1 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?
2 Remember thy congregation, which thou hast possessed from the beginning. The sceptre of thy inheritance which thou hast redeemed: mount Sion in which thou hast dwelt.
3 Lift up thy hands against their pride unto the end; see what things the enemy hath done wickedly in the sanctuary.
4 And they that hate thee have made their boasts, in the midst of thy solemnity. They have set up their ensigns for signs,
5 and they knew not both in the going out and on the highest top. As with axes in a wood of trees,
6 they have cut down at once the gates thereof, with axe and hatchet they have brought it down.
7 They have set fire to thy sanctuary: they have defiled the dwelling place of thy name on the earth.
8 They said in their heart, the whole kindred of them together: Let us abolish all the festival days of God from the land.
9 Our signs we have not seen, there is now no prophet: and he will know us no more.
10 How long, O God, shall the enemy reproach: is the adversary to provoke thy name for ever?
11 Why dost thou turn away thy hand: and thy right hand out of the midst of thy bosom for ever?
12 But God is our king before ages: he hath wrought salvation in the midst of the earth.
13 Thou by thy strength didst make the sea firm: thou didst crush the heads of the dragons in the waters.
14 Thou hast broken the heads of the dragon: thou hast given him to be meat for the people of the Ethiopians.
15 Thou hast broken up the fountains and the torrents: thou hast dried up the Ethan rivers.
16 Thine is the day, and thine is the night: thou hast made the morning light and the sun.
17 Thou hast made all the borders of the earth: the summer and the spring were formed by thee.
18 Remember this, the enemy hath reproached the Lord: and a foolish people hath provoked thy name.
19 Deliver not up to beasts the souls that confess to thee: and forget not to the end the souls of thy poor.
20 Have regard to thy covenant: for they that are the obscure of the earth have been filled with dwellings of iniquity.
21 Let not the humble be turned away with confusion: the poor and needy shall praise thy name.
22 Arise, O God, judge thy own cause: remember thy reproaches with which the foolish man hath reproached thee all the day.
23 Forget not the voices of thy enemies: the pride of them that hate thee ascendeth continually.