Why Have You Cast Us Off Forever?

1 O God, why have you cast us off forever? Why rage against the sheep within your fold? 2 Do not forget the people whom you purchased, the heritage which you redeemed of old. Remember where you dwelt upon Mount Zion, 3 and turn your steps towards these ruined walls— All this destruction which the foe in malice has perpetrated on your sacred halls. 4 Your enemies have roared in your assembly; their standards fly victorious in the breeze. 5 Their fury was like woodmen wielding axes to cut through undergrowth between the trees. 6 They smashed to pieces all the fretted woodwork— with axe and hatchet every paneled frame. 7 They burned your holy sanctuary to ashes, and made unclean the place where dwells your Name. 8 Their thought was, “We will utterly destroy them!” They burned each place of worship in the land. 9 We see no miracles; there are no prophets, and no one knows when all these things will end. 10 How long, O God, will enemies revile you? For ever will your foes blaspheme and scoff? 11 Why do you keep your right hand hidden from us? Stretch it against your foes and cut them off! The psalm continues at Psalm 74B. – Sing Psalms, alt.