1 A maskil of Asaph. I Why, God, have you cast us off forever? Why does your anger burn against the sheep of your pasture? 2. Remember your flock that you gathered of old, the tribe you redeemed as your very own. Remember Mount Zion where you dwell. 3. Turn your steps toward the utter ruins, toward the sanctuary devastated by the enemy. 4. Your foes roared triumphantly in your shrine; they set up their own tokens of victory. 5. They hacked away like foresters gathering boughs, swinging their axes in a thicket of trees. 6. They smashed all your engraved work, pounded it with hammer and pick. 7. They set your sanctuary on fire; the abode of your name they razed and profaned. 8. They said in their hearts, "Destroy them all! Burn all the shrines of God in the land!" 9. Now we see no signs, we have no prophets, no one who knows how long. 10. How long, O God, shall the enemy jeer? Shall the foe revile your name forever? 11. Why draw back your right hand, why keep it idle beneath your cloak?
Psalms 74: 1-11
