An instructiona of Asaph

A Plea for Deliverance

1Why, God? Have you rejected us forever?

Your anger is burning against the sheep of your pasture.

2Remember your community,

whom you purchased long ago,

the tribe whom you redeemed

for your possession.

Rememberb Mount Zion,

where you live.

3Hurry! Look at the permanent ruins—

every calamity the enemy brought upon the Holy Place.

4Those who are opposing you roar

where we were meeting with you;

they unfurl their war banners as signs.

5As one blazes a trail

through a forest with an ax,

6now they’re tearing down all its carved work

with hatchets and hammers.

7They burned your sanctuary to the ground,

desecrating your dwelling place.

8They say to themselves,

“We’ll crush them completely;”

They burned down all the meeting places of God in the land.

9We see no signs for us;

there is no longer a prophet,

and no one among us knows the future.c

10God, how long will the adversary scorn

while the enemy despises your name endlessly?

11Why do you not withdraw your hand—

your right hand—from your bosom

and destroy them?d

12But God is my king from ancient times,

who brings acts of deliverance throughout the earth.

13You split the sea by your own power.

You shattered the heads of sea monsters in the water.

14You crushed the heads of Leviathan.

You set it as food for desert creatures.e

15You opened both the spring and the river;

you dried up flowing rivers.

16Yours is the day, and yours is the night;

you established the moon and the sun.

17You set all the boundaries of the earth;

you made summer and winter.

18Remember this: The enemy scorns the LORD

and a foolish people despises your name.

19Don’t hand over the life of your dove to beasts;

do not continuously forget your afflicted ones.

20Pay attention to your covenant,

for the dark regions of the earth are full of violence.

21Don’t let the oppressed return in humiliation.

The poor and needy will praise your name.

22Get up, God, and prosecute your case—

remember that you’re being scorned

by fools all day long.

23Don’t ignore the shout of those opposing you,

The uproar of those who rebel against you continuously.