Psalm 44: 6-8 Tune: Forest Green (O Little Town of Bethlehem)

Sing Psalms
"My sword does not bring victory, nor do I trust my bow."
Psalm 44: 6-8
"O God, we with our ears have heard— our fathers told us so— "
Tune: Forest Green (O Little Town of Bethlehem)
The images is only intended to provide resonances with some aspects of the psalm; it is not intended as a one-to-one correspondences.
images: Joshua and the renewal of the covenant at Shechem (Joshua 24)

Joshua 24
11 “‘You went over the Jordan, and came to Jericho. The men of Jericho fought against you, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Girgashite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite; and I delivered them into your hand. 12 I sent the hornet before you, which drove them out from before you, even the two kings of the Amorites; not with your sword, nor with your bow. 13 I gave you a land on which you had not labored, and cities which you didn’t build, and you live in them. You eat of vineyards and olive groves which you didn’t plant.’

14 “Now therefore fear Yahweh, and serve him in sincerity and in truth. Put away the gods which your fathers served beyond the River, in Egypt; and serve Yahweh. 15 If it seems evil to you to serve Yahweh, choose today whom you will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell; but as for me and my house, we will serve Yahweh.”

PSALM 44 C.M.

1 O God, we with our ears have heard—
our fathers told us so—
What you accomplished in their days,
in days of long ago.

2 Your hand drove nations out, and placed
our fathers there instead;
You crushed the peoples, but you caused
our tribes to grow and spread.

3 It was not by their sword or arm
that they possessed the land,
But by your love and favour shown,
and by your mighty hand.

4 You are my King and God; ordain
for Jacob victories.
5 Through you we trample down our foes
and rout our enemies.

6 My sword does not bring victory,
nor do I trust my bow.
7 You put our enemies to shame
and overcome our foe.

8 In God alone we make our boast,
rejoicing all day long,
And to your name for evermore
we’ll offer praise in song.

9 But now you have rejected us
and brought us very low,
And when our armies march to war,
with them you do not go.

10 Our hateful foe has plundered us;
you made us flee, O God.
11 You let us be devoured like sheep
and scattered us abroad.

12 You cheaply sold your people off;
the sale produced no gain.
13 Our neighbours look on us with scorn
and treat us with disdain.

14 You make us a reproach and shame
before the nations’ face;
The peoples shake their heads at us
and mock at our disgrace.

15 Disgrace I suffer all day long
and I am filled with shame
16 Because of mocking taunts and scorn
from those who hate my name.

17 All this has happened to us, though
we’d not forgotten you.
We had not spurned your covenant;
to it we had been true.

18 Our hearts did not turn back; our feet
from your path did not stray.
19 You crushed and left us in the dark
where jackals hunt their prey.

20 If we forgot God’s name, or to
false gods had stretched our hands,
21 Would God not know, for he our hearts
and secrets understands?

22 And yet it is for your own sake
we face death all the day;
We’re reckoned like the sheep that are
for slaughter led away.

23 Awake, O Lord! Arise from sleep!
Do not reject your folk.
24 Why hide your face and quite forget
our pain and cruel yoke?

25 For we’ve been humbled to the dust,
laid prostrate on the ground.
26 Rise, help, redeem, because within
your cov’nant love we’re found.

#psalms #psalm44 #bible #dailyverse #singpsalms #olittletownofbethlehem