Why Have You Rejected Us Forever?

1(73:1) A Psalm of instruction for Asaph. Wherefore hast thou rejected us, O God, for ever? wherefore is thy wrath kindled against the sheep of thy pasture?

2(73:2) Remember thy congregation which thou hast purchased from the beginning; thou didst ransom the rod of thine inheritance; this mount Sion wherein thou hast dwelt.

3(73:3) Lift up thine hands against their pride continually; because of all that the enemy has done wickedly in thy holy places.

4(73:4) And they that hate thee have boasted in the midst of thy feast; they have set up their standards for signs,

5(73:5) ignorantly as it were in the entrance above;

6(73:6) they cut down its doors at once with axes as in a wood of trees; they have broken it down with hatchet and stone cutter.

7(73:7) They have burnt thy sanctuary with fire to the ground; they have profaned the habitation of thy name.

8(73:8) They have said in their heart, even all their kindred together, Come, let us abolish the feasts of the Lord from the earth.

9(73:9) We have not seen our signs; there is no longer a prophet; and God will not know us any more.

10(73:10) How long, O God, shall the enemy reproach? shall the enemy provoke thy name forever?

11(73:11) Wherefore turnest thou away thine hand, and thy right hand from the midst of thy bosom for ever?

12(73:12) But God is our King of old; he has wrought salvation in the midst of the earth.

13(73:13) Thou didst establish the sea, in thy might, thou didst break to pieces the heads of the dragons in the water.

14(73:14) Thou didst break to pieces the heads of the dragon; thou didst give him for meat to the Ethiopian nations.

15(73:15) Thou didst cleave fountains and torrents; thou driedst up mighty rivers.

16(73:16) The day is thine, and the night is thine; thou hast prepared the sun and the moon.

17(73:17) Thou hast made all the borders of the earth; thou hast made summer and spring.

18(73:18) Remember this thy creation: an enemy has reproached the Lord, and a foolish people has provoked thy name.

19(73:19) Deliver not to the wild beasts a soul that gives praise to thee: forget not for ever the souls of thy poor.

20(73:20) Look upon thy covenant: for the dark places of the earth are filled with the habitations of iniquity.

21(73:21) let not the afflicted and shamed one be rejected: the poor and needy shall praise thy name.

22(73:22) Arise, O God, plead thy cause: remember thy reproaches that come from the foolish one all the day.

23(73:23) Forget not the voice of thy suppliants: let the pride of them that hate thee continually ascend before thee.