| Scripture |
Expanded Comments |
A Complaint over the Devastation of the Land by the Enemy.
Maskil of Asaph. |
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1 O God, why hast thou cast us off for ever?
Why doth thine anger smoke against the sheep of thy pasture?
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Sheep of thy pasture – We are his sheep. The Jews were also referred to as God's sheep. R5383:2
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2 Remember thy congregation, which thou hast gotten of old,
Which thou hast redeemed to be the tribe of thine inheritance;
And mount Zion, wherein thou hast dwelt.
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3 Lift up thy feet unto the perpetual ruins,
All the evil that the enemy hath done in the Holy.
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4 Thine adversaries have roared in the midst of thine assembly;
They have set up their ensigns for signs.
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5 They seem as men that lifted up
Axes upon a thicket of trees.
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6 And now all the carved work thereof
They break down with hatchet and hammers.
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7 They have set thy sanctuary on fire;
They have profaned the dwelling-place of thy name by casting it to the ground.
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8 They said in their heart, Let us make havoc of them altogether:
They have burned up all the synagogues of God in the earth.
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9 We see not our signs:
There is no more any prophet;
Neither is there among us any that knoweth how long.
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10 How long, O God, shall the adversary reproach?
Shall the enemy blaspheme thy name for ever?
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11 Why drawest thou back thy hand, even thy right hand?
Pluck it out of thy bosom and consume them.
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12 Yet God is my King of old,
Working salvation in the midst of the earth.
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13 Thou didst divide the sea by thy strength:
Thou brakest the heads of the sea-monsters in the waters.
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14 Thou brakest the heads of leviathan in pieces;
Thou gavest him to be food to the people inhabiting the wilderness.
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15 Thou didst cleave fountain and flood:
Thou driedst up mighty rivers.
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16 The day is thine, the night also is thine:
Thou hast prepared the light and the sun.
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17 Thou hast set all the borders of the earth:
Thou hast made summer and winter.
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18 Remember this, that the enemy hath reproached, O Jehovah,
And that a foolish people hath blasphemed thy name.
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19 Oh deliver not the soul of thy turtle-dove unto the wild beast:
Forget not the life of thy poor for ever.
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20 Have respect unto the covenant;
For the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of violence.
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21 Oh let not the oppressed return ashamed:
Let the poor and needy praise thy name.
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22 Arise, O God, plead thine own cause:
Remember how the foolish man reproacheth thee all the day.
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23 Forget not the voice of thine adversaries:
The tumult of those that rise up against thee ascendeth continually. |
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