You make us turn back from the adversary. Those who hate us take plunder for themselves.
Parallel translations
- KJV Thou makest us to turn back from the enemy: and they which hate us spoil for themselves.
- BSB You have made us retreat from the foe, and those who hate us have plundered us.
- NKJV You make us turn back from the enemy, And those who hate us have taken spoil for themselves.
- NASB You cause us to turn back from the enemy; And those who hate us have taken spoils for themselves.
- NLT You make us retreat from our enemies and allow those who hate us to plunder our land.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The people are turned back before the enemy, who plunders them. It matters because it confesses the bitterness of defeat that seems to come from God's withdrawn favor.
Overview
The lament details the consequences of God seemingly not going with them: retreat and loss. Defeat and plunder reverse the earlier victories given by God's hand. The psalmist does not deny God's sovereignty over this reversal but pleads with the God who alone can restore.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- Josh 7:8Oh, Lord, what shall I say, after Israel has turned their backs before their enemies!
- Lev 26:17I will set my face against you, and you will be struck before your enemies. Those who hate you will rule over you; and you will flee when no one pursues you.
- Ps 89:41All who pass by the way rob him. He has become a reproach to his neighbors.
- Josh 7:12Therefore the children of Israel can’t stand before their enemies. They turn their backs before their enemies, because they have become devoted for destruction. I will not be with you any more, unless you destroy the devoted things from among you.
- Isa 10:6I will send him against a profane nation, and against the people who anger me will I give him a command to take the plunder and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets.
- Deut 28:25Yahweh will cause you to be struck before your enemies. You will go out one way against them, and will flee seven ways before them. You will be tossed back and forth among all the kingdoms of the earth.
- Lev 26:36–37“‘As for those of you who are left, I will send a faintness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies. The sound of a driven leaf will put them to flight; and they shall flee, as one flees from the sword. They will fall when no one pursues.
- Lev 26:14“‘But if you will not listen to me, and will not do all these commandments;
- Jer 20:8For as often as I speak, I cry out; I cry, Violence and destruction! because Yahweh’s word has been made a reproach to me, and a derision, all day.
- 1 Sam 4:17He who brought the news answered, “Israel has fled before the Philistines, and there has been also a great slaughter among the people. Your two sons also, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead, and God’s ark has been captured.”
- 1 Sam 31:1–7Now the Philistines fought against Israel; and the men of Israel fled from before the Philistines, and fell down slain on Mount Gilboa.
- Jer 15:13Your substance and your treasures will I give for a plunder without price, and that for all your sins, even in all your borders.
- Isa 10:14My hand has found the riches of the peoples like a nest, and like one gathers eggs that are abandoned, I have gathered all the earth. There was no one who moved their wing, or that opened their mouth, or chirped.”
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
The Psalms are Christ's own prayer book and a gallery of his portraits — the suffering one of Psalm 22, the risen Lord of Psalm 16, the priest-king of Psalm 110, the Son to whom the nations are given.
How Psalms 44:10 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.