1 O God, thou hast cast us off, thou hast scattered us,
thou hast been displeased; O turn thyself to us again.
2 Thou hast made the earth to tremble; thou hast broken it:
heal the breaches thereof; for it shaketh.
3 Thou hast shewed thy people hard things:
thou hast made us to drink the wine of astonishment.
4 Thou hast given a banner to them that fear thee,
that it may be displayed because of the truth. Selah.
5 That thy beloved may be delivered;
save with thy right hand, and hear me.
6 God hath spoken in his holiness;
I will rejoice, I will divide Shechem,
and mete out the valley of Succoth.
7 Gilead is mine,
and Manasseh is mine; Ephraim also is the strength of mine head;
Judah is my lawgiver;
8 Moab is my washpot;
over Edom will I cast out my shoe:
Philistia, triumph thou because of me.
9 Who will bring me into the strong city?
who will lead me into Edom?
10 Wilt not thou, O God, which hadst cast us off?
and thou, O God, which didst not go out with our armies?
11 Give us help from trouble:
for vain is the help of man.
12 Through God we shall do valiantly:
for he it is that shall tread down our enemies.
Comments by Joan Boney
In the OT they often went into captivity of other men because they failed to turn to God and failed to trust in God.
In the NT we have similar problem when we fail to turn to God and turn to man for help and when we fail to trust in God.
We curse ourselves when we make man our strength and fail to turn to God.
Jeremiah 17 ... 5 Thus saith the Lord; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord. 6 For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh; but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land and not inhabited.
7 Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is. 8 For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.
We go into captivity and then we remember God and turn to God, returning to the Father in ways similar to the following parable.
Lk. 15 ... 11 And he said, A certain man had two sons:12 And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living. 13 And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living. 14 And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want. 15 And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. 16 And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat:and no man gave unto him. 17 And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! 18 I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, 19 And am no more worthy to be called thy son:make me as one of thy hired servants. 20 And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. 21 And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son. 22 But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet:23 And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry:24 For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry. 25 Now his elder son was in the field:and as he came and drew nigh to the house, he heard musick and dancing. 26 And he called one of the servants, and asked what these things meant. 27 And he said unto him, Thy brother is come; and thy father hath killed the fatted calf, because he hath received him safe and sound. 28 And he was angry, and would not go in:therefore came his father out, and intreated him. 29 And he answering said to his father, Lo, these many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment:and yet thou never gavest me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends:30 But as soon as this thy son was come, which hath devoured thy living with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf. 31 And he said unto him, Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine. 32 It was meet that we should make merry, and be glad:for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is found.