Psalms 44:2

You, by your power, ¹  defeated nations and settled our fathers on their land; ²  you crushed ³  the people living there ⁴  and enabled our ancestors to occupy it. ⁵ 

With your hand you drove out the nations and planted our fathers; you crushed the peoples and made our fathers flourish.

You with Your own hand drove out the nations; Then You planted them; You afflicted the peoples, Then You spread them abroad.

You drove out the pagan nations and gave all the land to our ancestors; you crushed their enemies, setting our ancestors free.

How single-handedly you weeded out the godless from the fields and planted us, How you sent those people packing but gave us a fresh start.

Uprooting the nations with your hand, and planting our fathers in their place; cutting down the nations, but increasing the growth of your people.

you with your own hand drove out the nations, but them you planted; you afflicted the peoples, but them you set free;

You drove out the nations with Your hand, But them You planted; You afflicted the peoples, and cast them out.

You, by your power, ¹  defeated nations and settled our fathers on their land; ²  you crushed ³  the people living there ⁴  and enabled our ancestors to occupy it. ⁵ 

¹ tn Heb “you, your hand.”

² tn Heb “dispossessed nations and planted them.” The third masculine plural pronoun “them” refers to the fathers (v. 1). See Ps 80:8, 15.

³ tn The verb form in the Hebrew text is a Hiphil preterite (without vav [ו] consecutive) from רָעַע (ra’a’, “be evil; be bad”). If retained it apparently means, “you injured; harmed.” Some prefer to derive the verb from רָעַע (“break”; cf. NEB “breaking up the peoples”), in which case the form must be revocalized as Qal (since this verb is unattested in the Hiphil).

⁴ tn Or “peoples.”

⁵ tn Heb “and you sent them out.” The translation assumes that the third masculine plural pronoun “them” refers to the fathers (v. 1), as in the preceding parallel line. See Ps 80:11, where Israel, likened to a vine, “spreads out” its tendrils to the west and east. Another option is to take the “peoples” as the referent of the pronoun and translate, “and you sent them away,” though this does not provide as tight a parallel with the corresponding line.