1O God, why do you cast us off forever?

Why does your anger smoke against the sheep of your pasture?*

2Remember 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.*

3Direct your steps to the perpetual ruins;

the enemy has destroyed everything in the sanctuary.*

4Your foes have roared within your holy place;

they set up their emblems there.*

5At the upper entrance they hacked

the wooden trellis with axes.z^,*

6And then, with hatchets and hammers,

they smashed all its carved work.

7They set your sanctuary on fire;

they desecrated the dwelling place of your name,

bringing it to the ground.*

8They said to themselves, “We will utterly subdue them”;

they burned all the meeting places of God in the land.*

9We do not see our emblems;

there is no longer any prophet,

and there is no one among us who knows how long.*

10How long, O God, is the foe to scoff?

Is the enemy to revile your name forever?*

11Why do you hold back your hand;

why do you keep your hand ina your bosom?*

12Yet God my King is from of old,

working salvation in the earth.*

13You divided the sea by your might;

you broke the heads of the dragons in the waters.*

14You crushed the heads of Leviathan;

you gave him as foodb for the creatures of the wilderness.

15You cut openings for springs and torrents;

you dried up ever-flowing streams.*

16Yours is the day, yours also the night;

you established the luminariesc and the sun.*

17You have fixed all the bounds of the earth;

you made summer and winter.*

18Remember this, O Lord, how the enemy scoffs,

and an impious people reviles your name.*

19Do not deliver the soul of your dove to the wild animals;

do not forget the life of your poor forever.*

20Have regard for yourd covenant,

for the dark places of the land are full of the haunts of violence.*

21Do not let the downtrodden be put to shame;

let the poor and needy praise your name.*

22Rise up, O God, plead your cause;

remember how the impious scoff at you all day long.*

23Do not forget the clamor of your foes,

the uproar of your adversaries that goes up continually.*