Revised Standard Version RSV
Good News Translation GNT
1 To the choirmaster. A Maskil of the Sons of Korah. We have heard with our ears, O God, our fathers have told us, what deeds thou didst perform in their days, in the days 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 thou with thy own hand didst drive out the nations, but them thou didst plant; thou didst afflict the peoples, but them thou didst set free;
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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 not by their own sword did they win the land, nor did their own arm give them victory; but thy right hand, and thy arm, and the light of thy countenance; for thou didst delight in 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 and my God, who ordainest victories for Jacob.
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You are my king and my God; you give victory to your people,
5 Through thee we push down our foes; through thy name we tread down our assailants.
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and by your power we defeat our enemies.
6 For not in my bow do I trust, nor can 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 foes, and hast put to confusion those who hate us.
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but you have saved us from our enemies and defeated those who hate us.
8 In God we have boasted continually, and we will give thanks to thy name for ever. [Selah]
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We will always praise you and give thanks to you forever.
9 Yet thou hast cast us off and abased us, and hast not gone out 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 hast made us turn back from the foe; and our enemies have gotten spoil.
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You made us run from our enemies, and they took for themselves what was ours.
11 Thou hast made us like sheep for slaughter, and hast scattered us among the nations.
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You allowed us to be slaughtered like sheep; you scattered us in foreign countries.
12 Thou hast sold thy people for a trifle, demanding no high price for them.
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You sold your own people for a small price as though they had little value.
13 Thou hast made us the taunt of our neighbors, the derision and scorn of those about us.
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Our neighbors see what you did to us, and they mock us and laugh at us.
14 Thou hast made us a byword among the nations, a laughingstock among the peoples.
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You have made us a joke among the nations; they shake their heads at us in scorn.
15 All day long my disgrace is before me, and shame has covered my face,
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I am always in disgrace; I am covered with shame
16 at the words of the taunters and revilers, at the sight of the enemy and the avenger.
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from hearing the sneers and insults of my enemies and those who hate me.
17 All this has come upon us, though we have not forgotten thee, or been false to 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 has not turned back, nor have our steps departed from thy way,
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We have not been disloyal to you; we have not disobeyed your commands.
19 that thou shouldst have broken us in the place of jackals, and covered us with deep darkness.
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Yet you left us helpless among wild animals; you abandoned us in deepest darkness.
20 If we had forgotten the name of our God, or spread forth our hands to a strange god,
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If we had stopped worshiping our God and prayed to a foreign god,
21 would not God discover this? For he knows the secrets of the heart.
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you would surely have discovered it, because you know our secret thoughts.
22 Nay, for thy sake we are slain all the day long, and accounted 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 Rouse thyself! Why sleepest thou, O Lord? Awake! Do not cast us off for ever!
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Wake up, Lord! Why are you asleep? Rouse yourself! Don't reject us forever!
24 Why dost thou hide thy face? Why dost thou forget our affliction and 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 body cleaves to the ground.
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We fall crushed to the ground; we lie defeated in the dust.
26 Rise up, come to our help! Deliver us for the sake of thy steadfast love!
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Come to our aid! Because of your constant love save us!
Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1952 [2nd edition, 1971] by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.