Bible Reader

Psalms 44

¹To the chief Musician for the sons of Korah, Maschil. We 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.

on Psalms 44

Psalms 44:1. We have heard with our ears, O God, our fathers have told us, what work thou didst in their days, in the times of old.

Now Israel was restored to Canaan, and the Canaanite and Perizzite were driven out, that God’s chosen people might occupy their appointed place.

Psalms 44:2-3. How thou didst drive out the heathen with thy hand, and plantedst them; how thou didst afflict the people, and cast them out. For 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.

They did use their own arm and sword; but, for all that, it was God who won the victory for them. It was his might that made them brave, and a consciousness of his gracious purpose that made them strong, so that they routed all their foes until, from Dan to Beersheba, the land was all their own.

Psalms 44:4-6. Thou art my King, O God: command deliverances for Jacob. Through thee will we push down our enemies: through thy name will we tread them under that rise up against us. For I will not trust in my bow, neither shall my sword save me.

See how the lesson from ancient history was turned to practical account in the psalmist’s own experience: “As our forefathers were delivered, not by their own bow or sword, but by the right hand of the Most High, so I will not trust in my bow, neither shall my sword save me.” Brethren, let us always labour to reproduce in ourselves, by God’s grace, the best experiences of his saints. Wherever we see the hand of the Lord displayed in others of his people, let us pray that the same hand may be manifested to us and in us.

Psalms 44:7-8. But thou hast saved us from our enemies, and hast put them to shame that hated us. In God we boast all the day long, and praise thy name for ever. Selah.

This exposition consisted of readings from Psalms 44:1-8; and Psalms 45.