Understanding for Asaph.
O God, why hast thou cast us off unto the end: why is thy wrath enkindled against the sheep of thy pasture?

Intellectus Asaph.
Ut quid, Deus, repulisti in finem, iratus est furor tuus super oves pascuæ tuæ?

(A maskil. Of Asaph.)
O God, hast thou altogether abandoned us? Sheep of thy own pasturing, must we feel the fires of thy vengeance?

Remember thy congregation, which thou hast possessed from the beginning. The sceptre of thy inheritance which thou hast redeemed: mount Sion in which thou hast dwelt.

Memor esto congregationis tuæ, quam possedisti ab initio. Redemisti virgam hæreditatis tuæ, mons Sion, in quo habitasti in eo.

Bethink thee of the company thou hast gathered, long ago; of the tribe thou hast chosen to be thy domain; of mount Sion, where thou hast thy dwelling-place.

Lift up thy hands against their pride unto the end; see what things the enemy hath done wickedly in the sanctuary.

Leva manus tuas in superbias eorum in finem: quanta malignatus est inimicus in sancto!

Hither turn thy steps, where all is ruin irretrievable; see what havoc thy enemies have wrought in the holy place,

And they that hate thee have made their boasts, in the midst of thy solemnity. They have set up their ensigns for signs,

Et gloriati sunt qui oderunt te in medio solemnitatis tuæ; posuerunt signa sua, signa:

how their malice has raged in thy very precincts, setting up its emblems

and they knew not both in the going out and on the highest top. As with axes in a wood of trees,

et non cognoverunt sicut in exitu super summum. Quasi in silva lignorum securibus

for a trophy of conquest. Blow after blow, like woodmen in the forest,

they have cut down at once the gates thereof, with axe and hatchet they have brought it down.

exciderunt januas ejus in idipsum; in securi et ascia dejecerunt eam.

they have plied their axes, brought it down, with pick and mallet, to the ground.

They have set fire to thy sanctuary: they have defiled the dwelling place of thy name on the earth.

Incenderunt igni sanctuarium tuum; in terra polluerunt tabernaculum nominis tui.

They have set fire to thy sanctuary, sullied the dwelling-place of thy glory in the dust.

They said in their heart, the whole kindred of them together: Let us abolish all the festival days of God from the land.

Dixerunt in corde suo cognatio eorum simul: Quiescere faciamus omnes dies festos Dei a terra.

They think to destroy us like one man, sweep away every shrine of God in the land.

Our signs we have not seen, there is now no prophet: and he will know us no more.

Signa nostra non vidimus; jam non est propheta; et nos non cognoscet amplius.

Our own emblems are nowhere to be seen; there are no prophets left now, none can tell how long we must endure.

How long, O God, shall the enemy reproach: is the adversary to provoke thy name for ever?

Usquequo, Deus, improperabit inimicus? irritat adversarius nomen tuum in finem?

O God, shall our enemy taunt us everlastingly, shall blasphemy still defy thy name?

Why dost thou turn away thy hand: and thy right hand out of the midst of thy bosom for ever?

Ut quid avertis manum tuam, et dexteram tuam de medio sinu tuo in finem?

Why dost thou withhold thy hand? That right hand of thine, must it always lie idle in thy bosom?

But God is our king before ages: he hath wrought salvation in the midst of the earth.

Deus autem rex noster ante sæcula: operatus est salutem in medio terræ.

Mine is a King who reigned before time was; here on earth he was the means to bring deliverance.

Thou by thy strength didst make the sea firm: thou didst crush the heads of the dragons in the waters.

Tu confirmasti in virtute tua mare; contribulasti capita draconum in aquis.

What power but thine could sunder the shifting sea, crush the power of the monster beneath its waters;

Thou hast broken the heads of the dragon: thou hast given him to be meat for the people of the Ethiopians.

Tu confregisti capita draconis; dedisti eum escam populis Æthiopum.

shatter Leviathan’s power, and give him up as prey to the sea-beasts?

Thou hast broken up the fountains and the torrents: thou hast dried up the Ethan rivers.

Tu dirupisti fontes et torrentes; tu siccasti fluvios Ethan.

Thou didst open up fountains and streams of water; thou, too, madest the swollen rivers run dry.

Thine is the day, and thine is the night: thou hast made the morning light and the sun.

Tuus est dies, et tua est nox; tu fabricatus es auroram et solem.

Thine is the day, thine the night; moon and sun are of thy appointment;

Thou hast made all the borders of the earth: the summer and the spring were formed by thee.

Tu fecisti omnes terminos terræ; æstatem et ver tu plasmasti ea.

thou hast fixed all the bounds of earth, madest the summer, madest the cool of the year.

Remember this, the enemy hath reproached the Lord: and a foolish people hath provoked thy name.

Memor esto hujus: inimicus improperavit Domino, et populus insipiens incitavit nomen tuum.

Wilt thou take no heed, when thy enemies taunt thee, and in their recklessness set the divine name at defiance?

Deliver not up to beasts the souls that confess to thee: and forget not to the end the souls of thy poor.

Ne tradas bestiis animas confitentes tibi, et animas pauperum tuorum ne obliviscaris in finem.

Must the dove be the vulture’s prey? Souls unbefriended, but for thee, wilt thou leave us quite forgotten?

Have regard to thy covenant: for they that are the obscure of the earth have been filled with dwellings of iniquity.

Respice in testamentum tuum, quia repleti sunt qui obscurati sunt terræ domibus iniquitatum.

Bethink thee of thy covenant; everywhere oppression lurks, or walks openly through the fields.

Let not the humble be turned away with confusion: the poor and needy shall praise thy name.

Ne avertatur humilis factus confusus; pauper et inops laudabunt nomen tuum.

Do not let the humble go away disappointed; teach the poor and the helpless to exalt thy name.

Arise, O God, judge thy own cause: remember thy reproaches with which the foolish man hath reproached thee all the day.

Exsurge, Deus, judica causam tuam; memor esto improperiorum tuorum, eorum quæ ab insipiente sunt tota die.

Bestir thyself, O God, to vindicate thy own cause; do not forget the taunts which reckless men hurl at thee, day after day;

Forget not the voices of thy enemies: the pride of them that hate thee ascendeth continually.

Ne obliviscaris voces inimicorum tuorum: superbia eorum qui te oderunt ascendit semper.

do not overlook them, the triumphant shouts of thy enemies, the ever growing clamour that here defies thee.