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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.

Exhortation to Watch

34 ‘Be on guard so that your hearts are not weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life, and that day does not catch you unexpectedly, ³⁵like a trap. For it will come upon all who live on the face of the whole earth. ³⁶Be alert at all times, praying that you may have the strength to escape all these things that will take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.’

37 Every day he was teaching in the temple, and at night he would go out and spend the night on the Mount of Olives, as it was called. ³⁸And all the people would get up early in the morning to listen to him in the temple.