✧Maschil of Asaph. O God, why hast thou cast [us] off for ever? [why] doth thine anger smoke against the sheep of thy pasture? ✧2Remember thy congregation, [which] thou hast purchased of old; the rod of thine inheritance, [which] thou hast redeemed; this mount Zion, wherein thou hast dwelt. ✧3Lift up thy feet unto the perpetual desolations; [even] all [that] the enemy hath done wickedly in the sanctuary. ✧4Thine enemies roar in the midst of thy congregations; they set up their ensigns [for] signs. ✧5[A man] was famous according as he had lifted up axes upon the thick trees. ✧6But now they break down the carved work thereof at once with axes and hammers. ✧7They have cast fire into thy sanctuary, they have defiled [by casting down] the dwelling place of thy name to the ground. ✧8They said in their hearts, Let us destroy them together: they have burned up all the synagogues of God in the land. ✧9We see not our signs: [there is] no more any prophet: neither [is there] among us any that knoweth how long. ✧10O God, how long shall the adversary reproach? shall the enemy blaspheme thy name for ever? ✧11Why withdrawest thou thy hand, even thy right hand? pluck [it] out of thy bosom. ✧12For God [is] my King of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth. ✧13Thou didst divide the sea by thy strength: thou brakest the heads of the dragons in the waters. ✧14Thou brakest the heads of leviathan in pieces, [and] gavest him [to be] meat to the people inhabiting the wilderness. ✧15Thou didst cleave the fountain and the flood: thou driedst up mighty rivers. ✧16The day [is] thine, the night also [is] thine: thou hast prepared the light and the sun. ✧17Thou hast set all the borders of the earth: thou hast made summer and winter. ✧18Remember this, [that] the enemy hath reproached, O LORD, and [that] the foolish people have blasphemed thy name. ✧19O deliver not the soul of thy turtledove unto the multitude [of the wicked:] forget not the congregation of thy poor for ever. ✧20Have respect unto the covenant: for the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty. ✧21O let not the oppressed return ashamed: let the poor and needy praise thy name. ✧22Arise, O God, plead thine own cause: remember how the foolish man reproacheth thee daily. ✧23Forget not the voice of thine enemies: the tumult of those that rise up against thee increaseth continually.