1 Maschil. Of Asaph. Of God, why have you put us away from you for ever? why is the fire of your wrath smoking against the sheep who are your care?

2 Keep in mind your band of worshippers, for whom you gave payment in the days which are past, whom you took for yourself as the people of your heritage; even this mountain of Zion, which has been your resting-place.

3 Go up and see the unending destruction; all the evil which your haters have done in the holy place;

4 Sending out their voices like lions among your worshippers; they have put up their signs to be seen.

5 They are cutting down, like a man whose blade is lifted up against the thick trees.

6 Your doors are broken down with hammers and iron blades.

7 They have put on fire your holy place; they have made the place of your name unclean, pulling it down to the earth.

8 They have said in their hearts, Let us put an end to them all together; they have given over to the fire all God's places of worship in the land.

9 We do not see our signs: there is no longer any prophet, or anyone among us to say how long.

10 O God, how long will those who are against us say cruel things? will the hater go on looking down on your name for ever?

11 Why are you keeping back your hand, and covering your right hand in your robe?

12 For from the past God is my King, working salvation in the earth.

13 The sea was parted in two by your strength; the heads of the great sea-beasts were broken.

14 The heads of the great snake were crushed by you; you gave them as food to the fishes of the sea.

15 You made valleys for fountains and springs; you made the ever-flowing rivers dry.

16 The day is yours and the night is yours: you made the light and the sun.

17 By you all the limits of the earth were fixed; you have made summer and winter.

18 Keep this in mind, O Lord, that your haters have said cruel things, and that your name has been looked down on by a people of evil behaviour.

19 O give not the soul of your dove to the hawk; let not the life of the poor go out of your memory for ever.

20 Keep in mind your undertaking; for the dark places of the earth are full of pride and cruel acts.

21 O let not the crushed be turned back in shame; let the low man and the poor give praise to your name.

22 Up! O God, be the judge of your cause; keep in mind the bitter things which the man of evil behaviour says against you every day.

23 Keep in mind the voice of your haters; the outcry of those who come against you goes up every day.

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 gotten of old,

Which thou hast redeemed to be the tribe of thine inheritance;

And mount Zion, wherein thou hast dwelt.

3 Lift up thy feet unto the perpetual ruins,

All the evil that the enemy hath done in the sanctuary.

4 Thine adversaries have roared in the midst of thine assembly;

They have set up their ensigns for signs.

5 They seemed as men that lifted up

Axes upon a thicket of trees.

6 And now all the carved work thereof

They break down with hatchet and hammers.

7 They have set thy sanctuary on fire;

They have profaned the dwelling-place of thy name by casting it to the ground.

8 They said in their heart, Let us make havoc of them altogether:

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 How long, O God, shall the adversary reproach?

Shall the enemy blaspheme thy name for ever?

11 Why drawest thou back thy hand, even thy right hand?

Pluck it out of thy bosom and consume them.

12 Yet 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 sea-monsters in the waters.

14 Thou brakest the heads of leviathan in pieces;

Thou gavest him to be food to the people inhabiting the wilderness.

15 Thou didst cleave fountain and 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 Jehovah,

And that a foolish people hath blasphemed thy name.

19 Oh deliver not the soul of thy turtle-dove unto the wild beast:

Forget not the life of thy poor for ever.

20 Have respect unto the covenant;

For the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of violence.

21 Oh 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 all the day.

23 Forget not the voice of thine adversaries:

The tumult of those that rise up against thee ascendeth continually.