John Calvin Commentary Psalms 44:15

"All the day long is my dishonor before me, And the shame of my face hath covered me," — Psalms 44:15 (ASV)

My reproach is daily before me. The Hebrew words כלהיום, col-hayom, mean 'all the day' and denote long continuance. These words can be understood in two ways: either for the whole or entire day, from morning to evening, or for a continued succession of days. According to either of these interpretations, the meaning is that there is no end to their misfortunes.

As to the change of number from the plural to the singular, it is not at all inconsistent that what is spoken in the name of the Church should be uttered, as it were, in the person of one man.

The reason is added why they were so overwhelmed with shame that they dared not lift up their eyes and their face: namely, because they had no respite but were incessantly subjected to the insolence and reproach of their enemies. Had they been allowed to hide in some corner, they might have endured their calamities in secret as best they could; but when their enemies openly derided them with the greatest insolence, it served to redouble the wound inflicted upon them.

Therefore, they complain that their calamities had accumulated to such an extent that they were forced unceasingly to hear blasphemies and bitter reproaches. They describe their enemies by the epithet avengers, a term which, among the Hebrews, denotes barbarity and cruelty accompanied by pride, as we have remarked on Psalm 8.