📖 Psalms — Chapter 44 (KJV)
Read the complete King James Version chapter below, then explore the passage sections, check what you remember, and keep your private study notes.
Scripture source: Project Gutenberg KJV, ebook 10.
Psalms 44:1 We Rhave heard with our ears, O God, our fathers have told us, what work thou didst in their days, in the times of old.
Psalms 44:2 How thou didst Rdrive out the heathen with thy hand, and plantedst them; how thou didst afflict the people, and cast them out.
Psalms 44:3 RFor 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.
Psalms 44:4 Thou art Rmy King, O God: command deliverances for Jacob.
Psalms 44:5 RThrough thee will we push down our enemies: through thy name will we tread them under that rise up against us.
Psalms 44:6 RFor I will not trust in my bow, neither shall my sword save me.
Psalms 44:7 RBut thou hast saved us from our enemies, and hast put them to shame that hated us.
Psalms 44:8 RIn God we boast all the day long, and praise thy name for ever. Selah.
Psalms 44:9 But thou hast cast off, and put us to shame; and goest not forth with our armies.
Psalms 44:10 RThou makest us to turn back from the enemy: and they which hate us spoil for themselves.
Psalms 44:11 Thou hast Rgiven us Tlike sheep appointed for meat; and hast scattered us among the heathen.
Psalms 44:12 Thou Rsellest thy people Tfor nought, and dost not increase thy wealth by their price.
Psalms 44:13 Thou Rmakest us a reproach to our neighbours, a scorn and a derision to them that are round about us.
Psalms 44:14 Thou makest us a byword among the heathen, a Rshaking of the head among the people.
Psalms 44:15 My Rconfusion is continually before me, and the shame of my face hath covered me,
Psalms 44:16 RFor the voice of him that reproacheth and blasphemeth; by reason of the enemy and avenger.
Psalms 44:17 RAll this is come upon us; yet have we not forgotten thee, neither have we dealt falsely in thy covenant.
Psalms 44:18 Our Rheart is not turned back, neither have our Tsteps declined from thy way;
Psalms 44:19 RThough thou hast sore broken us in the place of dragons, and covered us with the shadow of death.
Psalms 44:20 RIf we have forgotten the name of our God, or stretched out our hands to a strange god;
Psalms 44:21 RShall not God search this out? for he knoweth the secrets of the heart.
Psalms 44:22 RYea, for thy sake are we killed all the day long; we are counted as sheep for the slaughter.
Psalms 44:23 RAwake, why sleepest thou, O Lord? arise, cast us not off for ever.
Psalms 44:24 RWherefore hidest thou thy face, and forgettest our affliction and our oppression?
Psalms 44:25 For our soul is bowed down to the dust: our belly cleaveth unto the earth.
Psalms 44:26 Arise Tfor our help, and Rredeem us for thy mercies’ sake.
📚 Study This Chapter
📖 What We’re Reading
Psalms 44:1–8 — Remembering help received by earlier generations
🌱 What These Verses Teach Us
The community recalls what parents taught about God's past deliverance and acknowledges that its own weapons did not secure the land. God is their King, and their boasting is in him. Remembering earlier grace provides the background for the difficult questions that follow about present defeat.
Key Truth: Remember God's help rather than crediting human strength alone.
Check What You Remember
1. Who told the people of God's earlier works? (Psalms 44:1)
Find it in Psalms 44:1 (KJV).
2. What did not gain them the land? (Psalms 44:3)
Find it in Psalms 44:3 (KJV).
3. In whom do they boast? (Psalms 44:8)
Find it in Psalms 44:8 (KJV).
📖 What We’re Reading
Psalms 44:9–16 — Defeat and public shame
🌱 What These Verses Teach Us
The community describes military loss, scattering, and mockery in stark language. Its suffering feels like rejection by God, in painful contrast to the remembered victories. This lament does not hide collective humiliation or force the people to speak as if nothing is wrong; it directs that anguish toward God.
Key Truth: Communal grief can be spoken honestly before God.
Check What You Remember
1. What do their armies experience? (Psalms 44:9)
Find it in Psalms 44:9 (KJV).
2. What animal image describes the people given for meat? (Psalms 44:11)
Find it in Psalms 44:11 (KJV).
3. What has covered the speaker's face? (Psalms 44:15)
Find it in Psalms 44:15 (KJV).
📖 What We’re Reading
Psalms 44:17–26 — Faithful suffering and a plea for redemption
🌱 What These Verses Teach Us
The people declare that they have not abandoned the covenant, and appeal to the God who knows hidden hearts. They ask for help and redemption for mercy's sake. Paul later quotes their slaughtered-sheep language, underscoring that suffering can occur amid faithfulness rather than proving abandonment or apostasy.
Key Truth: Faithful people may suffer and still appeal to God's mercy.
Check What You Remember
1. What do the people say they have not forgotten? (Psalms 44:17)
Find it in Psalms 44:17 (KJV).
2. What secrets does God know? (Psalms 44:21)
Find it in Psalms 44:21 (KJV).
3. For what sake do they ask redemption? (Psalms 44:26)
Find it in Psalms 44:26 (KJV).
Related Scripture (KJV)
Romans 8:36 — Paul quotes the psalm while affirming that suffering does not separate believers from Christ's love.
This related passage is selected for its connection with this chapter. It is separate from the chapter text.
Reflect and Apply
How can your community acknowledge a painful loss while continuing to seek God's mercy together?
Advanced Questions and Answers
Study this chapter’s wording, patterns, contrasts, and meaning in greater depth.
1. How do the ancestors’ testimony and the sword contrast?
2. How does remembered victory sharpen present grief?
3. How do the sheep images express the people’s plight?
4. Why does the heart appeal challenge an automatic charge of apostasy?
5. How does the final request ground hoped-for restoration?
Notes
Write what you want to remember, questions to explore, or Scriptures to look up later. Your saved notes are private to your account.
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