1A maskil1 by Asaph. Why, O God, have You abandoned us forever, does Your wrath fume against the sheep of Your pasture?
2Remember Your congregation which You acquired long ago, the tribe of Your inheritance whom You redeemed [and brought to] Mount Zion, where You rested Your Presence.
3Lift Your steps to inflict eternal ruin, because of all the evil done by the enemy in the Sanctuary.
4Your foes roared in the midst of Your meeting place; they considered their omens to be [genuine] signs.
5The axes in the thicket of trees2 were reckoned as bringing [an offering] to the Above.
6And now, all her ornaments together are smashed by hammer and hatchet.
7They set Your Sanctuary on fire; they desecrated the Abode of Your Name to the ground.
8Their rulers thought together in their hearts; they burned all the meeting places of God in the land.
9We have not seen our signs; there is no longer a prophet, and there is none among us who knows how long.
10How long, O God, will the adversary disgrace, will the enemy blaspheme Your Name forever!
11Why do You withdraw Your hand, even Your right hand? Cast it out from within Your bosom!
12For God is my King from long ago, working salvations in the midst of the earth.
13In Your might, You divided the sea; You shattered the heads of the sea-monsters on the waters.
14You crushed the heads of the Leviathan,3 leaving him as food for the nation [wandering in] the wilderness.
15You split [the rock, bringing forth] fountain and brook; You dried up mighty streams.
16Yours is the day, the night is also Yours; You established the moon and the sun.
17You set all the boundaries of the earth; summer and winter-You created them.
18Remember this, how the enemy reviled the Lord, and the vile nation blasphemed Your Name.
19Do not give the soul of Your turtledove to the wild beast; do not forget the life of Your poor forever.
20Look to the covenant, for the dark places of the earth are filled with dens of violence.
21Do not turn back the oppressed in disgrace; [then] the poor and needy will praise Your Name.
22Arise, O God, champion Your cause; remember Your insults from the perverse all day long.
23Forget not the voice of Your adversaries; the tumult of Your opponents ascends always.