1 O God, why do You cast us off forever? Why does Your anger burn and smoke against the sheep of Your pasture?

2 r emember Your congregation which You have acquired of old, which You have redeemed to be the tribe of Your heritage; remember Mount Zion, where You have dwelt.

3 D irect Your feet to the perpetual ruins and desolations; the foe has devastated and desecrated everything in the sanctuary.

4 I n the midst of Your Holy Place Your enemies have roared; they set up their own emblems for signs.

5 T hey seemed like men who lifted up axes upon a thicket of trees to make themselves a record.

6 A nd then all the carved wood of the Holy Place they broke down with hatchets and hammers.

7 T hey have set Your sanctuary on fire; they have profaned the dwelling place of Your Name by casting it to the ground.

8 T hey said in their hearts, Let us make havoc altogether. They have burned up all God’s meetinghouses in the land.

9 W e do not see our symbols; there is no longer any prophet, neither does any among us know for how long.

10 O God, how long is the adversary to scoff and reproach? Is the enemy to blaspheme and revile Your name forever?

11 W hy do You hold back Your hand, even Your right hand? Draw it out of Your bosom and consume them!

12 Y et God is my King of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth.

13 Y ou did divide the Sea by Your might; You broke the heads of the dragons in the waters.

14 Y ou crushed the heads of Leviathan (Egypt); You did give him as food for the creatures inhabiting the wilderness.

15 Y ou did cleave open fountains and streams; You dried up mighty, ever-flowing rivers (the Jordan).

16 T he day is Yours, the night also is Yours; You have established the light and the sun.

17 Y ou have fixed all the borders of the earth; You have made summer and winter.

18 r emember how the enemy has scoffed, O Lord, and reproached You, and how a foolish and impious people has blasphemed Your name.

19 O h, do not deliver the life of your turtledove to the wild beast (to the greedy multitude); forget not the life of Your poor forever.

20 H ave regard for the covenant, for the dark places of the land are full of the habitations of violence.

21 O h, let not the downtrodden return in shame; let the oppressed and needy praise Your name.

22 A rise, O God, plead Your own cause; remember how the foolish and impious man scoffs and reproaches You day after day and all day long.

23 D o not forget the voices of Your adversaries, the tumult of those who rise up against You, which ascends continually.