We are Killed All the Day Long

Paul’s Use of Psalm 44:22 in Romans 8:36

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Psalm 44 is a lament from the nation. The psalm is preceded by two songs of individual lament (Psalms 42 and 43, which begin Book 2), but then Psalm 44 has a wide canvas, a national scene of military defeat and corporate grief (Ps. 44:9–16).

We know that sin can bring suffering, even distress on a national scale, but the psalmist insists that rebellion is not the cause for the nation’s defeat (Ps. 44:17–21). The psalm was apparently composed during a period of Israel’s spiritual renewal and strength, so the psalmist speaks as if the nation is a collective righteous sufferer, a corporate Job.

The psalmist tells the Lord, “Yet for your sake we are killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered” (Ps. 44:22). What does that mean, and how did Paul use this verse when he wrote to the Romans?