A maskil of Asaph. Why, God, have you cast us off forever? Why does your anger smoke against the sheep of your pasture?
Why Have You Rejected Us Forever?
Remember your congregation, which you acquired of old, which you redeemed as the tribe of your inheritance — Mount Zion, this, where you have dwelt.
Lift up your steps to the everlasting ruins; the enemy has done evil to everything in the sanctuary.
Your foes have roared in the midst of your meeting place; they have set up their signs as signs.
It is known as one bringing axes upward into a thicket of trees.
And now its carved work, all together, they smash with hatchet and hammers.
They have sent your sanctuary into the fire; to the ground they have profaned the dwelling of your name.
They have said in their heart, “Let us oppress them altogether.” They have burned all the meeting places of God in the land.
We do not see our signs; there is no longer a prophet, and there is no one with us who knows how long.
How long, God, will the foe reproach? Will the enemy spurn your name forever?
Why do you turn back your hand, and your right hand? From the midst of your bosom, finish it!
But God is my king from of old, working salvations in the midst of the earth.
You yourself broke up the sea by your strength; you shattered the heads of the sea monsters on the waters.
You yourself crushed the heads of Leviathan; you gave him as food for a people, for desert dwellers.
You yourself split open spring and torrent; you yourself dried up ever-flowing rivers.
Yours is the day; yours also is the night; you yourself established light and sun.
You yourself set all the boundaries of the earth; summer and winter — you yourself formed them.
Remember this: the enemy has reproached the LORD, and a foolish people has spurned your name.
Do not give the life of your dove to the beast; do not forget the life of your afflicted ones forever.
Look to the covenant, for the dark places of the earth are full of dwellings of violence.
Do not let the crushed turn back humiliated; let the afflicted and the needy praise your name.
Rise, God, contend your case; remember your reproach from the fool all the day.
Do not forget the voice of your foes, the roar of those who rise against you, going up continually.