Psalms

Psalms 44

26 verses · Wisdom · Old Testament

1We have heard with our ears, God; our fathers have told us what work you did in their days, in the days of old. 2You drove out the nations with your hand, but you planted them. You afflicted the peoples, but you spread them abroad. 3For they didn’t get the land in possession by their own sword, neither did their own arm save them; but your right hand, your arm, and the light of your face, because you were favorable to them. 4You are my King, God. Command victories for Jacob! 5Through you, will we push down our adversaries. Through your name, we will tread down those who rise up against us. 6For I will not trust in my bow, neither shall my sword save me. 7But you have saved us from our adversaries, and have shamed those who hate us. 8In God we have made our boast all day long, we will give thanks to your name forever.
9But now you rejected us, and brought us to dishonor, and don’t go out with our armies. 10You make us turn back from the adversary. Those who hate us take plunder for themselves. 11You have made us like sheep for food, and have scattered us among the nations. 12You sell your people for nothing, and have gained nothing from their sale. 13You make us a reproach to our neighbors, a scoffing and a derision to those who are around us. 14You make us a byword among the nations, a shaking of the head among the peoples. 15All day long my dishonor is before me, and shame covers my face, 16at the taunt of one who reproaches and verbally abuses, because of the enemy and the avenger. 17All this has come on us, yet we haven’t forgotten you. We haven’t been false to your covenant. 18Our heart has not turned back, neither have our steps strayed from your path, 19though you have crushed us in the haunt of jackals, and covered us with the shadow of death. 20If we have forgotten the name of our God, or spread out our hands to a strange god, 21won’t God search this out? For he knows the secrets of the heart. 22Yes, for your sake we are killed all day long. We are regarded as sheep for the slaughter. 23Wake up! Why do you sleep, Lord? Arise! Don’t reject us forever. 24Why do you hide your face, and forget our affliction and our oppression? 25For our soul is bowed down to the dust. Our body clings to the earth. 26Rise up to help us. Redeem us for your loving kindness’ sake.

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4 commentators · 52 notes on this chapter

Matthew HenryEnglish Puritan / Nonconformist · 1708–17143

Writes as a pastor rather than a critic. Expect devotional and practical application over historical or linguistic analysis, read through a Reformed covenantal frame — and expect the Old Testament to be read forward toward Christ throughout.

Why this voice is here: The most widely read English commentary for three centuries. Included as a baseline: where Henry and a modern voice diverge, the divergence itself is usually the interesting part.

v. 1–8

Some observe that most of the psalms that are entitled Maschil - psalms of instruction, are sorrowful psalms; for afflictions give instructions, and sorrow of spirit opens the ear to them. Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest and teachest. In these verses…

v. 9–16

The people of God here complain to him of the low and afflicted condition that they were now in, under the prevailing power of their enemies and oppressors, which was the more grievous to them because they were now trampled upon, who had always been used, in…

v. 17–26

The people of God, being greatly afflicted and oppressed, here apply to him; whither else should they go? I. By way of appeal, concerning their integrity, which he only is an infallible judge of, and which he will certainly be the rewarder of. Two things they…

John GillParticular Baptist / High Calvinist · 1746–176326

The most exhaustive and the most doctrinally committed here. Expect high — even supralapsarian — Calvinism applied consistently, and unusually heavy use of rabbinic and Talmudic sources for Jewish context. Where a passage bears on election or the will, Gill will read it in one direction, and knowing that in advance is the point.

Why this voice is here: The strongest Calvinist reading available in the public domain, and the best on Jewish background. Read alongside Clarke, not instead of him — between them you get both sides of the argument.

v. 1

We have heard with our ears, O God,.... The church being in distress calls to mind the past favours of God to his people, in order to encourage her faith and hope; and this expression, delivered in such a form, shows the clearness, evidence, and certainty of…

v. 2

How thou didst drive out the Heathen with thy hand,.... Of power; that is, the Canaanites, as the Targum; the seven nations which inhabited the land of Canaan before the children of Israel came into it, Deuteronomy 7:1; and plantedst them: not the Canaanites…

v. 3

For they got not the land in possession by their own sword,.... There were many things which show that the possession of the land of Canaan was not of the Israelites themselves, but of the Lord; as their passing over into it through Jordan as on dry land; the…

Keil & DelitzschGerman Lutheran, conservative-critical · 1861–18756

The technical one, and Old Testament only. Expect Hebrew grammar, textual argument, and direct engagement with nineteenth-century critical scholarship — closer to a scholarly apparatus than a devotional read. Where a modern critic claims a text is late or composite, this is where the conservative counter-argument was made.

Why this voice is here: Old Testament only, and heavy going — but the place to look when someone asserts a passage cannot mean what it appears to.

v. 1–3

(Heb.: 44:2-4) The poet opens with a tradition coming down from the time of Moses and of Joshua which they have heard with their own ears, in order to demonstrate the vast distance between the character of the former times and the present, just as Asaph…

v. 4–8

(Heb.: 44:5-9) Out of the retrospective glance at the past, so rich in mercy springs up (Psa 44:5) the confident prayer concerning the present, based upon the fact of the theocratic relationship which began in the time of the deliverance wrought under Moses…

v. 9–12

(Heb.: 44:10-13) Just as אף signifies imo vero (Psa 58:3) when it comes after an antecedent clause that is expressly or virtually a negative, it may mean "nevertheless, ho'moos," when it opposes a contrastive to an affirmative assertion, as is very frequently…

Jamieson, Fausset & BrownScottish Presbyterian / Reformed · 187117

The concise option. Three authors split the canon, so the voice shifts between sections. Expect brief, sober, conservative notes that resolve difficulties rather than dwelling on them — useful for orientation, thinner than Gill or Clarke where a passage is genuinely contested.

Why this voice is here: The quickest way to see what the mainstream Reformed reading of a passage is. Start here, then go to Gill or Clarke when it matters.

v. 2–3

plantedst them--that is, "our fathers," who are also, from the parallel construction of the last clause, to be regarded as the object of "cast them out," which means--literally, "send" them out, or, "extend them." Heathen and people denote the nations who…

v. 4

Thou art my King--literally, "he who is my King," sustaining the same covenant relation as to the "fathers."

v. 5

The figure drawn from the habits of the ox.

World English Bible — Public domain