Awake, Lord! Why Do You Sleep?

Verses 1–8 · remembered victories and confident trust

1. ^{verse 1}We have heard with our ears, O God; our fathers have told us the work You did in their days, in the days of old.
2. ^{verse 2}With Your hand You drove out the nations and planted our fathers there; You crushed the peoples and cast them out.
3. ^{verse 3}For it was not by their sword that they took the land; their arm did not bring them victory. It was by Your right hand, Your arm, and the light of Your face, because You favored them.
4. ^{verse 4}You are my King, O God, who ordains victories for Jacob.
5. ^{verse 5}Through You we repel our foes; through Your name we trample our enemies.
6. ^{verse 6}For I do not trust in my bow, nor does my sword save me.
7. ^{verse 7}For You save us from our enemies; You put those who hate us to shame.
8. ^{verse 8}In God we have boasted all day long, and Your name we will praise forever. Selah

Verses 9–26 · an unanswered cry: wake up, Lord

1. ^{verse 9}But You have rejected and humbled us; You no longer go forth with our armies.
2. ^{verse 10}You have made us retreat from the foe, and those who hate us have plundered us.
3. ^{verse 11}You have given us up as sheep to be devoured; You have scattered us among the nations.
4. ^{verse 12}You sell Your people for nothing; no profit do You gain from their sale.
5. ^{verse 13}You have made us a reproach to our neighbors, a mockery and derision to those around us.
6. ^{verse 14}You have made us a byword among the nations, a laughingstock among the peoples.
7. ^{verse 15}All day long my disgrace is before me, and shame has covered my face,
8. ^{verse 16}at the voice of the scorner and reviler, because of the enemy, bent on revenge.
9. ^{verse 17}All this has come upon us, though we have not forgotten You or betrayed Your covenant.
10. ^{verse 18}Our hearts have not turned back; our steps have not strayed from Your path.
11. ^{verse 19}But You have crushed us in the lair of jackals; You have covered us with deepest darkness.
12. ^{verse 20}If we had forgotten the name of our God or spread out our hands to a foreign god,
13. ^{verse 21}would not God have discovered, since He knows the secrets of the heart?
14. ^{verse 22}Yet for Your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.
15. ^{verse 23}Wake up, O Lord! Why are You sleeping? Arise! Do not reject us forever.
16. ^{verse 24}Why do You hide Your face and forget our affliction and oppression?
17. ^{verse 25}For our soul has sunk to the dust; our bodies cling to the earth.
18. ^{verse 26}Rise up; be our help! Redeem us on account of Your loving devotion.