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¹ A Lesson, of Asaph. O God, have You cast us off forever; will Your anger smoke against the sheep of Your pasture?² Remember Your congregation; You bought them in days before; You redeemed us as the rod of Your inheritance, this Mount Zion in which You have dwelt.³ Lift up Your steps to the perpetual desolations, the enemy who has done all evil in the sanctuary.⁴ Those distressing You have roared in the middle of Your congregation; they set up their own signs for signs.⁵ He is known as one bringing axes in on high, against the thick trees.⁶ And now together they break down its carved work with the axe and hammers.⁷ They have cast fire in Your sanctuary; they have polluted the place where Your name dwells on the earth.⁸ They said in their hearts, Let us rage against them together; they have burned up all the meeting-places of God in the land.⁹ We did not see our signs; there is no longer a prophet; nor any among us who knows until when.¹⁰ O God, until when shall the enemy defame You ? Shall the enemy scorn Your name forever?¹¹ Why do You withdraw Your hand, even Your right hand? From out of Your bosom, consume them .

¹² For God is my King of old, who works salvation in the midst of the land.¹³ You broke the sea by Your strength; You burst the heads of sea-monsters in the waters.¹⁴ You cracked open the heads of leviathan; You gave him to be food for the people of the wilderness.¹⁵ You divided the fountain and the torrent; You dried up mighty rivers.¹⁶ The day is Yours, the night is also Yours. You have established the light and the sun.¹⁷ You have fixed the boundaries of the earth; You have formed the summer and winter.

¹⁸ Remember this: the enemy has defamed, O Jehovah; and a foolish people have scorned Your name.¹⁹ Do not give the soul of Your turtledove to the wild beasts; You will not forever forget the life of Your afflicted ones.²⁰ Look to Your covenant; for the dark places of the earth are full, the abodes of violence.²¹ O let not the ill-treated ones turn back ashamed; let the poor and needy praise Your name.²² Arise, O God, contend for Your cause; remember Your reproach from the fool all the day.²³ Do not forget the voice of those distressing to You; the noise of those rising up against You is going up continually.