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Former Times of Help and Present Troubles.

¹ We have heard with our ears, O God,
Our ^(C1)fathers have told us
The ^(C2)work You did in their days,
In the ^(C3)days of old.

² You ^(C1)drove out the pagan nations with Your own hand;
Then you ^(C2)planted and established them (Israel);
It was by Your power that You ^(C3)uprooted the pagan peoples,
Then You ^(C4)spread them abroad.

³ For our fathers ^(C1)did not possess the land of Canaan by their own sword,
Nor did their own arm save them,
But Your right hand and Your ^(C2)arm and the ^(C3)light of Your presence,
Because You ^(C4)favored and delighted in them.

⁴ You are ^(C1)my King, O God;
^(C2)Command victories and deliverance for Jacob (Israel).

⁵ Through You we will ^(C1)gore our enemies like a bull;
Through Your name we will ^(C2)trample down those who rise up against us.

⁶ For I will ^(C1)not trust in my bow,
Nor will my sword save me.

⁷ But You ^(C1)have saved us from our enemies,
And You have ^(C2)put them to shame and humiliated those who hate us.

⁸ In God we have ^(C1)boasted all the day long,
And we will praise and ^(C2)give thanks to Your name forever. Selah.

⁹ But now You ^(C1)have rejected us and brought us to ^(C2)dishonor,
And You ^(C3)do not go out with our armies to lead us to victory.

¹⁰ You make us ^(C1)turn back from the enemy,
And those who hate us ^(C2)have taken spoil for themselves.

¹¹ You have made us like ^(C1)sheep to be eaten as mutton
And have ^(C2)scattered us in exile among the nations.

¹² You ^(C1)sell Your people cheaply,
And have not increased Your wealth by their sale.

¹³ You have made us the ^(C1)reproach and taunt of our neighbors,
A scoffing and a ^(C2)derision to those around us.

¹⁴ You make us ^(C1)a byword among the nations,
A ^(F1)(C2)laughingstock among the people.

¹⁵ My dishonor is before me all day long,
And ^(C1)humiliation has covered my face,

¹⁶ Because of the voice of the ^(C1)taunter and reviler,
Because of the presence of the ^(C2)enemy and the avenger.

¹⁷ All this has come upon us, yet we have ^(C1)not forgotten You,
Nor have we ^(C2)been false to Your covenant which You made with our fathers.

¹⁸ Our heart has not ^(C1)turned back,
^(C2)Nor have our steps wandered from Your path,

¹⁹ Yet You have distressingly ^(C1)crushed us in the place of ^(C2)jackals
And covered us with the deep darkness of ^(C3)the shadow of death.

²⁰ If we had ^(C1)forgotten the name of our God
Or stretched out our hands to ^(C2)a strange god,

²¹ Would not God ^(C1)discover this?
For He knows the secrets of the heart.

^22 (F1)But ^(C1)for Your sake we are killed all the day long;
We are considered as ^(C2)sheep to be slaughtered. ^(VR1)

^23 (C1)Awake! Why ^(C2)do You sleep, O Lord?
Awaken, ^(C3)do not reject us forever.

²⁴ Why do You ^(C1)hide Your face
And ^(C2)forget our affliction and our oppression?

²⁵ For our ^(C1)life has melted away into the dust;
Our body clings to the ground.

^26 (C1)Rise up! Come be our help,
And ^(C2)ransom us for the sake of Your steadfast love.