In Psalms 44 the tone of the verse is stern. The beginning of the Psalm you have a first person narrative speaking for an entire group. For example line 2 states “God, with our own ears have heard, our fathers recounted to us a deed that you did their days, in days of yore” (154) The verse continues to the speaker begins to question God ideals. For example lines 9 through 11 states “God we praise all day long, and Your name we acclaim for all time. / Yet You neglected us and disgraced us/and did not sally forth in our ranks./ You turned us back from the foe,/and our enemies took their plunder.” In class we talked about how in religion has set up this form of reward. In the first two lines the person is expecting God to protect them, because they have been praising God and doing what is right. This since of neglect is continued through line 12-17, however the verse shifts in terms of meaning. At this point the person realizes that even though this evil is occurring, they still believe in him. Line 23 states “For your sake we are killed all day long…” (157) This line suggest a form of sacrifice that has to be paid.

Work Cited : Alter, Robert. The Book of Psalms . 1st. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2007. Print.