1 O God! we have heard with our ears, Our fathers have told us, What deeds thou didst in their days, In the days of old. 2With thine own hand didst thou drive out the nations, And plant our fathers; Thou didst destroy the nations, And cause our fathers to flourish. 3For not by their own swords did they gain possession of the land, Nor did their own arms give them victory; But thy right hand, and thine arm, and the light of thy countenance; For thou didst favor them! 4Thou art my king, O God! O send deliverance to Jacob! 5Through thee we may cast down our enemies; Through thy name we may trample upon our adversaries! 6I trust not in my bow, Nor can my sword save me. 7But it is thou only who savest us from our enemies, And puttest to shame those who hate us! 8In God will we glory continually; Yea, we will praise thy name for ever! [Pause.] 9Yet now thou hast cast us off, and put us to shame; Thou goest not forth with our armies. 10Thou makest us turn back from the enemy, And they who hate us make our goods their prey. 11Thou makest us like sheep destined for food, And scatterest us among the nations. 12Thou sellest thy people for nought, And increasest not thy wealth by their price. 13Thou makest us a reproach to our neighbors, A scorn and a derision to those who are around us. 14Thou makest us a byword among the nations, And causest the people to shake their heads at us. 15My ignominy is continually before me, And shame covereth my face, 16On account of the voice of the scoffer and the reviler, And on account of the enemy and the avenger. 17All this hath come upon us; Yet have we not forgotten thee, Nor have we been false to thy covenant. 18Our hearts, have not wandered from thee, Nor have our feet gone out of thy path; 19Though thou hast crushed us in a land of jackals, And covered us with thick darkness. 20If we had forgotten the name of our God, Or stretched forth our hands to a strange God, 21Surely God would search it out; For he knoweth the secrets of the heart. 22But for thy sake we are killed all the day; We are counted as sheep for the slaughter. 23Awake! why sleepest thou, O Lord? Arise! cast us not off for ever! 24Wherefore dost thou hide thy face, And forget our affliction and oppression? 25Our soul is bowed down to the dust; Our body cleaveth to the earth. 26Arise, O thou, our strength! And deliver us, for thy mercy’s sake!