1 Maschil of Asaph. O God, why have you cast [us] off forever? Why does your anger smoke against the sheep of your pasture?
2 Remember your congregation, which you have gotten of old, Which you have redeemed to be the tribe of your inheritance; [And] mount Zion, in which you have stayed.
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 midst of your assembly; They have set up their ensigns for signs.
5 They seemed as men who lifted up Axes on a thicket of trees.
6 And now all its carved work They break down with hatchet and hammers.
7 They have set your sanctuary on fire; They have profaned the dwelling-place of your 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 don't see our signs: There is no more any prophet; Neither is there among us any who knows how long.
10 How long, O God, will the adversary reproach? Will the enemy blaspheme your name forever?
11 Why do you draw back your hand, even your right hand? [Pluck it] out of your bosom [and] consume [them].
12 Yet God is my King of old, Working salvation in the midst of the earth.
13 You divided the sea by your strength: You broke the heads of the sea-monsters in the waters.
14 You broke the heads of leviathan in pieces; You gave him to be food to the people inhabiting the wilderness.
15 You split fountain and flood: You dried up mighty rivers.
16 The day is yours, the night also is yours: You have prepared the light and the sun.
17 You have set all the borders of the earth: You have made summer and winter.
18 Remember this, that the enemy has reproached, O Yahweh, And that a foolish people has blasphemed your name.
19 Oh don't deliver the soul of your turtledove to the wild beast: Don't forget the life of your poor forever.
20 Have respect to the covenant; For the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of violence.
21 Oh don't 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 reproaches you all the day.
23 Do not forget the voice of your adversaries: The tumult of those who rise up against you ascends continually.