Read the Bible

Former Times of Help and Present Troubles.

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

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

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, God;
^(C2)Command ^(F1)victories for Jacob.

⁵ Through You we will ^(C1)push back our adversaries;
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 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

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 enemy;
And those who hate us ^(C2)have taken spoils for themselves.

¹¹ You turn us over ^(F1)to be eaten like ^(C1)sheep,
And have ^(C2)scattered us among the nations.

¹² You ^(C1)sell Your people ^(F1)cheaply,
And have not ^(F2)profited by their sale.

¹³ You make us an object of ^(C1)reproach to our neighbors,
Of scoffing and ^(C2)ridicule to those around us.

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

¹⁵ All day long my dishonor is before me
And ^(F1)I am covered with my ^(C1)humiliation,

¹⁶ Because of the voice of one who ^(C1)taunts 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,
And our steps ^(C2)have not deviated from Your way,

¹⁹ Yet You have ^(C1)crushed us in a place of ^(C2)jackals
And covered us with ^(F1)(C3)deep darkness.

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

²¹ Would God not ^(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 regarded as ^(C2)sheep to be slaughtered.

^23 (C1)Wake Yourself up, why ^(C2)do You sleep, Lord?
Awake, ^(C3)do not reject us forever.

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

²⁵ For our ^(C1)souls have sunk down into the dust;
Our bodies cling to the earth.

^26 (C1)Rise up, be our help,
And ^(C2)redeem us because of Your mercy.