We Have Heard With Our Ears

We have heard with our ears, God;our fathers have told us what work you did in their days,in the days of old.

We have heard with our ears, O God, our fathers have told us, what work thou didst in their days, in the times of old.

The psalm opens with memory passed down. The people have heard with their own ears what their fathers told them about God's work in the days of old. Everything that follows is measured against that story.

Also read Job 15:17-19, Psalm 42:1, Deuteronomy 6:20, Job 8:8-9

You drove out the nations with your hand,but you planted them.You afflicted the peoples,but you spread them abroad.

How thou didst drive out the heathen with thy hand, and plantedst them; how thou didst afflict the people, and cast them out.

Also read Joshua 11:23, Psalm 136:17-22, Nehemiah 9:22-27, Psalm 78:55

For they didn’t get the land in possession by their own sword,neither did their own arm save them;but your right hand, your arm, and the light of your face,because you were favorable to them.

For they got not the land in possession by their own sword, neither did their own arm save them: but thy right hand, and thine arm, and the light of thy countenance, because thou hadst a favour unto them.

The ancestors did not win the land by their own sword or arm. It was God's right hand, his arm, and the light of his face, because he favoured them. The verse gives all the credit for the past to God.

Also read Deuteronomy 4:37-38, Isaiah 63:12, Exodus 15:16, Numbers 14:8

God, you are my King.Command victories for Jacob!

Thou art my King, O God: command deliverances for Jacob.

The speaker calls God his King and asks him to command victories for Jacob. The request links the old story to the present. What God did then, he is asked to do now.

Also read Mark 1:31, Psalm 149:2, Isaiah 33:22, Psalm 89:18

Through you, we will push down our adversaries.Through your name, we will tread down those who rise up against us.

Through thee will we push down our enemies: through thy name will we tread them under that rise up against us.

Through God, the people say, they will push down their adversaries and tread down those who rise against them. The verse is confident and speaks of victory through God's name. It sets up the shock of verse 9.

Also read Psalm 18:39-42, Psalm 118:10-13, Psalm 108:13, Psalm 91:13

For I will not trust in my bow,neither will my sword save me.

For I will not trust in my bow, neither shall my sword save me.

The speaker says he will not trust in his bow, and his sword will not save him. This matches verse 3, where the ancestors did not win by the sword either. Trust is placed in God, not in weapons.

Also read Psalm 33:16-17, Psalm 20:7, Hosea 1:7, 1 Samuel 17:47

But you have saved us from our adversaries,and have shamed those who hate us.

But thou hast saved us from our enemies, and hast put them to shame that hated us.

God is credited with saving them from their adversaries and shaming those who hate them. The verse looks back on past rescue. It is one of the last confident words before the turn.

Also read Psalm 40:14, 1 Samuel 17:47, Psalm 136:24, Joshua 10:42

In God we have made our boast all day long.We will give thanks to your name forever. Selah.

In God we boast all the day long, and praise thy name for ever. Selah.

The people say they have boasted in God all day long and will give thanks to his name forever. The first part of the psalm ends here with a Selah. The next verse begins with But now.

Also read Isaiah 45:25, Psalm 34:2, Psalm 30:12, Jeremiah 9:24

But now you rejected us, and brought us to dishonor,and don’t go out with our armies.

But thou hast cast off, and put us to shame; and goest not forth with our armies.

Also read Lamentations 3:31-32, Jeremiah 33:24-26, Psalm 74:1, Psalm 43:2

You make us turn back from the adversary.Those who hate us take plunder for themselves.

Thou makest us to turn back from the enemy: and they which hate us spoil for themselves.

God is blamed directly. He makes the people turn back from the adversary, and those who hate them take plunder. The lament does not soften who it holds responsible.

Also read Leviticus 26:36-37, Leviticus 26:17, Jeremiah 20:8, Isaiah 10:14

You have made us like sheep for food,and have scattered us among the nations.

Thou hast given us like sheep appointed for meat; and hast scattered us among the heathen.

Also read Psalm 106:27, Luke 21:24, Jeremiah 32:37, Romans 8:36

You sell your people for nothing,and have gained nothing from their sale.

Thou sellest thy people for nought, and dost not increase thy wealth by their price.

Also read Judges 2:14, Deuteronomy 32:30, Nehemiah 5:8-12, Isaiah 52:3-4

You make us a reproach to our neighbors,a scoffing and a derision to those who are around us.

Thou makest us a reproach to our neighbours, a scorn and a derision to them that are round about us.

Also read Psalm 89:51, Deuteronomy 28:37, Ezekiel 36:19-23, Psalm 123:3-4

You make us a byword among the nations,a shaking of the head among the peoples.

Thou makest us a byword among the heathen, a shaking of the head among the people.

Also read Deuteronomy 28:37, Isaiah 37:22, Job 17:6, Psalm 22:7

All day long my dishonor is before me,and shame covers my face,

My confusion is continually before me, and the shame of my face hath covered me,

Also read 2 Chronicles 32:21, Psalm 89:45, Ezra 9:6, Jeremiah 3:25

at the taunt of one who reproaches and verbally abuses,because of the enemy and the avenger.

For the voice of him that reproacheth and blasphemeth; by reason of the enemy and avenger.

Also read Psalm 74:18, Psalm 74:22-23, Isaiah 37:3-4, Psalm 79:12

All this has come on us,yet we haven’t forgotten you.We haven’t been false to your covenant.

All this is come upon us; yet have we not forgotten thee, neither have we dealt falsely in thy covenant.

Also read Psalm 9:17, Isaiah 17:10, Psalm 78:7, Deuteronomy 8:14

Our heart has not turned back,neither have our steps strayed from your path,

Our heart is not turned back, neither have our steps declined from thy way;

Also read Psalm 119:51, Psalm 119:157, Psalm 78:57, Jeremiah 11:10

though you have crushed us in the haunt of jackals,and covered us with the shadow of death.

Though thou hast sore broken us in the place of dragons, and covered us with the shadow of death.

Also read Job 3:5, Isaiah 35:7, Revelation 12:9, Psalm 51:8

If we have forgotten the name of our God,or spread out our hands to a strange god,

If we have forgotten the name of our God, or stretched out our hands to a strange god;

Also read Psalm 44:17, Psalm 68:31, Psalm 81:9, Job 31:5-40

won’t God search this out?For he knows the secrets of the heart.

Shall not God search this out? for he knoweth the secrets of the heart.

The people argue that if they had forgotten God or reached out to a strange god, God would search it out, because he knows the secrets of the heart. They appeal to God's own knowledge as proof of their faithfulness.

Also read Romans 2:16, 1 Corinthians 4:5, Job 31:4, Joshua 22:22-23

Yes, for your sake we are killed all day long.We are regarded as sheep for the slaughter.

Yea, for thy sake are we killed all the day long; we are counted as sheep for the slaughter.

This is the heart of the complaint. For God's sake the people are killed all day long and regarded as sheep for the slaughter. Their suffering is linked to their loyalty, not to any failure.

Also read 1 Corinthians 4:9, 1 Kings 19:10, Psalm 44:11, Psalm 79:2-3

Wake up!Why do you sleep, Lord?Arise!Don’t reject us forever.

Awake, why sleepest thou, O Lord? arise, cast us not off for ever.

The speaker tells God to wake up, asks why he sleeps, and calls him to arise and not reject them forever. The lament speaks to God directly, not about him. It is one of the boldest lines in the psalm.

Also read Mark 4:38, Isaiah 51:9, Psalm 77:7, Psalm 59:4-5

Why do you hide your face,and forget our affliction and our oppression?

Wherefore hidest thou thy face, and forgettest our affliction and our oppression?

Also read Psalm 13:1, Psalm 74:23, Exodus 2:23-24, Deuteronomy 32:20

For our soul is bowed down to the dust.Our body clings to the earth.

For our soul is bowed down to the dust: our belly cleaveth unto the earth.

Also read Psalm 66:11-12, Psalm 119:25, Isaiah 51:23, Lamentations 4:5

Rise up to help us.Redeem us for your loving kindness’ sake.

Arise for our help, and redeem us for thy mercies’ sake.

The psalm ends with a plea: rise up to help us and redeem us. The ground for the request is God's loving kindness, not the people's merit. No answer is recorded.

Also read Psalm 25:22, Psalm 130:7-8, Psalm 26:11, Psalm 35:2