A contemplation by Asaph.
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1God, why have you rejected us forever?
- Why does your anger smolder against the sheep of your pasture?
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2Remember your congregation, which you purchased of old,
- which you have redeemed to be the tribe of your inheritance;
- Mount Zion, in which you have lived.
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3Lift up your feet to the perpetual ruins,
- all the evil that the enemy has done in the sanctuary.
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4Your adversaries have roared in the midst of your assembly.
- They have set up their standards as signs.
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5They behaved like men wielding axes,
- cutting through a thicket of trees.
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6Now they break all its carved work down with hatchet and hammers.
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7They have burned your sanctuary to the ground.
- They have profaned the dwelling place of your Name.
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8They said in their heart, “We will crush them completely.”
- They have burned up all the places in the land where God was worshiped.
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9We see no miraculous signs.
- There is no longer any prophet,
- neither is there among us anyone who knows how long.
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10How long, God, shall the adversary reproach?
- Shall the enemy blaspheme your name forever?
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11Why do you draw back your hand, even your right hand?
- Take it out of your pocket and consume them!
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12Yet God is my King of old,
- working salvation in the midst of the earth.
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13You divided the sea by your strength.
- You broke the heads of the sea monsters in the waters.
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14You broke the heads of Leviathan in pieces.
- You gave him as food to people and desert creatures.
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15You opened up spring and stream.
- You dried up mighty rivers.
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16The day is yours, the night is also yours.
- You have prepared the light and the sun.
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17You have set all the boundaries of the earth.
- You have made summer and winter.
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18Remember this, that the enemy has mocked you, Yahweh.
- Foolish people have blasphemed your name.
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19Don’t deliver the soul of your dove to wild beasts.
- Don’t forget the life of your poor forever.
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20Honor your covenant,
- for haunts of violence fill the dark places of the earth.
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21Don’t let the oppressed return ashamed.
- Let the poor and needy praise your name.
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22Arise, God! Plead your own cause.
- Remember how the foolish man mocks you all day.
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23Don’t forget the voice of your adversaries.
- The tumult of those who rise up against you ascends continually.