¹God, why have you rejected us forever ?

Why does your anger smoulder against the sheep of your pasture ?

²Remember your congregation , which you purchased of old ,

which you have redeemed to be the tribe of your inheritance :

Mount Zion , in which you have lived .

³Lift up your feet to the perpetual ruins ,

all the evil that the enemy has done in the sanctuary .

⁴Your adversaries have roared in the middle of your assembly .

They have set up their standards as signs.

⁵They behaved like men wielding axes ,

cutting through a thicket of trees .

⁶Now they break all its carved work down with hatchet and hammers .

⁷They have burnt your sanctuary to the ground.

They have profaned the dwelling place of your Name .

⁸They said in their heart , “We will crush them completely .”

They have burnt up all the places in the land where God was worshipped.

⁹We see no miraculous signs.

There is no longer any prophet ,

neither is there amongst us anyone who knows how long .

¹⁰How long , God, shall the adversary reproach ?

Shall the enemy blaspheme your name forever ?

¹¹Why do you draw back your hand , even your right hand ?

Take it from your chest and consume them !

¹²Yet God is my King of old ,

working salvation throughout the earth.

¹³You divided the sea by your strength .

You broke the heads of the sea monsters in the waters .

¹⁴You broke the heads of Leviathan in pieces.

You gave him as food to people and desert creatures .

¹⁵You opened up spring and stream .

You dried up mighty rivers .

¹⁶The day is yours, the night is also yours.

You have prepared the light and the sun .

¹⁷You have set all the boundaries of the earth.

You have made summer and winter .

¹⁸Remember this , that the enemy has mocked you , LORD .

Foolish people have blasphemed your name .

¹⁹Don’t deliver the soul of your dove to wild beasts .

Don’t forget the life of your poor forever .

²⁰Honour your covenant ,

for haunts of violence fill the dark places of the earth.

²¹Don’t let the oppressed return ashamed .

Let the poor and needy praise your name .

²²Arise , God! Plead your own cause .

Remember how the foolish man mocks you all day .

²³Don’t forget the voice of your adversaries .

The tumult of those who rise up against you ascends continually .