1
O God, why do you cast us off forever?
Why does your anger smoke against the sheep of your pasture?
2
Remember your congregation, which you acquired long ago,
which you redeemed to be the tribe of your heritage.
Remember Mount Zion, where you came to dwell.
3
Direct your steps to the perpetual ruins;
the enemy has destroyed everything in the sanctuary.
4
Your foes have roared within your holy place;
they set up their emblems there.
5
At the upper entrance they hacked
the wooden trellis with axes. 1
6
And then, with hatchets and hammers,
they smashed all its carved work.
7
They set your sanctuary on fire;
they desecrated the dwelling place of your name,
bringing it to the ground.
8
They said to themselves, "We will utterly subdue them";
they burned all the meeting places of God in the land.
9
We do not see our emblems;
there is no longer any prophet,
and there is no one among us who knows how long.
10
How long, O God, is the foe to scoff?
Is the enemy to revile your name forever?
11
Why do you hold back your hand;
why do you keep your hand in 2 your bosom?
12
Yet God my King is from of old,
working salvation in the earth.
13
You divided the sea by your might;
you broke the heads of the dragons in the waters.
14
You crushed the heads of Leviathan;
you gave him as food 3 for the creatures of the wilderness.
15
You cut openings for springs and torrents;
you dried up ever-flowing streams.
16
Yours is the day, yours also the night;
you established the luminaries 4 and the sun.
17
You have fixed all the bounds of the earth;
you made summer and winter.
18
Remember this, O
and an impious people reviles your name.
19
Do not deliver the soul of your dove to the wild animals;
do not forget the life of your poor forever.
20
Have regard for your 5 covenant,
for the dark places of the land are full of the haunts of violence.
21
Do not let the downtrodden be put to shame;
let the poor and needy praise your name.
22
Rise up, O God, plead your cause;
remember how the impious scoff at you all day long.
23
Do not forget the clamor of your foes,
the uproar of your adversaries that goes up continually.