O God, We Heard It with Our Ears - Psalm 44 Becker (Schütz)

1. 1 O God, we heard it with our ears,
Our fathers told us of their years;
Of deeds You did in days of old:
2 You drove the heathen out, behold!
You sowed Your people with Your hand;
And cast the nations from the land.
2. 3 They did not gain this on their own,
Nor by their swords and arms alone;
But by Your arm and smiling face,
Because You favored them with grace.
4 O God, the King to whom I bow;
Command success for Jacob now.
3. 5 Through You we’ll push opponents down.
Your name will crush them on the ground.
6 I will not trust my sword or bow.
7 But You have saved from ev’ry foe,
And put our enemies to shame.
8 All day we boast, and praise Your name.
4. 9 But You have shrugged and shamed us more,
You never join our troops in war.
10 You turn our backs on winning foes,
They take our spoil and turn the nose.
11 You lay us out like butchered sheep
For scattered Gentile hordes to keep.
5. 12 You sell Your tribes for almost naught
You make no profit when they’re bought.
13 Before our friends You give us shame
Our neighbors mock and scorn our name.
14 We fill the nations with disgust,
They shake their heads to think of us.
6. 15 I’m always plagued with my disgrace
I wear my shame across my face.
16 Because of him who speaks reproach,
Whose voice reviles at my approach.
Because the enemy assails.
And my avenger still prevails.
7. 17 All this befalls; but we are true;
We’ve kept the covenant with You.
18 Our heart has never turned away,
Nor do our steps forsake Your way;
19 You crush us in the dragon’s lair
And wrap us in death’s shadow there.
8. 20 If we forgot the name of God,
Or stretched our hands to foreign gods,
21 Would God not see this from the start?
He knows the secrets of the heart.
22 Yet for Your sake all day we’re killed;
Like sheep for slaughter You have willed.
9. 23 Awake! O Lord, why do you sleep?
Arise! Retrieve us from the heap.
24 Why hide Your face; forgetting us?
25 Our soul is sinking down to dust;
We cling to earth, about to break.
26 Redeem us for Your mercies’ sake!
Music: Heinrich Schütz, 1661
Text: Donald P. Owens II, 2012 © [e-mail]
Tune name: BECKER 44 [WIR HABEN, HERR, MIT FLEISS] 8 8. 8 8. 8 8.
All vocals by Michael E. Owens
I record tunes that anyone can sing.
Now that you know the tune, go ahead and sing it.
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