Thou hast given us like sheep appointed for meat; and hast scattered us among the heathen.

Thou hast given us up like sheep to be eaten : thou hast scattered us among the nations.

Thou hast given us over like sheep appointed for meat, and hast scattered us among the nations;

Thou makest us food like sheep, And among nations Thou hast scattered us.

You have made us like sheep which are taken for meat; we are put to flight among the nations.

Thou makest us to turn back from the adversary; and they that hate us spoil at their will.

Thou hast given us like sheep appointed for meat - Margin, as in Hebrew, "as sheep of meat." That is, as sheep are killed for food, so thou hast allowed us to be put to death.
And hast scattered us among the heathen - Among the surrounding nations. See the notes at Psalm 44:2. That is, they had been discomfited in war; many had fled into surrounding countries; many had been carried away captive. All this undoubtedly occurred at the time at which I have supposed that the psalm was written - the time immediately preceding the Babylonian captivity.

And hast scattered us among the heathen - This most evidently alludes to the captivity. From the successful wars of the kings of Assyria and Chaldea against the kings of Israel and Judah, and the dispersion of the tribes under Tiglath-pileser, Shalmaneser, and Nebuchadnezzar, Jews have been found in every province of the east; there they settled, and there their successors may be found to the present day.

Thou hast given us (k) like sheep [appointed] for meat; and hast scattered us among the heathen.
(k) Knowing God to be author of this calamity, they murmur not, but seek remedy at his hands who wounded them.

Thou hast given us like sheep appointed for meat,.... To be butchered, and then eaten as sheep are; and therefore are called "the flock of slaughter", Zac 11:4; as the church was, not only under the ten persecutions of Rome Pagan, but through the butcheries and massacres of Rome Papal; who have worried many of Christ's sheep, have eaten their flesh and drank their blood, and have become drunken with it; it has been their meat and drink to persecute the saints of the most High;
and hast scattered us among the Heathen: the Pagan world, as the first Christians were, who were scattered up and down in the Gentile world everywhere; see 1-Peter 1:1; or the Papacy, who are sometimes called Gentiles, Revelation 11:2; because much of the Gentile idolatry is introduced into the Popish religion; and among these many of the true members of Christ and of his church have been carried captive and scattered; and such will be found there a little before the destruction of Babylon, and will be called out from thence; see Revelation 13:10.

The Babylonian captivity not necessarily meant. There were others (compare 1-Kings 8:46).

Scattered - Those who were not slain are carried into captivity, and dispersed in several places.