Thou makest us to turn back from the enemy: and they which hate us spoil for themselves.
Parallel translations
- WEB You make us turn back from the adversary. Those who hate us take plunder 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 It matters because it confesses the bitterness of defeat that seems to come from God's withdrawn favor.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 7:8O LORD, what shall I say, when Israel turneth their backs before their enemies!
- Lev 26:17And I will set my face against you, and ye shall be slain before your enemies: they that hate you shall reign over you; and ye shall flee when none pursueth you.
- Ps 89:41All that pass by the way spoil him: he is a reproach to his neighbours.
- Josh 7:12Therefore the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies, but turned their backs before their enemies, because they were accursed: neither will I be with you any more, except ye destroy the accursed from among you.
- Isa 10:6I will send him against an hypocritical nation, and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge, to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets.
- Deut 28:25The LORD shall cause thee to be smitten before thine enemies: thou shalt go out one way against them, and flee seven ways before them: and shalt be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth.
- Lev 26:36–37And upon them that are left alive of you I will send a faintness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies; and the sound of a shaken leaf shall chase them; and they shall flee, as fleeing from a sword; and they shall fall when none pursueth.
- Lev 26:14But if ye will not hearken unto me, and will not do all these commandments;
- Jer 20:8For since I spake, I cried out, I cried violence and spoil; because the word of the LORD was made a reproach unto me, and a derision, daily.
- 1 Sam 4:17And the messenger answered and said, Israel is fled before the Philistines, and there hath been also a great slaughter among the people, and thy two sons also, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead, and the ark of God is taken.
- 1 Sam 31:1–7Now the Philistines fought against Israel: and the men of Israel fled from before the Philistines, and fell down slain in mount Gilboa.
- Jer 15:13Thy substance and thy treasures will I give to the spoil without price, and that for all thy sins, even in all thy borders.
- Isa 10:14And my hand hath found as a nest the riches of the people: and as one gathereth eggs that are left, have I gathered all the earth; and there was none that moved the wing, or opened the mouth, or peeped.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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.