Why Have You Rejected Us Forever?

A Maskil of Asaph.

Why have You rejected us forever, O God?

Why does Your anger smolder

against the sheep of Your pasture?

Remember Your congregation,

which You purchased long ago

and redeemed as the tribe of Your inheritance—

Mount Zion where You dwell.

Turn Your steps to the everlasting ruins,

to everything in the sanctuary the enemy has destroyed.

Your foes have roared within Your meeting place;

they have unfurled their banners as signs,

like men wielding axes in a thicket of trees

and smashing all the carvings with hatchets and picks.

They have burned Your sanctuary to the ground;

they have defiled the dwelling place of Your Name.

They said in their hearts,

“We will crush them completely.”

They burned down every place

where God met us in the land.

There are no signs for us to see.

There is no longer any prophet.

And none of us knows how long this will last.

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

Will the foe revile Your name forever?

Why do You withdraw Your strong right hand?

Stretch it out to destroy them!

Yet God is my King from ancient times,

working salvation on the earth.

You divided the sea by Your strength;

You smashed the heads of the dragons of the sea;

You crushed the heads of Leviathan;

You fed him to the creatures of the desert.

You broke open the fountain and the flood;

You dried up the ever-flowing rivers.

The day is Yours, and also the night;

You established the moon and the sun.

You set all the boundaries of the earth;

You made the summer and winter.

Remember how the enemy has mocked You, O LORD,

how a foolish people has spurned Your name.

Do not deliver the soul of Your dove to beasts;

do not forget the lives of Your afflicted forever.

Consider Your covenant,

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

Do not let the oppressed retreat in shame;

may the poor and needy praise Your name.

Rise up, O God; defend Your cause!

Remember how the fool mocks You all day long.

Do not disregard the clamor of Your adversaries,

the uproar of Your enemies that ascends continually.