The psalmist laments that the enemy has destroyed the sanctuary, and asks God to remember his people and defend his cause. He recalls God's power at creation and the exodus.
1 Maschil of Asaph . O God , why hast thou cast us off for ever ? why doth thine anger smoke against the sheep of thy pasture ?
2 Remember thy congregation , which thou hast purchased of old ; the rod of thine inheritance , which thou hast redeemed ; this mount Zion , wherein thou hast dwelt .
3 Lift up thy feet unto the perpetual desolations ; even all that the enemy hath done wickedly in the sanctuary .
4 Thine enemies roar in the midst of thy congregations ; they set up their ensigns for signs .
5 A man was famous according as he had lifted up axes upon the thick trees .
6 But now they break down the carved work thereof at once with axes and hammers .
7 They have cast fire into thy sanctuary , they have defiled by casting down the dwelling place of thy name to the ground .
8 They said in their hearts , Let us destroy them together : they have burned up all the synagogues of God in the land .
9 We see not our signs : there is no more any prophet : neither is there among us any that knoweth how long .
10 O God , how long shall the adversary reproach ? shall the enemy blaspheme thy name for ever ?
11 Why withdrawest thou thy hand , even thy right hand ? pluck it out of thy bosom .
12 For God is my King of old , working salvation in the midst of the earth .
13 Thou didst divide the sea by thy strength : thou brakest the heads of the dragons in the waters .
14 Thou brakest the heads of leviathan in pieces, and gavest him to be meat to the people inhabiting the wilderness .
15 Thou didst cleave the fountain and the flood : thou driedst up mighty rivers .
16 The day is thine, the night also is thine: thou hast prepared the light and the sun .
17 Thou hast set all the borders of the earth : thou hast made summer and winter .
18 Remember this, that the enemy hath reproached , O LORD , and that the foolish people have blasphemed thy name .
19 O deliver not the soul of thy turtledove unto the multitude of the wicked: forget not the congregation of thy poor for ever .
20 Have respect unto the covenant : for the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty .
21 O let not the oppressed return ashamed : let the poor and needy praise thy name .
22 Arise , O God , plead thine own cause : remember how the foolish man reproacheth thee daily .
23 Forget not the voice of thine enemies : the tumult of those that rise up against thee increaseth continually .