1 A Psalm of instruction for Asaph. 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,
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.
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.
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.