An Instruction of Asaph.

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

2Remember Your congregation, which You have purchased of old, the rod of Your inheritance which You have redeemed; this Mount Zion in which You have dwelt.

3Lift up Your feet unto the perpetual ruins; all this destruction the enemy has done in the sanctuary.

4Your enemies roar in the midst of Your congregation; they set up their own banners for signs.

5They seem like men who lifted up their axes against the thick trees.

6With axes and hammers, they strike down all its carved idols at once.

7They burned Your sanctuary to the ground; they defiled the dwelling place of Your name.

8They said in their hearts, "Together let us rage against them;" they have burned up all God's meeting places in the land.

9We did not see our signs; there is no longer any prophet; neither is there among us any who knows how long.

10O God, how long shall the adversary speak evil? Shall the enemy blaspheme Your name forever?

11Why do You withdraw Your hand, even Your right hand? Draw it out of Your bosom and consume them,

12For God is my King of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth,

13You divide the sea by Your strength; You break the heads of the sea monsters in the waters.

14You crushed the heads of leviathan in pieces, and gave him to be food to the people living in the wilderness.

15You break open the fountain and the flood; You dry up mighty rivers.

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

17You have set all the boundaries of the earth; You have made summer and winter.

18Remember this--that the enemy has reproached, O LORD, and the foolish people have blasphemed Your name.

19O deliver not the life of Your turtledove unto the wild beasts; forget not the lives of Your afflicted people forever.

20Have respect unto the covenant; for the dark places of the earth are full of the houses of cruelty.

21Oh, let not the oppressed ones return ashamed; let the poor and needy praise Your name.

22Arise, O God, plead Your own cause; remember how the foolish man reproaches You daily.

23Forget not the voice of Your enemies; the noise of those who rise up against You increases continually.