| Maschil of Asaph. |
1 | O God, why hast thou cast us off for ever? why doth thine anger smoke against the sheep of thy pasture? |
2 | Remember thy congregation, which thou hast purchased of old; the rod of thine inheritance, which thou hast redeemed; this mount Zion, wherein thou hast dwelt. |
3 | Lift up thy feet unto the perpetual desolations; even all that the enemy hath done wickedly in the sanctuary. |
4 | Thine enemies roar in the midst of thy congregations; they set up their ensigns for signs. |
5 | A man was famous according as he had lifted up axes upon the thick trees. |
6 | But now they break down the carved work thereof at once with axes and hammers. |
7 | They have cast fire into thy sanctuary, they have defiled by casting down the dwelling place of thy name to the ground. |
8 | They said in their hearts, Let us destroy them together: they have burned up all the synagogues of God in the land. |
9 | We see not our signs: there is no more any prophet: neither is there among us any that knoweth how long. |
10 | O God, how long shall the adversary reproach? shall the enemy blaspheme thy name for ever? |
11 | Why withdrawest thou thy hand, even thy right hand? pluck it out of thy bosom. |
12 | For God is my King of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth. |
13 | Thou didst divide the sea by thy strength: thou brakest the heads of the dragons in the waters. |
14 | Thou brakest the heads of leviathan in pieces, and gavest him to be meat to the people inhabiting the wilderness. |
15 | Thou didst cleave the fountain and the flood: thou driedst up mighty rivers. |
16 | The day is thine, the night also is thine: thou hast prepared the light and the sun. |
17 | Thou hast set all the borders of the earth: thou hast made summer and winter. |
18 | Remember this, that the enemy hath reproached, O LORD, and that the foolish people have blasphemed thy name. |
19 | O deliver not the soul of thy turtledove unto the multitude of the wicked: forget not the congregation of thy poor for ever. |
20 | Have respect unto the covenant: for the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty. |
21 | O let not the oppressed return ashamed: let the poor and needy praise thy name. |
22 | Arise, O God, plead thine own cause: remember how the foolish man reproacheth thee daily. |
23 | Forget not the voice of thine enemies: the tumult of those that rise up against thee increaseth continually. |