Discovery BoxPsalms 44:9-16 
Context44:9 But 1 you rejected and embarrassed us!
You did not go into battle with our armies. 2
44:10 You made us retreat 3 from the enemy.
Those who hate us take whatever they want from us. 4
44:11 You handed us 5 over like sheep to be eaten;
you scattered us among the nations.
44:12 You sold 6 your people for a pittance; 7
you did not ask a high price for them. 8
44:13 You made us 9 an object of disdain to our neighbors;
those who live on our borders taunt and insult us. 10
44:14 You made us 11 an object of ridicule 12 among the nations;
foreigners treat us with contempt. 13
44:15 All day long I feel humiliated 14
and am overwhelmed with shame, 15
44:16 before the vindictive enemy
who ridicules and insults me. 16
1 tn The particle אַף (’af, “but”) is used here as a strong adversative contrasting the following statement with what precedes.
2 tn Heb “you did not go out with our armies.” The prefixed verbal form is a preterite (without vav [ו] consecutive).
3 tn Heb “you caused us to turn backward.”
4 tn Heb “plunder for themselves.” The prepositional phrase לָמוֹ (lamo, “for themselves”) here has the nuance “at their will” or “as they please” (see Ps 80:6).
5 tn The prefixed verbal form is a preterite (without vav [ו] consecutive).
6 tn The prefixed verbal form is a preterite (without vav [ו] consecutive).
7 tn Heb “for what is not wealth.”
8 tn Heb “you did not multiply their purchase prices.”
9 tn The prefixed verbal form is a preterite (without vav [ו] consecutive).
10 tn Heb “an [object of] taunting and [of] mockery to those around us.”
11 tn The prefixed verbal form is a preterite (without vav [ו] consecutive).
12 tn Heb “a proverb,” or “[the subject of] a mocking song.”
13 tn Heb “a shaking of the head among the peoples.” Shaking the head was a derisive gesture (see Jer 18:16; Lam 2:15).
14 tn Heb “all the day my humiliation [is] in front of me.”
15 tn Heb “and the shame of my face covers me.”
16 tn Heb “from the voice of one who ridicules and insults, from the face of an enemy and an avenger.” See Ps 8:2.
