Read the Bible

¹ Our God, our ancestors told us
    what wonders you worked
    and we listened carefully.
² You chased off the nations
    by causing them trouble
    with your powerful arm.
Then you let our ancestors
    take over their land.
³ Their strength and weapons
were not
    what won the land
    and gave them victory!
You loved them and fought
with your powerful arm
    and your shining glory.

⁴ You are my God and King,
    and you give victory^[a]
    to the people of Jacob.
⁵ By your great power,
we knocked our enemies down
    and stomped on them.
⁶ I don't depend on my arrows
    or my sword to save me.
⁷ But you saved us
from our hateful enemies,
    and you put them to shame.
⁸ We boast about you, our God,
    and we are always grateful.

⁹ But now you have rejected us;
    you don't lead us into battle,
    and we look foolish.
¹⁰ You made us retreat,
    and our enemies have taken
    everything we own.
¹¹ You let us be slaughtered
    like sheep,
    and you scattered us
    among the nations.
¹² You sold your people
for little or nothing,
    and you earned no profit.

¹³ You made us look foolish
    to our neighbors,
    and people who live nearby
    insult us and sneer.
¹⁴ Foreigners joke about us
    and shake their heads.
¹⁵     I am embarrassed every day,
    and I blush with shame.
¹⁶ But others mock and sneer,
    as they watch my enemies
    take revenge on me.

¹⁷ All of this has happened to us,
    though we didn't forget you
    or break our agreement.
¹⁸ We always kept you in mind
    and followed your teaching.
¹⁹ But you crushed us,
    and you covered us
    with deepest darkness
    where wild animals live.

²⁰ We did not forget you
    or lift our hands in prayer
    to foreign gods.
²¹ You would have known it
    because you discover
    every secret thought.
²² We face death all day for you.
    We are like sheep on their way
    to be slaughtered.

²³ Wake up! Do something, Lord!
    Why are you sleeping?
    Don't desert us forever.
²⁴ Why do you keep looking away?
    Don't forget our sufferings
    and all of our troubles.
²⁵ We are flat on the ground,
    holding on to the dust.
²⁶ Do something! Help us!
Show how kind you are
    and come to our rescue.