Arise, O God, Defend Your Cause
A Maskil of aAsaph.
O God, why do you bcast us off forever?
Why does your anger csmoke against dthe sheep of your pasture?
2 aRemember your congregation, which you have bpurchased of old,
which you have credeemed to be dthe tribe of your heritage!
Remember Mount Zion, ewhere you have dwelt.
3 Direct your steps to athe perpetual ruins;
the enemy has destroyed everything in the sanctuary!
4 Your foes have aroared in the midst of your meeting place;
bthey set up their cown signs for dsigns.
5 They were like those who swing aaxes
in a forest of trees.
6 And all its acarved wood
they broke down with hatchets and hammers.
7 They aset your sanctuary on fire;
they bprofaned cthe dwelling place of your name,
bringing it down to the ground.
8 They asaid to themselves, “We will utterly subdue them”;
they burned all the meeting places of God in the land.
9 We do not see our asigns;
bthere is no longer any prophet,
and there is none among us who knows how long.
10 How long, O God, ais the foe to scoff?
Is the enemy to revile your name forever?
11 Why ado you hold back your hand, your right hand?
Take it from the fold of your garment and destroy them!
12 Yet aGod my King is from of old,
working salvation in the midst of the earth.
13 You adivided the sea by your might;
you bbroke the heads of cthe sea monsters on the waters.
14 You crushed the heads of aLeviathan;
you gave him as food for the creatures of the wilderness.
15 You asplit open springs and brooks;
you bdried up ever‑flowing streams.
16 Yours is the day, yours also the night;
you have established athe heavenly lights and the sun.
17 You have afixed all the boundaries of the earth;
you have made bsummer and winter.
18 aRemember this, O Lord, how the enemy scoffs,
and ba foolish people reviles your name.
19 Do not deliver the soul of your adove to the wild beasts;
bdo not forget the life of your poor forever.
20 Have regard for athe covenant,
for bthe dark places of the land are full of the habitations of violence.
21 Let not athe downtrodden bturn back in shame;
let cthe poor and needy praise your name.
22 Arise, O God, adefend your cause;
bremember how the foolish scoff at you all the day!
23 Do not forget the clamor of your foes,
athe uproar of those who rise against you, which goes up continually!