Read the Bible

¹ Maschil of Asaph. O God, why have you cast [us] off forever? Why does your anger smoke against the sheep of your pasture?² Remember your congregation, which you have gotten of old, Which you have redeemed to be the tribe of your inheritance; [And] mount Zion, wherein you have dwelt.³ Lift up your feet to the perpetual ruins, All the evil that the enemy has done in the sanctuary.⁴ Your adversaries have roared in the midst of your assembly; They have set up their ensigns for signs.⁵ They seemed as men that lifted up axes on a thicket of trees.⁶ And now all the carved work thereof They break down with hatchet and hammers.⁷ They have set your sanctuary on fire; They have profaned the dwelling-place of your name [by casting it] 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 don't see our signs: There is no more any prophet; Neither is there among us any that knows how long.¹⁰ How long, O God, shall the adversary reproach? Shall the enemy blaspheme your name forever?¹¹ Why do you draw back your hand, even your right hand? [Pluck it] out of your bosom [and] consume [them].

¹² Yet God is my King of old, Working salvation in the midst of the earth.¹³ You divided the sea by your strength: You broke the heads of the sea-monsters in the waters.¹⁴ You broke the heads of leviathan in pieces; You gave him to be food to the people inhabiting the wilderness.¹⁵ You split fountain and flood: You dried up mighty rivers.¹⁶ The day is yours, the night also is yours: You have prepared the light and the sun.¹⁷ You have set all the borders of the earth: You have made summer and winter.

¹⁸ Remember this, that the enemy has reproached, O Yahweh, And that a foolish people has blasphemed your name.¹⁹ Oh don't deliver the soul of your turtle-dove to the wild beast: Don't forget the life of your poor forever.²⁰ Have respect to the covenant; For the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of violence.²¹ Oh don't let the oppressed return ashamed: Let the poor and needy praise your name.²² Arise, O God, plead your own cause: Remember how the foolish man reproaches you all the day.²³ Do not forget the voice of your adversaries: The tumult of those that rise up against you ascends continually.