Why Have You Rejected Us Forever?
(Psalm 79:1-13; Jeremiah 52:1-11)
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?
2Remember thy congregation, [which] thou hast purchased of old; the rod of thine inheritance, [which] thou hast redeemed; this mount Zion, wherein thou hast dwelt.
3Lift up thy feet unto the perpetual desolations; [even] all [that] the enemy hath done wickedly in the sanctuary.
4Thine 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.
6But now they break down the carved work thereof at once with axes and hammers.
7They have cast fire into thy sanctuary, they have defiled [by casting down] the dwelling place of thy name to the ground.
8They said in their hearts, Let us destroy them together: they have burned up all the synagogues of God in the land.
9We see not our signs: [there is] no more any prophet: neither [is there] among us any that knoweth how long.
10O God, how long shall the adversary reproach? shall the enemy blaspheme thy name for ever?
11Why withdrawest thou thy hand, even thy right hand? pluck [it] out of thy bosom.
12For God [is] my King of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth.
13Thou didst divide the sea by thy strength: thou brakest the heads of the dragons in the waters.
14Thou brakest the heads of leviathan in pieces, [and] gavest him [to be] meat to the people inhabiting the wilderness.
15Thou didst cleave the fountain and the flood: thou driedst up mighty rivers.
16The day [is] thine, the night also [is] thine: thou hast prepared the light and the sun.
17Thou hast set all the borders of the earth: thou hast made summer and winter.
18Remember this, [that] the enemy hath reproached, O LORD, and [that] the foolish people have blasphemed thy name.
19O deliver not the soul of thy turtledove unto the multitude [of the wicked]: forget not the congregation of thy poor for ever.
20Have respect unto the covenant: for the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty.
21O let not the oppressed return ashamed: let the poor and needy praise thy name.
22Arise, O God, plead thine own cause: remember how the foolish man reproacheth thee daily.
23Forget not the voice of thine enemies: the tumult of those that rise up against thee increaseth continually.
