1A Maskil of Assaph. Why, O God, hast thou cast us off for ever? why will thy anger smoke against the flock of thy pasture? 2Remember thy congregation, which thou didst acquire of old; which thou didst redeem as the tribe of thy inheritance: this mount Zion, whereon thou hast dwelt. 3Lift up thy steps unto the perpetual heaps of ruins: the enemy hath ill–used every thing in the sanctuary. 4Thy adversaries have roared in the midst of thy places of assembly: they have set up their signs for signs. 5The enemy is known as one that lifteth up high axes against the thickets of a forest. 6And now they hew in pieces the carved work thereof altogether with hatchets and hammers. 7They have set on fire thy sanctuary; to the ground have they profaned the dwelling–place of thy name. 8They have said in their heart, We will oppress them altogether: they have burnt up all the places of assembly of God in the land. 9Our signs do we not see: there is no more any prophet: and there is no one among us that knoweth how long. 10How long, O God, shall the adversary utter defiance? shall the enemy blaspheme thy name for ever? 11Why withdrawest thou thy hand, and thy right hand? draw it out of thy bosom––exterminate them; 12Since thou God art my King from olden days, working salvation in the midst of the earth. 13It was thou that didst divide by thy strength the sea: thou brokest in pieces the heads of the crocodiles on the waters. 14Thou didst crush the heads of leviathan, and gavest them as food to the people inhabiting the wilderness. 15Thou didst cleave fountain and stream: thou didst dry up ever–flowing rivers. 16Thine is the day and thine is the night: it is thou who hast prepared the luminary and the sun. 17It is thou who hast set up all the boundaries of the earth: summer and winter––thou thyself hast formed them. 18Remember this, that the enemy hath defied the Lord, and that a worthless foolish people have blasphemed thy name. 19Oh give not up unto the multitude of enemies the soul of thy turtle–dove: the congregation of thy afflicted do not thou forget for ever. 20Look unto the covenant; for the dark places of the earth are full of habitations of violence. 21Oh let not the oppressed return confounded: let the poor and needy praise thy name. 22Arise, O God, plead thy own cause: remember thy defiance from the worthless fool all the day. 23Forget not the voice of thy adversaries: the tumult of those that rise up against thee ascendeth continually.