Why Have You Rejected Us Forever?

A Maskil of Asaph.

¹ Why have You rejected us forever, O God?

Why does Your anger smolder

against the sheep of Your pasture?

² Remember Your congregation,^*

which You purchased^* long ago

and redeemed as the tribe of Your inheritance —

Mount Zion, where You dwell.

³ Turn Your steps to the everlasting ruins,

to everything in the sanctuary the enemy has destroyed.

⁴ Your foes have roared within Your meeting place;^*

they have unfurled their banners^* as signs,^*

⁵ like men wielding^* axes in a thicket of trees

⁶ and smashing all the carvings with hatchets and picks.

⁷ They have burned Your sanctuary to the ground;

they have defiled the dwelling place of Your Name.

⁸ They said in their hearts,

“We will crush them^* completely.”

They burned down every place^*

where God met us in the land.

⁹ There are no signs^* for us to see.

There is no longer any prophet.

And none of us knows how long this will last.

¹⁰ How long, O God, will the enemy taunt You?

Will the foe revile Your name forever?

¹¹ Why do You withdraw Your strong right hand?

Stretch it out to destroy them!

¹² Yet God is my King from ancient times,

working salvation on the earth.

¹³ You divided the sea by Your strength;

You smashed the heads of the dragons of the sea;

¹⁴ You crushed the heads of Leviathan;

You fed him to the creatures of the desert.

¹⁵ You broke open the fountain and the flood;

You dried up the ever-flowing rivers.

¹⁶ The day is Yours, and also the night;

You established the moon^* and the sun.

¹⁷ You set all the boundaries of the earth;

You made the summer and winter.

¹⁸ Remember how the enemy has mocked You, O LORD,

how a foolish people has spurned Your name.

¹⁹ Do not deliver the soul of Your dove to beasts;

do not forget the lives of Your afflicted forever.

²⁰ Consider Your covenant,^*

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

²¹ Do not let the oppressed retreat in shame;

may the poor and needy praise Your name.

²² Rise up, O God; defend Your cause!

Remember how the fool mocks You all day long.

²³ Do not disregard the clamor of Your adversaries,

the uproar of Your enemies that ascends continually.