1Maschil of Asaph. O God, why have you cast [us] off forever? Why does your anger smoke against the sheep of your pasture? 2Remember your congregation, which you have gotten of old, Which you have redeemed to be the tribe of your inheritance; [And] mount Zion, in which you have stayed. 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 midst of your assembly; They have set up their ensigns for signs. 5They seemed as men who lifted up Axes on a thicket of trees. 6And now all its carved work They break down with hatchet and hammers. 7They have set your sanctuary on fire; They have profaned the dwelling-place of your name [by casting it] to the ground. 8They said in their heart, Let us make havoc of them altogether: They have burned up all the synagogues of God in the land. 9We don't see our signs: There is no more any prophet; Neither is there among us any who knows how long. 10How long, O God, will the adversary reproach? Will the enemy blaspheme your name forever? 11Why do you draw back your hand, even your right hand? [Pluck it] out of your bosom [and] consume [them]. 12Yet God is my King of old, Working salvation in the midst of 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 to be food to the people inhabiting the wilderness. 15You split fountain and flood: You dried up mighty rivers. 16The day is yours, the night also is yours: You have prepared the light and the sun. 17You have set all the borders of the earth: You have made summer and winter. 18Remember this, that the enemy has reproached, O Yahweh, And that a foolish people has blasphemed your name. 19Oh don't deliver the soul of your turtledove to the wild beast: Don't forget the life of your poor forever. 20Have respect to the covenant; For the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of violence. 21Oh don't let the oppressed return ashamed: Let the poor and needy praise your name. 22Arise, O God, plead your own cause: Remember how the foolish man reproaches you all the day. 23Do not forget the voice of your adversaries: The tumult of those who rise up against you ascends continually.