1 A contemplative song of Asaph. Why have You cast us off forever, O God? Why does Your anger smolder against the flock of Your pasture?
2 Remember Your congregation, which You purchased of old, redeemed as the tribe of Your inheritance, and Mount Zion, where You dwelt.
3 Lift Your steps toward the perpetual ruins— an enemy has done all evil to the Sanctuary!
4 Your adversaries have roared in the midst of Your meeting place. They have set up their standards as signs.
5 It seemed like bringing up axes into a thicket of trees—
6 and now all its carved work they smash with hatchet and hammers!
7 They set Your Sanctuary on fire, burning it to the ground. They defiled the dwelling place of Your Name.