Book Three (Psalms 73-89) "Concerning the Sanctuary"
Maschil of Asaph.
1: 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.
To the chief Musician, Al-taschith.
subtitle To the chief Musician. See The Companion Bible, Appendix 64.
Al-taschith = Destroy not. See The Companion Bible Appendix #65 III.