King James Version KJV
Good News Translation GNT
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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Why have you abandoned us like this, O God? Will you be angry with your own people forever?
2 Remember thy congregation, which thou hast purchased of old; the rod of thine inheritance, which thou hast redeemed; this mount Zion, wherein thou hast dwelt.
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Remember your people, whom you chose for yourself long ago, whom you brought out of slavery to be your own tribe. Remember Mount Zion, where once you lived.
3 Lift up thy feet unto the perpetual desolations; even all that the enemy hath done wickedly in the sanctuary.
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Walk over these total ruins; our enemies have destroyed everything in the Temple.
4 Thine enemies roar in the midst of thy congregations; they set up their ensigns for signs.
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Your enemies have shouted in triumph in your Temple; they have placed their flags there as signs of victory.
5 A man was famous according as he had lifted up axes upon the thick trees.
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They looked like woodsmen cutting down trees with their axes.
6 But now they break down the carved work thereof at once with axes and hammers.
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They smashed all the wooden panels with their axes and sledge hammers.
7 They have cast fire into thy sanctuary, they have defiled by casting down the dwelling place of thy name to the ground.
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They wrecked your Temple and set it on fire; they desecrated the place where you are worshiped.
8 They said in their hearts, Let us destroy them together: they have burned up all the synagogues of God in the land.
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They wanted to crush us completely; they burned down every holy place in the land.
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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All our sacred symbols are gone; there are no prophets left, and no one knows how long this will last.
10 O God, how long shall the adversary reproach? shall the enemy blaspheme thy name for ever?
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How long, O God, will our enemies laugh at you? Will they insult your name forever?
11 Why withdrawest thou thy hand, even thy right hand? pluck it out of thy bosom.
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Why have you refused to help us? Why do you keep your hands behind you?
12 For God is my King of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth.
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But you have been our king from the beginning, O God; you have saved us many times.
13 Thou didst divide the sea by thy strength: thou brakest the heads of the dragons in the waters.
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With your mighty strength you divided the sea and smashed the heads of the sea monsters;
14 Thou brakest the heads of leviathan in pieces, and gavest him to be meat to the people inhabiting the wilderness.
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you crushed the heads of the monster Leviathan and fed his body to desert animals.
15 Thou didst cleave the fountain and the flood: thou driedst up mighty rivers.
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You made springs and fountains flow; you dried up large rivers.
16 The day is thine, the night also is thine: thou hast prepared the light and the sun.
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You created the day and the night; you set the sun and the moon in their places;
17 Thou hast set all the borders of the earth: thou hast made summer and winter.
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you set the limits of the earth; you made summer and winter.
18 Remember this, that the enemy hath reproached, O LORD, and that the foolish people have blasphemed thy name.
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But remember, O Lord, that your enemies laugh at you, that they are godless and despise you.
19 O deliver not the soul of thy turtledove unto the multitude of the wicked: forget not the congregation of thy poor for ever.
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Don't abandon your helpless people to their cruel enemies; don't forget your persecuted people!
20 Have respect unto the covenant: for the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty.
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Remember the covenant you made with us. There is violence in every dark corner of the land.
21 O let not the oppressed return ashamed: let the poor and needy praise thy name.
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Don't let the oppressed be put to shame; let those poor and needy people praise you.
22 Arise, O God, plead thine own cause: remember how the foolish man reproacheth thee daily.
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Rouse yourself, God, and defend your cause! Remember that godless people laugh at you all day long.
23 Forget not the voice of thine enemies: the tumult of those that rise up against thee increaseth continually.
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Don't forget the angry shouts of your enemies, the continuous noise made by your foes.
The King James Version is in the public domain.
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.