Mazmur 44:17-19

44:17 All this has happened to us, even though we have not rejected you ¹ 

or violated your covenant with us. ² 

44:18 We have not been unfaithful, ³ 

nor have we disobeyed your commands. ⁴ 

44:19 Yet you have battered us, leaving us a heap of ruins overrun by wild dogs; ⁵ 

you have covered us with darkness. ⁶ 

[44:17]  ¹ tn Heb “we have not forgotten you.” To “forget” God refers here to worshiping false gods and thereby refusing to recognize his sovereignty (see v. 20, as well as Deut 8:19; Judg 3:7; 1 Sam 12:9; Isa 17:10; Jer 3:21; Ps 9:17).Thus the translation “we have not rejected you” has been used.

[44:17]  ² tn Heb “and we did not deal falsely with your covenant.”

[44:18]  ³ tn Heb “our heart did not turn backward.” Cf. Ps 78:57.

[44:18]  ⁴ tn Heb “and our steps did [not] turn aside from your path.” The negative particle is understood by ellipsis (see the preceding line). God’s “path” refers to his commands, i.e., the moral pathway he has prescribed for the psalmist. See Pss 17:5; 25:4.

[44:19]  ⁵ tn Heb “yet you have battered us in a place of jackals.”

[44:19]  ⁶ tn The Hebrew term צַלְמָוֶת (tsalmavet) has traditionally been understood as a compound noun meaning “shadow of death” (צֵל+מָוֶת [mavet + tsel]; see BDB 853 s.v. צַלְמָוֶת; cf. NASB). Other scholars prefer to vocalize the form צַלְמוּת (tsalmut) and understand it as an abstract noun (from the root צלם) meaning “darkness” (cf. NIV, NRSV). An examination of the word’s usage favors the latter derivation. It is frequently associated with darkness/night and contrasted with light/morning (see Job 3:5; 10:21-22; 12:22; 24:17; 28:3; 34:22; Ps 107:10, 14; Isa 9:1; Jer 13:16; Amos 5:8). In some cases the darkness described is associated with the realm of death (Job 10:21-22; 38:17), but this is a metaphorical application of the word and does not reflect its inherent meaning. In Ps 44:19 darkness symbolizes defeat and humiliation.