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[A Psalm of instruction for Asaph.]
[1] Wherefore hast thou rejected us, O God, for ever? wherefore is thy wrath kindled against the sheep of thy pasture?
[2] Remember thy congregation which thou hast purchased from the beginning; thou didst ransom the rod of thine inheritance; this mount Sion wherein thou hast dwelt.
[3] Lift up thine hands against their pride continually; because of all that the enemy has done wickedly in thy holy places.
[4] And they that hate thee have boasted in the midst of thy feast; they have set up their standards for signs,
[5] ignorantly as it were in the entrance above;
[6] they cut down its doors at once with axes as in a wood of trees; they have broken it down with hatchet and stone cutter.
[7] They have burnt thy sanctuary with fire to the ground; they have profaned the habitation of thy name.
[8] They have said in their heart, even all their kindred together, Come, let us abolish the feasts of the Lord from the earth.
[9] We have not seen our signs; there is no longer a prophet; and God will not know us any more.
[10] How long, O God, shall the enemy reproach? shall the enemy provoke thy name forever?
[11] Wherefore turnest thou away thine hand, and thy right hand from the midst of thy bosom for ever?
[12] But God is our King of old; he has wrought salvation in the midst of the earth.
[13] Thou didst establish the sea, in thy might, thou didst break to pieces the heads of the dragons in the water.
[14] Thou didst break to pieces the heads of the dragon; thou didst give him for meat to the Ethiopian nations.
[15] Thou didst cleave fountains and torrents; thou driedst up mighty rivers.
[16] The day is thine, and the night is thine; thou hast prepared the sun and the moon.
[17] Thou hast made all the borders of the earth; thou hast made summer and spring.
[18] Remember this thy creation: an enemy has reproached the Lord, and a foolish people has provoked thy name.
[19] Deliver not to the wild beasts a soul that gives praise to thee: forget not for ever the souls of thy poor.
[20] Look upon thy covenant: for the dark places of the earth are filled with the habitations of iniquity.
[21] let not the afflicted and shamed one be rejected: the poor and needy shall praise thy name.
[22] Arise, O God, plead thy cause: remember thy reproaches that come from the foolish one all the day.
[23] Forget not the voice of thy suppliants: let the pride of them that hate thee continually ascend before thee.
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