[A Psalm of instruction for Asaph.][1]Wherefore hast thou rejected us, O God, for ever? wherefore is thy wrath kindled against the sheep of thy pasture?[2]Remember thy congregation which thou hast purchased from the beginning; thou didst ransom the rod of thine inheritance; this mount Sion wherein thou hast dwelt.[3]Lift up thine hands against their pride continually; because of all that the enemy has done wickedly in thy holy places.[4]And they that hate thee have boasted in the midst of thy feast; they have set up their standards for signs,[5]ignorantly as it were in the entrance above;[6]they cut down its doors at once with axes as in a wood of trees; they have broken it down with hatchet and stone cutter.[7]They have burnt thy sanctuary with fire to the ground; they have profaned the habitation of thy name.[8]They have said in their heart, even all their kindred together, Come, let us abolish the feasts of the Lord from the earth.[9]We have not seen our signs; there is no longer a prophet; and God will not know us any more.[10]How long, O God, shall the enemy reproach? shall the enemy provoke thy name forever?[11]Wherefore turnest thou away thine hand, and thy right hand from the midst of thy bosom for ever?[12]But God is our King of old; he has wrought salvation in the midst of the earth.[13]Thou didst establish the sea, in thy might, thou didst break to pieces the heads of the dragons in the water.[14]Thou didst break to pieces the heads of the dragon; thou didst give him for meat to the Ethiopian nations.[15]Thou didst cleave fountains and torrents; thou driedst up mighty rivers.[16]The day is thine, and the night is thine; thou hast prepared the sun and the moon.[17]Thou hast made all the borders of the earth; thou hast made summer and spring.[18]Remember this thy creation: an enemy has reproached the Lord, and a foolish people has provoked thy name.[19]Deliver not to the wild beasts a soul that gives praise to thee: forget not for ever the souls of thy poor.[20]Look upon thy covenant: for the dark places of the earth are filled with the habitations of iniquity.[21]let not the afflicted and shamed one be rejected: the poor and needy shall praise thy name.[22]Arise, O God, plead thy cause: remember thy reproaches that come from the foolish one all the day.[23]Forget not the voice of thy suppliants: let the pride of them that hate thee continually ascend before thee.
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Author: Sir Lancelot Charles Lee Brenton (1851)
Source: ecmarsh.com