Psalm 74: Ut quid, Deus?

O God, why have you utterly cast us off? *

why is your wrath so hot against the sheep of your pasture?

Remember your congregation that you purchased long ago, *

the tribe you redeemed to be your inheritance,

and Mount Zion where you dwell.

Turn your steps toward the endless ruins; *

the enemy has laid waste everything in your sanctuary.

Your adversaries roared in your holy place; *

they set up their banners as tokens of victory.

They were like men coming up with axes to a grove of trees; *

they broke down all your carved work with hatchets and hammers.

They set fire to your holy place; *

they defiled the dwelling-place of your Name

and razed it to the ground.

They said to themselves, "Let us destroy them altogether." *

They burned down all the meeting-places of God in the land.

There are no signs for us to see;

there is no prophet left; *

there is not one among us who knows how long.

How long, O God, will the adversary scoff? *

will the enemy blaspheme your Name for ever?

Why do you draw back your hand? *

why is your right hand hidden in your bosom?

Yet God is my King from ancient times, *

victorious in the midst of the earth.

You divided the sea by your might *

and shattered the heads of the dragons upon the waters;

You crushed the heads of Leviathan *

and gave him to the people of the desert for food.

You split open spring and torrent; *

you dried up ever-flowing rivers.

Yours is the day, yours also the night; *

you established the moon and the sun.

You fixed all the boundaries of the earth; *

you made both summer and winter.

Remember, O LORD, how the enemy scoffed, *

how a foolish people despised your Name.

Do not hand over the life of your dove to wild beasts; *

never forget the lives of your poor.

Look upon your covenant; *

the dark places of the earth are haunts of violence.

Let not the oppressed turn away ashamed; *

let the poor and needy praise your Name.

Arise, O God, maintain your cause; *

remember how fools revile you all day long.

Forget not the clamor of your adversaries, *

the unending tumult of those who rise up against you.