[1] God, why have you abandoned us forever? Why does your anger smolder at the sheep of your own pasture? [2] Remember your congregation that you took as your own long ago, that you redeemed to be the tribe of your own possession—remember Mount Zion, where you dwell. [3] March to the unending ruins, to all that the enemy destroyed in the sanctuary. [4] Your enemies roared in your own meeting place; they set up their own signs there! [5] It looked like axes raised against a thicket of trees. [6] And then all its carvings they hacked down with hatchet and pick. [7] They set fire to your sanctuary, burned it to the ground; they defiled the dwelling place of your name. [8] They said in their hearts, We’ll kill all of them together! They burned all of God’s meeting places in the land. [9] We don’t see our own signs anymore. No prophet is left. And none of us know how long it will last. [10] How long, God, will foes insult you? Are enemies going to abuse your name forever? [11] Why do you pull your hand back? Why do you hold your strong hand close to your chest? [12] Yet God has been my king from ancient days—God, who makes salvation happen in the heart of the earth! [13] You split the sea with your power. You shattered the heads of the sea monsters on the water. [14] You crushed Leviathan’s heads. You gave it to the desert dwellers for food! [15] You split open springs and streams; you made strong-flowing rivers dry right up. [16] The day belongs to you! The night too! You established both the moon and the sun. [17] You set all the boundaries of the earth in place. Summer and winter? You made them! [18] So remember this, LORD: how enemies have insulted you, how unbelieving fools have abused your name. [19] Don’t deliver the life of your dove to wild animals! Don’t forget the lives of your afflicted people forever! [20] Consider the covenant! Because the land’s dark places are full of violence. [21] Don’t let the oppressed live in shame. No, let the poor and needy praise your name! [22] God, rise up! Make your case! Remember how unbelieving fools insult you all day long. [23] Don’t forget the voices of your enemies, the racket of your adversaries that never quits.
