Why Have You Rejected Us Forever?

(Psalm 79:1-13; Jeremiah 52:1-11)

1Maschil 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, which thou hast redeemed to be the tribe of thine inheritance; and mount Zion, wherein thou hast dwelt.

3Lift up thy feet unto the perpetual ruins, all the evil that the enemy hath done in the sanctuary.

4Thine adversaries have roared in the midst of thine assembly; they have set up their ensigns for signs.

5They seemed as men that lifted up axes upon a thicket of trees.

6And now all the carved work thereof together they break down with hatchet and hammers.

7They have set thy sanctuary on fire; they have profaned the dwelling place of thy name even to the ground.

8They said in their heart, Let us make havoc of them altogether: 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.

10How long, O God, shall the adversary reproach? shall the enemy blaspheme thy name for ever?

11Why drawest thou back thy hand, even thy right hand? pluck it out of thy bosom and consume them.

12Yet 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, thou gavest him to be meat to the people inhabiting the wilderness.

15Thou didst cleave fountain and 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 foolish people have blasphemed thy name.

19O deliver not the soul of thy turtle-dove unto the wild beast: forget not the life of thy poor for ever.

20Have respect unto the covenant: for the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of violence.

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 all the day.

23Forget not the voice of thine adversaries: the tumult of those that rise up against thee ascendeth continually.