For the choir director: A psalm of Asaph, to be sung to the tune “Lilies of the Covenant.”

1Please listen, O Shepherd of Israel,

you who lead Joseph’s descendants like a flock.

O God, enthroned above the cherubim,

display your radiant glory

2to Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh.

Show us your mighty power.

Come to rescue us!

3Turn us again to yourself, O God.

Make your face shine down upon us.

Only then will we be saved.

4O LORD God of Heaven’s Armies,

how long will you be angry with our prayers?

5You have fed us with sorrow

and made us drink tears by the bucketful.

6You have made us the scorna of neighboring nations.

Our enemies treat us as a joke.

7Turn us again to yourself, O God of Heaven’s Armies.

Make your face shine down upon us.

Only then will we be saved.

8You brought us from Egypt like a grapevine;

you drove away the pagan nations and transplanted us into your land.

9You cleared the ground for us,

and we took root and filled the land.

10Our shade covered the mountains;

our branches covered the mighty cedars.

11We spread our branches west to the Mediterranean Sea;

our shoots spread east to the Euphrates River.b

12But now, why have you broken down our walls

so that all who pass by may steal our fruit?

13The wild boar from the forest devours it,

and the wild animals feed on it.

14Come back, we beg you, O God of Heaven’s Armies.

Look down from heaven and see our plight.

Take care of this grapevine

15that you yourself have planted,

this son you have raised for yourself.

16For we are chopped up and burned by our enemies.

May they perish at the sight of your frown.

17Strengthen the man you love,

the son of your choice.

18Then we will never abandon you again.

Revive us so we can call on your name once more.

19Turn us again to yourself, O LORD God of Heaven’s Armies.

Make your face shine down upon us.

Only then will we be saved.