1 O God, why hast thou cast us off for ever? why doth thine anger smoke against the sheep of thy pasture?

2 R emember thy congregation, which thou hast purchased of old; the rod of thine inheritance, which thou hast redeemed; this mount Zion, wherein thou hast dwelt.

3 L ift up thy feet unto the perpetual desolations; even all that the enemy hath done wickedly in the sanctuary.

4 T hine enemies roar in the midst of thy congregations; they set up their ensigns for signs.

5 A man was famous according as he had lifted up axes upon the thick trees.

6 B ut now they break down the carved work thereof at once with axes and hammers.

7 T hey have cast fire into thy sanctuary, they have defiled by casting down the dwelling place of thy name to the ground.

8 T hey said in their hearts, Let us destroy them together: they have burned up all the synagogues of God in the land.

9 W e see not our signs: there is no more any prophet: neither is there among us any that knoweth how long.

10 O God, how long shall the adversary reproach? shall the enemy blaspheme thy name for ever?

11 W hy withdrawest thou thy hand, even thy right hand? pluck it out of thy bosom.

12 F or God is my King of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth.

13 T hou didst divide the sea by thy strength: thou brakest the heads of the dragons in the waters.

14 T hou brakest the heads of leviathan in pieces, and gavest him to be meat to the people inhabiting the wilderness.

15 T hou didst cleave the fountain and the flood: thou driedst up mighty rivers.

16 T he day is thine, the night also is thine: thou hast prepared the light and the sun.

17 T hou hast set all the borders of the earth: thou hast made summer and winter.

18 R emember this, that the enemy hath reproached, O Lord, and that the foolish people have blasphemed thy name.

19 O deliver not the soul of thy turtledove unto the multitude of the wicked: forget not the congregation of thy poor for ever.

20 H ave respect unto the covenant: for the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty.

21 O let not the oppressed return ashamed: let the poor and needy praise thy name.

22 A rise, O God, plead thine own cause: remember how the foolish man reproacheth thee daily.

23 F orget not the voice of thine enemies: the tumult of those that rise up against thee increaseth continually.