1 A Maskil of Assaph. Why, O God, hast thou cast us off for ever? why will thy anger smoke against the flock of thy pasture?

2 Remember thy congregation, which thou didst acquire of old; which thou didst redeem as the tribe of thy inheritance: this mount Zion, whereon thou hast dwelt.

3 Lift up thy steps unto the perpetual heaps of ruins: the enemy hath ill–used every thing in the sanctuary.

4 Thy adversaries have roared in the midst of thy places of assembly: they have set up their signs for signs.

5 The enemy is known as one that lifteth up high axes against the thickets of a forest.

6 And now they hew in pieces the carved work thereof altogether with hatchets and hammers.

7 They have set on fire thy sanctuary; to the ground have they profaned the dwelling–place of thy name.

8 They have said in their heart, We will oppress them altogether: they have burnt up all the places of assembly of God in the land.

9 Our signs do we not see: there is no more any prophet: and there is no one among us that knoweth how long.

10 How long, O God, shall the adversary utter defiance? shall the enemy blaspheme thy name for ever?

11 Why withdrawest thou thy hand, and thy right hand? draw it out of thy bosom––exterminate them;

12 Since thou God art my King from olden days, working salvation in the midst of the earth.

13 It was thou that didst divide by thy strength the sea: thou brokest in pieces the heads of the crocodiles on the waters.

14 Thou didst crush the heads of leviathan, and gavest them as food to the people inhabiting the wilderness.

15 Thou didst cleave fountain and stream: thou didst dry up ever–flowing rivers.

16 Thine is the day and thine is the night: it is thou who hast prepared the luminary and the sun.

17 It is thou who hast set up all the boundaries of the earth: summer and winter––thou thyself hast formed them.

18 Remember this, that the enemy hath defied the Lord, and that a worthless foolish people have blasphemed thy name.

19 Oh give not up unto the multitude of enemies the soul of thy turtle–dove: the congregation of thy afflicted do not thou forget for ever.

20 Look unto the covenant; for the dark places of the earth are full of habitations of violence.

21 Oh let not the oppressed return confounded: let the poor and needy praise thy name.

22 Arise, O God, plead thy own cause: remember thy defiance from the worthless fool all the day.

23 Forget not the voice of thy adversaries: the tumult of those that rise up against thee ascendeth continually.