Psalm 74. Ut quid, Deus?

1. O God, why have you utterly cast us off? *
   why is your wrath so hot against the sheep of your pasture?
2. Remember your congregation that you purchased long ago, *
   the tribe you redeemed to be your inheritance, and Mount Zion where you dwell.
3. Turn your steps toward the endless ruins; *
   the enemy has laid waste everything in your sanctuary.
4. Your adversaries roared in your holy place; *
   they set up their banners as tokens of victory.
5. They were like men coming up with axes to a grove of trees; *
   they broke down all your carved work with hatchets and hammers.
6. They set fire to your holy place; *
   they defiled the dwelling-place of your Name and razed it to the ground.
7. They said to themselves, "Let us destroy them altogether." *
   They burned down all the meeting-places of God in the land.
8. There are no signs for us to see; there is no prophet left; *
   there is not one among us who knows how long.
9. How long, O God, will the adversary scoff? *
   will the enemy blaspheme your Name for ever?
10. Why do you draw back your hand? *
    why is your right hand hidden in your bosom?
11. Yet God is my King from ancient times, *
    victorious in the midst of the earth.
12. You divided the sea by your might *
    and shattered the heads of the dragons upon the waters;
13. You crushed the heads of Leviathan *
    and gave him to the people of the desert for food.
14. You split open spring and torrent; *
    you dried up ever-flowing rivers.
15. Yours is the day, yours also the night; *
    you established the moon and the sun.
16. You fixed all the boundaries of the earth; *
    you made both summer and winter.
17. Remember, O Lord, how the enemy scoffed, *
    how a foolish people despised your Name.
18. Do not hand over the life of your dove to wild beasts; *
    never forget the lives of your poor.
19. Look upon your covenant; *
    the dark places of the earth are haunts of violence.
20. Let not the oppressed turn away ashamed; *
    let the poor and needy praise your Name.
21. Arise, O God, maintain your cause; *
    remember how fools revile you all day long.
22. Forget not the clamor of your adversaries, *
    the unending tumult of those who rise up against you.