Why Have You Rejected Us Forever?

¹Why have You rejected us forever, O God? Why does Your anger smolder against the sheep of Your pasture? ²Remember Your congregation, which You purchased long ago and redeemed as the tribe of Your inheritance— Mount Zion, where You dwell. ³Turn Your steps to the everlasting ruins, to everything in the sanctuary the enemy has destroyed.

⁴Your foes have roared within Your meeting place; they have unfurled their banners as signs, ⁵like men wielding axes in a thicket of trees ⁶and smashing all the carvings with hatchets and picks. ⁷They have burned Your sanctuary to the ground; they have defiled the dwelling place of Your Name.

⁸They said in their hearts, “We will crush them completely.” They burned down every place where God met us in the land. ⁹There are no signs for us to see. There is no longer any prophet. And none of us knows how long this will last. ¹⁰How long, O God, will the enemy taunt You? Will the foe revile Your name forever? ¹¹Why do You withdraw Your strong right hand? Stretch it out to destroy them!

¹²Yet God is my King from ancient times, working salvation on the earth. ¹³You divided the sea by Your strength; You smashed the heads of the dragons of the sea; ¹⁴You crushed the heads of Leviathan; You fed him to the creatures of the desert. ¹⁵You broke open the fountain and the flood; You dried up the ever-flowing rivers. ¹⁶The day is Yours, and also the night; You established the moon and the sun. ¹⁷You set all the boundaries of the earth; You made the summer and winter.

¹⁸Remember how the enemy has mocked You, O LORD, how a foolish people has spurned Your name. ¹⁹Do not deliver the soul of Your dove to beasts; do not forget the lives of Your afflicted forever. ²⁰Consider Your covenant, for haunts of violence fill the dark places of the land. ²¹Do not let the oppressed retreat in shame; may the poor and needy praise Your name.

²²Rise up, O God; defend Your cause! Remember how the fool mocks You all day long. ²³Do not disregard the clamor of Your adversaries, the uproar of Your enemies that ascends continually.