“Why, O God, have You cast us off for ever? Why blaze with anger at the sheep of Your pasture? Remember Your people whom You chose long ago, the tribe You redeemed to be Your own possession, the mountain of Zion where You made Your dwelling. Turn Your steps to these places that are utterly ruined! The enemy has laid waste the whole of the sanctuary. Your foes have made uproar in Your house of prayer: they have set up their emblems, their foreign emblems, high above the entrance to the sanctuary. Their axes have battered the wood of its doors. They have struck together with hatchet and pickaxe. O God, they have set Your sanctuary on fire: they have razed and profaned the place where You dwell. They said in their hearts: ‘Let us utterly crush them: let us burn every shrine of God in the land.’ There is no sign from God, nor have we a prophet, we have no one to tell us how long it will last. How long, O God, is the enemy to scoff? Is the foe to insult Your name for ever? Why, O Lord, do You hold back Your hand? Why do You keep Your right hand hidden? Yet God is our king from time past, the giver of help through all the land.”
“It was You who divided the sea by Your might, who shattered the heads of the monsters in the sea. It was You who crushed Leviathan’s heads and gave him as food to the untamed beasts. It was You who opened springs and torrents; it was You who dried up ever-flowing rivers. Yours is the day and Yours is the night. It was You who appointed the light and the sun: it was You who fixed the bounds of the earth: You who made both summer and winter. Remember this, Lord, and see the enemy scoffing; a senseless people insults Your name. Do not give Israel, Your dove, to the hawk nor forget the life of Your poor ones for ever. Remember Your covenant; every cave in the land is a place where violence makes its home. Do not let the oppressed return disappointed; let the poor and the needy bless Your name. Arise, O God, and defend Your cause! Remember how the senseless revile You all the day. Do not forget the clamor of Your foes, the daily increasing uproar of Your foes” (Ps 74:1-23).
