Mazmur 44:20-26

44:20 If we had rejected our God, ¹ 

and spread out our hands in prayer to another god, ² 

44:21 would not God discover it,

for he knows ³  one’s thoughts? ⁴ 

44:22 Yet because of you ⁵  we are killed all day long;

we are treated like ⁶  sheep at the slaughtering block. ⁷ 

44:23 Rouse yourself! Why do you sleep, O Lord?

Wake up! ⁸  Do not reject us forever!

44:24 Why do you look the other way, ⁹ 

and ignore ¹⁰  the way we are oppressed and mistreated? ¹¹ 

44:25 For we lie in the dirt,

with our bellies pressed to the ground. ¹² 

44:26 Rise up and help us!

Rescue us ¹³  because of your loyal love!

[44:20]  ¹ tn Heb “If we had forgotten the name of our God.” To “forget the name” here refers to rejecting the Lord’s authority (see Jer 23:27) and abandoning him as an object of prayer and worship (see the next line).

[44:20]  ² tn Heb “and spread out your hands to another god.” Spreading out the hands was a prayer gesture (see Exod 9:29, 33; 1 Kgs 8:22, 38; 2 Chr 6:12-13, 29; Ezra 9:15; Job 11:13; Isa 1:15). In its most fundamental sense זר (“another; foreign; strange”) refers to something that is outside one’s circle, often making association with it inappropriate. A “strange” god is an alien deity, an “outside god” (see L. A. Snijders, TDOT 4:54-55).

[44:21]  ³ tn The active participle describes what is characteristically true.

[44:21]  ⁴ tn Heb “would not God search out this, for he knows the hidden things of [the] heart?” The expression “search out” is used metonymically here, referring to discovery, the intended effect of a search. The “heart” (i.e., mind) is here viewed as the seat of one’s thoughts. The rhetorical question expects the answer, “Of course he would!” The point seems to be this: There is no way the Israelites who are the speakers in the psalm would reject God and turn to another god, for the omniscient God would easily discover such a sin.

[44:22]  ⁵ tn The statement “because of you” (1) may simply indicate that God is the cause of the Israelites’ defeat (see vv. 9-14, where the nation’s situation is attributed directly to God’s activity, and cf. NEB, NRSV), or (2) it may suggest they suffer because of their allegiance to God (see Ps 69:7 and Jer 15:15). In this case one should translate, “for your sake” (cf. NASB, NIV). The citation of this verse in Rom 8:36 follows the LXX (Ps 43:23 LXX), where the Greek term ἕνεκεν (Jeneken; LXX ἕνεκα) may likewise mean “because of” or “for the sake of” (BDAG 334 s.v. ἕνεκα 1).

[44:22]  ⁶ tn Or “regarded as.”

[44:22]  ⁷ tn Heb “like sheep of slaughtering,” that is, sheep destined for slaughter.

[44:23]  ⁸ sn Wake up! See Ps 35:23.

[44:24]  ⁹ tn Heb “Why do you hide your face?” The idiom “hide the face” can mean “ignore” (see Pss 10:11; 13:1; 51:9) or carry the stronger idea of “reject” (see Pss 30:7; 88:14).

[44:24]  ¹⁰ tn Or “forget.”

[44:24]  ¹¹ tn Heb “our oppression and our affliction.”

[44:25]  ¹² tn Heb “for our being/life sinks down to the dirt, our belly clings to the earth.” The suffixed form of נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh, “being, life”) is often equivalent to a pronoun in poetic texts.

[44:26]  ¹³ tn Or “redeem us.” See Pss 25:22; 26:11; 69:18; 119:134.