheep to be slaughtered, ♦︎
   and have scattered us among the nations.
13  You have sold your people for a pittance ♦︎
   and made no profit on their sale.
14  You have made us the taunt of our neighbours, ♦︎
   the scorn and derision of those that are round about us.
15  You have made us a byword among the nations; ♦︎
   among the peoples they wag their heads.
16  My confusion is daily before me, ♦︎
   and shame has covered my face,
17  At the taunts of the slanderer and reviler, ♦︎
   at the sight of the enemy and avenger.
18  All this has come upon us,
      though we have not forgotten you ♦︎
   and have not played false to your covenant.
19  Our hearts have not turned back, ♦︎
   nor our steps gone out of your way,
20  Yet you have crushed us in the haunt of jackals, ♦︎
   and covered us with the shadow of death.
21  If we have forgotten the name of our God, ♦︎
   or stretched out our hands to any strange god,
22  Will not God search it out? ♦︎
   For he knows the secrets of the heart.
23  But for your sake are we killed all the day long, ♦︎
   and are counted as sheep for the slaughter.
24  Rise up! Why sleep, O Lord? ♦︎
   Awake, and do not reject us for ever.
25  Why do you hide your face ♦︎
   and forget our grief and oppression?
26  Our soul is bowed down to the dust; ♦︎
   our belly cleaves to the earth.
27  Rise up, O Lord, to help us ♦︎
   and redeem us for the sake of your steadfast love.

¹¹ For you also, O Judah, a harvest is appointed.

When I would restore the fortunes of my people,

7¹when I would heal Israel,
   the corruption of Ephraim is revealed,
   and the wicked deeds of Samaria;
for they deal falsely,
   the thief breaks in,
   and the bandits raid outside.
² But they do not consider
   that I remember all their wickedness.
Now their deeds surround them,
   they are before my face.
³ By their wickedness they make the king glad,
   and the officials by their treachery.
⁴ They are all adulterers;
   they are like a heated oven,
whose baker does not need to stir the fire,
   from the kneading of the dough until it is leavened.
⁵ On the day of our king the officials
   became sick with the heat of wine;
   he stretched out his hand with mockers.
⁶ For they are kindled^* like an oven, their heart burns within them;
   all night their anger smoulders;
   in the morning it blazes like a flaming fire.
⁷ All of them are hot as an oven,
   and they devour their rulers.
All their kings have fallen;
   none of them calls upon me.

⁸ Ephraim mixes himself with the peoples;
   Ephraim is a cake not turned.
⁹ Foreigners devour his strength,
   but he does not know it;
grey hairs are sprinkled upon him,
   but he does not know it.
¹⁰ Israel’s pride testifies against^* him;
   yet they do not return to the Lord their God,
   or seek him, for all this.

Futile Reliance on the Nations

¹¹ Ephraim has become like a dove,
   silly and without sense;
   they call upon Egypt, they go to Assyria.
¹² As they go, I will cast my net over them;
   I will bring them down like birds of the air;
   I will discipline them according to the report made to their assembly.^*
13 Woe to them, for they have strayed from me!
   Destruction to them, for they have rebelled against me!
I would redeem them,
   but they speak lies against me.

¹⁴ They do not cry to me from the heart,
   but they wail upon their beds;
they gash themselves for grain and wine;
   they rebel against me.
¹⁵ It was I who trained and strengthened their arms,
   yet they plot evil against me.
¹⁶ They turn to that which does not profit;^*
   they have become like a defective bow;
their officials shall fall by the sword
   because of the rage of their tongue.
So much for their babbling in the land of Egypt.

Love for Enemies

43 ‘You have heard that it was said, “You shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy.” ⁴⁴But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, ⁴⁵so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. ⁴⁶For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax-collectors do the same? ⁴⁷And if you greet only your brothers and sisters,^* what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? ⁴⁸Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.