Psalm 44 — Hebrew and Greek compared
Disparate in this chapter: 44:19
Each card keeps the independently rendered source readings above their shared comparison and reception notes. The badge records the source’s governing classification; disparate readings are marked in red. Each reading retains its original reference.
Psalm 44
For Your sake we are killed
Verse 44:1 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[44:1] For the director. Of the sons of Korah. A Maskil.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[43:1] For the end. A psalm of the sons of Korah, for understanding.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: The performance heading, Maskil interpretation and ancient name form differ; Greek explicitly calls it a psalm. Familiar English names are used where the referent is the same.
Verse 44:2 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[44:2] God, with our ears we have heard;
our fathers recounted to us
the work You did in their days, in days of old.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[43:2] God, with our ears we heard;
our fathers announced to us
the work You did in their days, in ancient days.
Classification & Notes
Same. Text: Both preserve the received ancestral testimony.
Verse 44:3 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[44:3] You, with Your hand, dispossessed nations and planted our fathers;
You afflicted peoples and sent them away.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[43:3] Your hand destroyed nations, and You planted our fathers;
You afflicted peoples and cast them out.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew dispossession becomes Greek destruction. Our fathers makes explicit the contextually distinct object of planting, rather than confusing the planted people with the expelled nations.
Verse 44:4 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[44:4] For they did not inherit the land by their sword,
and their arm did not save them,
but Your right hand, Your arm and the light of Your face,
for You favored them.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[43:4] For they did not inherit the land by their sword,
and their arm did not save them,
but Your right hand, Your arm and the illumination of Your face,
because You delighted in them.
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: Both attribute victory to divine favor rather than human weapons.
Verse 44:5 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[44:5] You are my King, God;
command deliverances for Jacob.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[43:5] You Yourself are my King and my God,
who commands the salvations of Jacob.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew commands a fresh act of deliverance; Greek describes God's continuing role.
Verse 44:6 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[44:6] Through You we gore our adversaries;
through Your name we trample those rising against us.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[43:6] Through You we will gore our enemies,
and through Your name we will bring to nothing those rising against us.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Greek replaces trampling with reducing the opponents to nothing.
Verse 44:7 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[44:7] For I do not trust in my bow,
and my sword will not save me.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[43:7] For I will not hope in my bow,
and my sword will not save me.
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: The denial of reliance on weapons agrees.
Verse 44:8 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[44:8] For You saved us from our adversaries
and put those who hate us to shame.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[43:8] For You saved us from those afflicting us
and put those who hate us to shame.
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: The remembered rescue agrees.
Verse 44:9 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[44:9] In God we boast all day long,
and Your name we will thank forever. Selah.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[43:9] In God we will be praised all day long,
and in Your name we will give thanks forever. Diapsalma.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew actively boasts; Greek has being praised and giving thanks in the name.
Verse 44:10 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[44:10] Even though You rejected us and disgraced us
and do not go out with our armies,
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[43:10] But now You thrust us away and put us to shame,
and You will not go out with our forces.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: The Hebrew concessive reading follows Rashi, who connects it to continued thanksgiving; Greek asserts the present reversal (RASHI-PS44, 44:10).
Verse 44:11 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[44:11] You make us retreat before the adversary,
and those who hate us plunder for themselves.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[43:11] You turned us backward before our enemies,
and those who hate us plundered for themselves.
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: The forced retreat and plunder agree.
Verse 44:12 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[44:12] You give us like sheep for food
and scatter us among the nations.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[43:12] You gave us like sheep for eating
and scattered us among the nations.
Classification & Notes
Same. Text: Both depict the people as food and scattered captives.
Verse 44:13 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[44:13] You sell Your people for no wealth
and have gained nothing from their price.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[43:13] You sold Your people without a price,
and there was no abundance in their exchange.
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: Both protest a sale bringing no gain.
Verse 44:14 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[44:14] You make us a reproach to our neighbors,
mockery and derision to those around us.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[43:14] You made us a reproach to our neighbors,
scorn and ridicule to those around us.
Classification & Notes
Same. Text: The public humiliation agrees.
Verse 44:15 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[44:15] You make us a byword among the nations,
a shaking of the head among the peoples.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[43:15] You made us a parable among the nations,
a shaking of the head among the peoples.
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: Byword and parable express the people's becoming an example of disgrace.
Verse 44:16 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[44:16] All day long my disgrace is before me,
and the shame of my face covers me,
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[43:16] All day long my humiliation is before me,
and the shame of my face covered me,
Classification & Notes
Same. Text: The shift to a singular speaker and personal shame agrees.
Verse 44:17 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[44:17] at the voice of the taunter and reviler,
at the presence of the enemy and avenger.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[43:17] at the voice of one reproaching and speaking abusively,
at the presence of an enemy and pursuer.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew names an avenger; Greek a pursuer.
Verse 44:18 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[44:18] All this has come upon us, yet we have not forgotten You
or dealt falsely with Your covenant.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[43:18] All these things came upon us, and we did not forget You
or act unjustly in Your covenant.
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: Both deny covenant betrayal despite suffering.
Verse 44:19 Disparate
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[44:19] Our heart has not turned backward,
nor have our steps turned aside from Your path,
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[43:19] And our heart did not withdraw backward,
but You turned our paths away from Your way.
Classification & Notes
Disparate. Text: Hebrew carries the negative forward to deny the people's deviation; Greek explicitly makes God turn their paths away. The alternatives differ in both agency and assertion.
Verse 44:20 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[44:20] even when You crushed us in a place of jackals
and covered us with death's shadow.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[43:20] For You humbled us in a place of affliction,
and death's shadow covered us.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew retains the desolate animal habitat and God as covering agent; Greek names affliction and makes death's shadow the subject. Rashi takes Hebrew ki as even when, continuing the protest of fidelity (RASHI-PS44, 44:20).
Verse 44:21 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[44:21] If we had forgotten our God's name
and spread our palms toward a foreign god,
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[43:21] If we forgot our God's name,
and if we spread our hands toward a foreign god,
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: Both introduce the hypothetical act of idolatry.
Verse 44:22 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[44:22] would God not search this out?
For He knows the heart's hidden things.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[43:22] will God not search these things out?
For He knows the heart's hidden things.
Classification & Notes
Same. Text: The appeal to God's knowledge agrees.
Verse 44:23 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[44:23] For Your sake we are killed all day long;
we are reckoned as sheep for slaughter.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[43:23] For Your sake we are put to death all day long;
we were reckoned as sheep for slaughter.
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: The description of faithful suffering agrees. Reception: Romans 8:35–39 quotes this verse while affirming that suffering cannot separate believers from God's love in Christ (SBL-ROM-PS).
Verse 44:24 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[44:24] Awake! Why do You sleep, Lord?
Wake up; do not reject us forever.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[43:24] Awake! Why do You sleep, Lord?
Arise, and do not thrust us away completely.
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: Both retain the bold imagery of awakening God.
Verse 44:25 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[44:25] Why do You hide Your face
and forget our affliction and oppression?
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[43:25] Why do You turn Your face away
and forget our poverty and affliction?
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew oppression and Greek poverty differ within the same protest.
Verse 44:26 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[44:26] For our soul is bowed down to the dust;
our belly clings to the earth.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[43:26] For our soul was humbled to the dust;
our belly clung to the earth.
Classification & Notes
Same. Text: The abasement agrees.
Verse 44:27 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[44:27] Arise to help us,
and redeem us for the sake of Your steadfast love.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[43:27] Arise, Lord; help us,
and redeem us for the sake of Your name.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew appeals to steadfast love; Greek to the divine name. Reception: Rashi emphasizes reliance on God's kindness rather than the people's merit (RASHI-PS44, 44:27).