Why Have You Rejected Us Forever?

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

1Understanding for Asaph. O God, why hast thou cast us off unto the end: why is thy wrath enkindled against the sheep of thy pasture?

2Remember thy congregation, which thou hast possessed from the beginning. The sceptre of thy inheritance which thou hast redeemed: mount Sion in which thou hast dwelt.

3Lift up thy hands against their pride unto the end; see what things the enemy hath done wickedly in the sanctuary.

4And they that hate thee have made their boasts, in the midst of thy solemnity. They have set up their ensigns for signs,

5and they knew not both in the going out and on the highest top. As with axes in a wood of trees,

6they have cut down at once the gates thereof, with axe and hatchet they have brought it down.

7They have set fire to thy sanctuary: they have defiled the dwelling place of thy name on the earth.

8They said in their heart, the whole kindred of them together: Let us abolish all the festival days of God from the land.

9Our signs we have not seen, there is now no prophet: and he will know us no more.

10How long, O God, shall the enemy reproach: is the adversary to provoke thy name for ever?

11Why dost thou turn away thy hand: and thy right hand out of the midst of thy bosom for ever ?

12But God is our king before ages: he hath wrought salvation in the midst of the earth.

13Thou by thy strength didst make the sea firm: thou didst crush the heads of the dragons in the waters.

14Thou hast broken the heads of the dragon: thou hast given him to be meat for the people of the Ethiopians.

15Thou hast broken up the fountains and the torrents: thou hast dried up the Ethan rivers.

16Thine is the day, and thine is the night: thou hast made the morning light and the sun.

17Thou hast made all the borders of the earth: the summer and the spring were formed by thee.

18Remember this, the enemy hath reproached the Lord: and a foolish people hath provoked thy name.

19Deliver not up to beasts the souls that confess to thee: and forget not to the end the souls of thy poor.

20Have regard to thy covenant: for they that are the obscure of the earth have been filled with dwellings of iniquity.

21Let not the humble be turned away with confusion: the poor and needy shall praise thy name.

22Arise, O God, judge thy own cause: remember thy reproaches with which the foolish man hath reproached thee all the day.

23Forget not the voices of thy enemies: the pride of them that hate thee ascendeth continually.