An Appeal against the Devastation of the Land by the Enemy.

A Maskil of Asaph.

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

2Remember Your congregation, which You have purchased of old,
         Which You have redeemed to be the tribe of Your inheritance;
         And this Mount Zion, where You have dwelt.

3Turn Your footsteps toward the perpetual ruins;
         The enemy has damaged everything within the sanctuary.

4Your adversaries have roared in the midst of Your meeting place;
         They have set up their own standards for signs.

5It seems as if one had lifted up
         His axe in a forest of trees.

6And now all its carved work
         They smash with hatchet and hammers.

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

8They said in their heart, “Let us completely subdue them.”
         They have burned all the meeting places of God in the land.

9We do not see our signs;
         There is no longer any prophet,
         Nor is there any among us who knows how long.

10How long, O God, will the adversary revile,
         And the enemy spurn Your name forever?

11Why do You withdraw Your hand, even Your right hand?
         From within Your bosom, destroy them!

12Yet God is my king from of old,
         Who works deeds of deliverance in the midst of the earth.

13You divided the sea by Your strength;
         You broke the heads of the sea monsters in the waters.

14You crushed the heads of Leviathan;
         You gave him as food for the creatures of the wilderness.

15You broke open springs and torrents;
         You dried up ever-flowing streams.

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

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

18Remember this, O LORD, that the enemy has reviled,
         And a foolish people has spurned Your name.

19Do not deliver the soul of Your turtledove to the wild beast;
         Do not forget the life of Your afflicted forever.

20Consider the covenant;
         For the dark places of the land are full of the habitations of violence.

21Let not the oppressed return dishonored;
         Let the afflicted and needy praise Your name.

22Arise, O God, and plead Your own cause;
         Remember how the foolish man reproaches You all day long.

23Do not forget the voice of Your adversaries,
         The uproar of those who rise against You which ascends continually.

NASB ©1995

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

Douay-Rheims Bible
Understanding for Asaph. O God, why hast thou cast us off unto the end: why is thy wrath enkindled against the sheep of thy pasture?

Darby Bible Translation
{An instruction: of Asaph.} Why, O God, hast thou cast off for ever? why doth thine anger smoke against the sheep of thy pasture?

English Revised Version
Maschil of Asaph. O God, why hast thou cast us off for ever? why doth thine anger smoke against the sheep of thy pasture?

Webster's Bible Translation
Maschil of Asaph. O God, why hast thou cast us off for ever? why doth thy anger smoke against the sheep of thy pasture?

World English Bible
God, why have you rejected us forever? Why does your anger smolder against the sheep of your pasture?

Young's Literal Translation
An Instruction of Asaph. Why, O God, hast Thou cast off for ever? Thine anger smoketh against the flock of Thy pasture.The Meaning
Of the Red Dragon with Seven Heads fighting with Michael about the new-born Child. The first vision of the little book, of which we treated in the eleventh chapter, ran through the whole Apocalyptical course, from the beginning to the end, and that, as we elsewhere observed, to point out its connexion with the seals and trumpets. Now to that vision the remaining prophecies of the same interval, and of the affairs of the Church are to be accommodated, in order to complete the system of the little …
Joseph Mede—A Key to the Apocalypse

The Prophet of the Highest.
(LUKE I.) "Ye hermits blest, ye holy maids, The nearest heaven on earth, Who talk with God in shadowy glades, Free from rude care and mirth; To whom some viewless Teacher brings The secret love of rural things, The moral of each fleeting cloud and gale, The whispers from above, that haunt the twilight vale." KEBLE. Formative Influences--A Historical Parallel--The Burning of the Vanities--"Sent from God" "Thou, child, shalt be called the Prophet of the Most High"--thus Zacharias addressed his infant …
F. B. Meyer—John the Baptist

How those are to be Admonished who Abstain not from the Sins which they Bewail, and those Who, Abstaining from Them, Bewail them Not.
(Admonition 31.) Differently to be admonished are those who lament their transgressions, and yet forsake them not, and those who forsake them, and yet lament them not. For those who lament their transgressions and yet forsake them not are to be admonished to learn to consider anxiously that they cleanse themselves in vain by their weeping, if they wickedly defile themselves in their living, seeing that the end for which they wash themselves in tears is that, when clean, they may return to filth. …
Leo the Great—Writings of Leo the Great

The Wisdom of God
The next attribute is God's wisdom, which is one of the brightest beams of the Godhead. He is wise in heart.' Job 9:9. The heart is the seat of wisdom. Cor in Hebraeo sumitur pro judicio. Pineda. Among the Hebrews, the heart is put for wisdom.' Let men of understanding tell me:' Job 34:44: in the Hebrew, Let men of heart tell me.' God is wise in heart, that is, he is most wise. God only is wise; he solely and wholly possesses all wisdom; therefore he is called, the only wise God.' I Tim 1:17. All …
Thomas Watson—A Body of Divinity

Balaam's Prophecy. (Numb. xxiv. 17-19. )
Carried by the Spirit into the far distant future, Balaam sees here how a star goeth out of Jacob and a sceptre riseth out of Israel, and how this sceptre smiteth Moab, by whose enmity the Seer had been brought from a distant region for the destruction of Israel. And not Moab only shall be smitten, but its southern neighbour, Edom, too shall be subdued, whose hatred against Israel had already been prefigured in its ancestor, and had now begun to display Itself; and In general, all the enemies of …
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament

Synagogues: their Origin, Structure and Outward Arrangements
It was a beautiful saying of Rabbi Jochanan (Jer. Ber. v. 1), that he who prays in his house surrounds and fortifies it, so to speak, with a wall of iron. Nevertheless, it seems immediately contradicted by what follows. For it is explained that this only holds good where a man is alone, but that where there is a community prayer should be offered in the synagogue. We can readily understand how, after the destruction of the Temple, and the cessation of its symbolical worship, the excessive value attached …
Alfred Edersheim—Sketches of Jewish Social Life

Jesus Makes a Preaching Tour through Galilee.
^A Matt. IV. 23-25; ^B Mark I. 35-39; ^C Luke IV. 42-44. ^b 35 And in the morning, a great while before day, he rose up went out [i. e., from the house of Simon Peter], and departed into a desert place, and there prayed. [Though Palestine was densely populated, its people were all gathered into towns, so that it was usually easy to find solitude outside the city limits. A ravine near Capernaum, called the Vale of Doves, would afford such solitude. Jesus taught (Matt. vi. 6) and practiced solitary …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

The Sun Rising Upon a Dark World
The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon then hath the light shined. C ontrasts are suited to illustrate and strengthen the impression of each other. The happiness of those, who by faith in MESSIAH, are brought into a state of peace, liberty, and comfort, is greatly enhanced and heightened by the consideration of that previous state of misery in which they once lived, and of the greater misery to which they were justly exposed. …
John Newton—Messiah Vol. 1

The Justice of God
The next attribute is God's justice. All God's attributes are identical, and are the same with his essence. Though he has several attributes whereby he is made known to us, yet he has but one essence. A cedar tree may have several branches, yet it is but one cedar. So there are several attributes of God whereby we conceive of him, but only one entire essence. Well, then, concerning God's justice. Deut 32:4. Just and right is he.' Job 37:23. Touching the Almighty, we cannot find him out: he is excellent …
Thomas Watson—A Body of Divinity

Psalms
The piety of the Old Testament Church is reflected with more clearness and variety in the Psalter than in any other book of the Old Testament. It constitutes the response of the Church to the divine demands of prophecy, and, in a less degree, of law; or, rather, it expresses those emotions and aspirations of the universal heart which lie deeper than any formal demand. It is the speech of the soul face to face with God. Its words are as simple and unaffected as human words can be, for it is the genius …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

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