King James Version KJV
Good News Translation GNT
1 We have heard with our ears, O God, our fathers have told us, what work thou didst in their days, in the times of old.
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With our own ears we have heard it, O God - our ancestors have told us about it, about the great things you did in their time, in the days of long ago:
2 How thou didst drive out the heathen with thy hand, and plantedst them; how thou didst afflict the people, and cast them out.
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how you yourself drove out the heathen and established your people in their land; how you punished the other nations and caused your own to prosper.
3 For they got not the land in possession by their own sword, neither did their own arm save them: but thy right hand, and thine arm, and the light of thy countenance, because thou hadst a favour unto them.
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Your people did not conquer the land with their swords; they did not win it by their own power; it was by your power and your strength, by the assurance of your presence, which showed that you loved them.
4 Thou art my King, O God: command deliverances for Jacob.
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You are my king and my God; you give victory to your people,
5 Through thee will we push down our enemies: through thy name will we tread them under that rise up against us.
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and by your power we defeat our enemies.
6 For I will not trust in my bow, neither shall my sword save me.
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I do not trust in my bow or in my sword to save me;
7 But thou hast saved us from our enemies, and hast put them to shame that hated us.
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but you have saved us from our enemies and defeated those who hate us.
8 In God we boast all the day long, and praise thy name for ever. Selah.
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We will always praise you and give thanks to you forever.
9 But thou hast cast off, and put us to shame; and goest not forth with our armies.
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But now you have rejected us and let us be defeated; you no longer march out with our armies.
10 Thou makest us to turn back from the enemy: and they which hate us spoil for themselves.
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You made us run from our enemies, and they took for themselves what was ours.
11 Thou hast given us like sheep appointed for meat; and hast scattered us among the heathen.
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You allowed us to be slaughtered like sheep; you scattered us in foreign countries.
12 Thou sellest thy people for nought, and dost not increase thy wealth by their price.
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You sold your own people for a small price as though they had little value.
13 Thou makest us a reproach to our neighbours, a scorn and a derision to them that are round about us.
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Our neighbors see what you did to us, and they mock us and laugh at us.
14 Thou makest us a byword among the heathen, a shaking of the head among the people.
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You have made us a joke among the nations; they shake their heads at us in scorn.
15 My confusion is continually before me, and the shame of my face hath covered me,
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I am always in disgrace; I am covered with shame
16 For the voice of him that reproacheth and blasphemeth; by reason of the enemy and avenger.
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from hearing the sneers and insults of my enemies and those who hate me.
17 All this is come upon us; yet have we not forgotten thee, neither have we dealt falsely in thy covenant.
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All this has happened to us, even though we have not forgotten you or broken the covenant you made with us.
18 Our heart is not turned back, neither have our steps declined from thy way;
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We have not been disloyal to you; we have not disobeyed your commands.
19 Though thou hast sore broken us in the place of dragons, and covered us with the shadow of death.
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Yet you left us helpless among wild animals; you abandoned us in deepest darkness.
20 If we have forgotten the name of our God, or stretched out our hands to a strange god;
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If we had stopped worshiping our God and prayed to a foreign god,
21 Shall not God search this out? for he knoweth the secrets of the heart.
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you would surely have discovered it, because you know our secret thoughts.
22 Yea, for thy sake are we killed all the day long; we are counted as sheep for the slaughter.
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But it is on your account that we are being killed all the time, that we are treated like sheep to be slaughtered.
23 Awake, why sleepest thou, O Lord? arise, cast us not off for ever.
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Wake up, Lord! Why are you asleep? Rouse yourself! Don't reject us forever!
24 Wherefore hidest thou thy face, and forgettest our affliction and our oppression?
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Why are you hiding from us? Don't forget our suffering and trouble!
25 For our soul is bowed down to the dust: our belly cleaveth unto the earth.
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We fall crushed to the ground; we lie defeated in the dust.
26 Arise for our help, and redeem us for thy mercies' sake.
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Come to our aid! Because of your constant love save us!
The King James Version is in the public domain.
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.