A skillful song of Asaph. Why, Elohim, have you abandoned us forever? Why does your anger smoke against the sheep of your pasture?

Remember your congregation, which you acquired in the beginning, the tribe of your inheritance, Mount Tsiyon, where you dwell.

Lift up your feet to the perpetual ruins; everything the enemy has done wickedly in the sanctuary.

Your adversaries roared in the midst of your appointed times; they set up their signs, signs.

It became known, as if bringing up from above, by the thicket of trees, axes.

And now, its carvings together with axes and hammers they will strike.

They sent your sanctuary into fire; to the ground they profaned the dwelling of your Name.

They said in their heart, 'We will crush them together; they burned all the appointed times of El in the land.'

Our signs we did not see; there is no longer a prophet, and with us, one who knows how long.

How long, Elohim, will the adversary reproach? Will the enemy blaspheme your Name forever?

Why do you turn back your hand and your right hand from the midst of your embrace? Consume!

And Elohim is my King from the beginning, working salvations in the midst of the earth.

You, with your strength, divided the sea; you shattered the heads of sea monsters on the waters.

You, you crushed the heads of Leviathan; you will give him as food to the people, to the desert dwellers.

You, you broke open the spring and the stream; you dried up the mighty rivers.

Yours is the day, yours also is the night; you prepared the light and the sun.

You, you set all the boundaries of the earth; summer and winter, you formed them.

Remember this: the enemy reproached יהוה, and a foolish people blasphemed your Name.

Do not give to the wild animal the life of your dove; the life of your afflicted ones, do not forget forever.

Look to the covenant, for the dark places of the earth are full of the dwellings of violence.

Let not the crushed return in shame; let the afflicted and the needy praise your Name.

Arise, Elohim! Plead your plea; remember your reproach from the foolish one, all the day.

Do not forget the voice of your adversaries; the uproar of your enemies, ascending always.