1  O God, why do you ^pcast us off forever?

Why does your anger smoke against the ^qsheep of your pasture?

2  Remember your congregation, which you have ^rpurchased of old,

which you have redeemed to be the ^stribe of your heritage!

Remember Mount Zion, where you have dwelt.

3  Direct your steps to the perpetual ruins;

the enemy has destroyed everything in the sanctuary!

4  Your foes have roared in the midst of your meeting place;

they set up their own signs for signs.

5  They were like those who swing axes

in a forest of trees.²

6  And all its ^tcarved wood

they broke down with hatchets and hammers.

7  They ^uset your sanctuary on fire;

they profaned the dwelling place of your name,

bringing it down to the ground.

8  They said to themselves, ^v“We will utterly subdue them”;

they burned all the meeting places of God in the land.

9  ^wWe do not see our signs;

there is no longer any prophet,

and there is none among us who knows how long.

10  ^xHow long, O God, is the foe to scoff?

Is the enemy to revile your name forever?

11  Why do you ^yhold back your hand, your right hand?

Take it from the fold of your garment³ and destroy them!

12  Yet God my King is from of old,

working salvation in the midst of the earth.

13  ^zYou divided the sea by your might;

you broke the heads of the sea monsters⁴ on the waters.

14  You crushed the heads of ^aLeviathan;

you gave him as food for the creatures of the wilderness.

15  ^bYou split open springs and brooks;

^cyou dried up ever-flowing streams.

16  ^dYours is the day, yours also the night;

^eyou have established the heavenly lights and the sun.

17  ^fYou have fixed all the boundaries of the earth;

you have made summer and winter.

18  Remember this, O Lord, how the enemy scoffs,

and a foolish people reviles your name.

19  Do not deliver the soul of your dove to the wild beasts;

^gdo not forget the life of your poor forever.

20  ^hHave regard for ⁱthe covenant,

for the dark places of the land are full of the habitations of violence.

21  Let not the downtrodden turn back in shame;

let the poor and needy praise your name.

22  Arise, O God, defend your cause;

^jremember how the foolish scoff at you all the day!

23  Do not forget the clamor of your foes,

the uproar of those who rise against you, which goes up continually!