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¹ Maschil of Asaph. O God, why hast thou cast us off for ever? why doth thine anger smoke against the sheep of thy pasture?² Remember thy congregation, which thou hast purchased of old, which thou hast redeemed to be the tribe of thine inheritance; and mount Zion, wherein thou hast dwelt.³ Lift up thy feet unto the perpetual ruins, all the evil that the enemy hath done in the sanctuary.⁴ Thine adversaries have roared in the midst of thine assembly; they have set up their ensigns for signs.⁵ They seemed as men that lifted up axes upon a thicket of trees.⁶ And now all the carved work thereof together they break down with hatchet and hammers.⁷ They have set thy sanctuary on fire; they have profaned the dwelling place of thy name even to the ground.⁸ They said in their heart, Let us make havoc of them altogether: they have burned up all the synagogues of God in the land.⁹ We see not our signs: there is no more any prophet; neither is there among us any that knoweth how long.¹⁰ How long, O God, shall the adversary reproach? shall the enemy blaspheme thy name for ever?¹¹ Why drawest thou back thy hand, even thy right hand? pluck it out of thy bosom and consume them.

¹² Yet God is my King of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth.¹³ Thou didst divide the sea by thy strength: thou brakest the heads of the dragons in the waters.¹⁴ Thou brakest the heads of leviathan in pieces, thou gavest him to be meat to the people inhabiting the wilderness.¹⁵ Thou didst cleave fountain and flood: thou driedst up mighty rivers.¹⁶ The day is thine, the night also is thine: thou hast prepared the light and the sun.¹⁷ Thou hast set all the borders of the earth: thou hast made summer and winter.

¹⁸ Remember this, that the enemy hath reproached, O LORD, and that foolish people have blasphemed thy name.¹⁹ O deliver not the soul of thy turtle-dove unto the wild beast: forget not the life of thy poor for ever.²⁰ Have respect unto the covenant: for the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of violence.²¹ O let not the oppressed return ashamed: let the poor and needy praise thy name.²² Arise, O God, plead thine own cause: remember how the foolish man reproacheth thee all the day.²³ Forget not the voice of thine adversaries: the tumult of those that rise up against thee ascendeth continually.