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Rise Up, Be Our Help

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

² You with Your own hand ^(C1)dispossessed the nations;
Then You ^(C2)planted them;
You ^(C3)afflicted the peoples,
Then You ^(C4)cast them out.

³ For by their own sword they ^(C1)did not possess the land,
And their own arm did not save them,
But Your right hand and Your ^(C2)arm and the ^(C3)light of Your presence,
For You ^(C4)favored them.

⁴ You are ^(C1)my King, O God;
^(C2)Command ^(F1)salvation for Jacob.

⁵ Through You we will ^(C1)push back our adversaries;
Through Your name we will ^(C2)tread down those who rise up against us.

⁶ For I will ^(C1)not trust in my bow,
And my sword will not save me.

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

⁸ In God we have ^(C1)boasted all day long,
And we will ^(C2)give thanks to Your name forever. ^Selah may mean Pause, Crescendo, Musical Interlude">(F1)Selah.

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

¹⁰ You cause us to ^(C1)turn back from the adversary;
And those who hate us ^(C2)have plundered us for themselves.

¹¹ You give us as ^(C1)sheep ^(F1)to be eaten
And have ^(C2)scattered us among the nations.

¹² You ^(C1)sell Your people ^(F1)for no amount,
And You have not ^(F2)profited from their price.

¹³ You make us a ^(C1)reproach to our neighbors,
A mockery and a ^(C2)derision to those around us.

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

¹⁵ All day long my dishonor is before me
And ^(F1)the ^(C1)shame of my face has covered me,

¹⁶ Because of the voice of him who ^(C1)reproaches and reviles,
Because of the presence of the ^(C2)enemy and the avenger.

¹⁷ All this has come upon us, but we have ^(C1)not forgotten You,
And we have not ^(C2)dealt falsely with Your covenant.

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

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

²⁰ If we had ^(C1)forgotten the name of our God
Or spread our ^(F1)hands to ^(C2)a strange god,

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

²² But ^(C1)for Your sake we are killed all day long;
We are counted as ^(C2)sheep for the slaughter.

^23 (C1)Arouse Yourself, why ^(C2)do You sleep, O Lord?
Awake, ^(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)soul has sunk down into the dust;
Our ^(F1)body cleaves to the earth.

^26 (C1)Rise up, be our help,
And ^(C2)redeem us for the sake of Your lovingkindness.