1 “A psalm of Asaph.” O God! why hast thou cast us off for ever? Why doth thine anger smoke against the flock of thy pasture? 2 Remember the people which thou didst purchase of old; Thine own inheritance, which thou didst redeem; That Mount Zion, where thou once didst dwell! 3 Hasten thy steps to those utter desolations! Every thing in the sanctuary hath the enemy abused! 4 Thine enemies roar in the place of thine assemblies; Their own symbols have they set up for signs. 5 They appear like those who raise the axe against a thicket; 6 They have broken down the carved work of thy temple with axes and hammers; 7 They have cast fire into thy sanctuary; They have profaned, and cast to the ground, the dwelling-place of thy name. 8 They said in their hearts, “Let us destroy them all together!” They have burned all God's places of assembly in the land. 9 We no longer see our signs; There is no prophet among us, Nor any one that knoweth how long this desolation shall endure. 10 How long, O God! shall the adversary revile? Shall the enemy blaspheme thy name for ever? 11 Why withdrawest thou thy hand, even thy right hand? Take it from thy bosom, and destroy! 12 Yet God was our king of old, Working salvation in the midst of the earth. 13 Thou didst divide the sea by thy power; Thou didst crush the heads of the sea-monsters in the waters. 14 Thou didst break in pieces the head of the crocodile; Thou gavest him for food to the inhabitants of the desert. 15 Thou didst cleave forth the fountain and the stream; Thou didst dry up perennial rivers. 16 Thine is the day, and thine the night; Thou didst prepare the light and the sun. 17 Thou didst establish all the boundaries of the earth; Thou didst make summer and winter. 18 O remember that the enemy hath reviled Jehovah; That an impious people hath blasphemed thy name! 19 Give not up the life of thy turtle-dove to the wild beast; Forget not for ever thine afflicted people! 20 Have regard to thy covenant! For all the dark places of the land are full of the abodes of cruelty. 21 O let not the afflicted go away ashamed! Let the poor and needy praise thy name! 22 Arise, O God! maintain thy cause! Remember how the impious revileth thee daily! 23 Forget not the clamor of thine adversaries,—The noise of thine enemies, which continually increaseth!