1O God, why hast thou cast us off?
is it for evermore?
Against thy pasture-sheep why doth
thine anger smoke so sore?
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2O call to thy rememberance
thy congregation,
Which thou hast purchased of old;
still think the same upon:
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The rod of thine inheritance,
which thou redeemed hast,
This Sion hill, wherein thou hadst
thy dwelling in times past.
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3To these long desolations
thy feet lift, do not tarry;
For all the ills thy foes have done
within thy sanctuary.
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4Amidst thy congregations
thine enemies do roar:
Their ensigns they set up for signs
of triumph thee before.
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5A man was famous, and was had
in estimation,
According as he lifted up
his axe thick trees upon.
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6But all at once with axes now
and hammers they go to,
And down the carved work thereof
they break, and quite undo.
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7They fired have thy sanctuary,
and have defil’d the same,
By casting down unto the ground
the place where dwelt thy name.
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8Thus said they in their hearts, Let us
destroy them out of hand:
They burnt up all the synagogues
of God within the land.
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9Our signs we do not now behold;
there is not us among
A prophet more, nor any one
that knows the time how long.
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10How long, Lord, shall the enemy
thus in reproach exclaim?
And shall the adversary thus
always blaspheme thy name?
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11Thy hand, ev’n thy right hand of might,
why dost thou thus draw back?
O from thy bosom pluck it out
for our deliv’rance sake.
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12For certainly God is my King,
ev’n from the times of old,
Working in midst of all the earth
salvation manifold.
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13The sea, by thy great pow’r, to part
asunder thou didst make;
And thou the dragons’ heads, O Lord,
within the waters brake.
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14The leviathan’s head thou brak’st
in pieces, and didst give
Him to be meat unto the folk
in wilderness that live.
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15Thou clav’st the fountain and the flood,
which did with streams abound:
Thou dry’dst the mighty waters up
unto the very ground.
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16Thine only is the day, O Lord,
thine also is the night;
And thou alone prepared hast
the sun and shining light.
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17By thee the borders of the earth
were settled ev’ry where:
The summer and the winter both
by thee created were.
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18That th’ enemy reproached hath,
O keep it in record;
And that the foolish people have
blasphem’d thy name, O Lord.
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19Unto the multitude do not
thy turtle’s soul deliver:
The congregation of thy poor
do not forget for ever.
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20Unto thy cov’nant have respect;
for earth’s dark places be
Full of the habitations
of horrid cruelty.
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21O let not those that be oppress’d
return again with shame:
Let those that poor and needy are
give praise unto thy name.
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22Do thou, O God, arise and plead
the cause that is thine own:
Remember how thou art reproach’d
still by the foolish one.
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23Do not forget the voice of those
that are thine enemies:
Of those the tumult ever grows
that do against thee rise.
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