1 God, why have you rejected us forever? Why do you smoke with anger against the sheep of your pasture?

2 Remember your congregation, which you purchased long ago. For you have redeemed it to be the tribe of your inheritance, Mount Zion, in which you have lived.

3 Lift up your feet to the perpetual ruins, all the evil that the enemy has done in the sanctuary.

4 Your adversaries have roared in the middle of your assembly. They have set up their standards as signs.

5 They behaved like men wielding axes cutting through a thicket of trees.

6 They strike down all its carved work with hatchet and hammers.

7 They have burned your sanctuary to the ground. They have profaned the dwelling-place of your name.

8 They said in their hearts: »We will destroy them completely. They burned up all the synagogues of God in the land.«

9 We see no miraculous signs. There is no longer any prophet. There is no one who knows how long.

10 How long, God, will the adversary reproach? Will the enemy blaspheme your name forever?

11 Why do you draw back your hand, even your right hand? Take it out of your pocket and consume them!

12 Yet God is my King of old, working salvation in the middle of the earth.

13 You divided the sea by your strength. You broke the heads of the sea monsters Egypt’s Army in the waters.

14 You broke the heads of Leviathan in pieces. You gave him as food to people and desert creatures.

15 You opened up spring and stream. You dried up mighty rivers.

16 The day and the night are yours. You have prepared the light and the sun.

17 You have set all the boundaries of the earth. You have made summer and winter.

18 Remember this, that the enemy has mocked you, Jehovah. Foolish people have blasphemed your name.

19 Do not deliver your turtledove endeared to wild beasts. Do not forget the life of your poor forever.

20 Honor your covenant, for haunts of violence fill the dark places of the earth.

21 Do not let the oppressed return ashamed. Let the poor and needy praise your name.

22 Arise, O God! Plead your own cause. Remember how the foolish man treats you with contempt all day.

23 Do not forget the voice of your adversaries. The tumult of those who rise up against you ascends continually.