Why Have You Rejected Us Forever? (Psalm 79:1–13; Jeremiah 52:1–11)
1 CPDV The understanding of Asaph. O God, why have you rejected us to the end. Why has your fury become enraged over the sheep of your pasture? BSB BSB: A Maskil of Asaph. Why have You rejected us forever, O God? Why does Your anger smolder against the sheep of Your pasture?
2 CPDV Be mindful of your congregation, which you have possessed from the beginning. You redeemed the scepter of your inheritance, mount Zion, in which you have dwelt. BSB BSB: Remember Your congregation, which You purchased long ago and redeemed as the tribe of Your inheritance—Mount Zion, where You dwell.
3 CPDV Lift up your hands against their arrogance in the end. How great the malice of the enemy has been in the sanctuary! BSB BSB: Turn Your steps to the everlasting ruins, to everything in the sanctuary the enemy has destroyed.
4 CPDV And those who hate you have been glorified, in the midst of your solemnity. They have set up their own signs as a proof, BSB BSB: Your foes have roared within Your meeting place; they have unfurled their banners as signs,
5 CPDV as if it had been issued from on high; yet they did not understand. As in a forest of chopped wood, BSB BSB: like men wielding axes in a thicket of trees
6 CPDV they have cut down the entrances themselves. With axe and hatchet, they have brought it down. BSB BSB: and smashing all the carvings with hatchets and picks.
7 CPDV They have set fire to your Sanctuary. They have polluted the tabernacle of your name on earth. BSB BSB: They have burned Your sanctuary to the ground; they have defiled the dwelling place of Your Name.
8 CPDV They have said in their heart, the whole group of them together: “Let us cause all the feast days of God to cease from the land. BSB BSB: They said in their hearts, “We will crush them completely.” They burned down every place where God met us in the land.
9 CPDV We have not seen our proof; there is now no prophet. And he will no longer know us.” BSB BSB: There are no signs for us to see. There is no longer any prophet. And none of us knows how long this will last.
10 CPDV How long, O God, will the enemy place blame? Is the adversary to provoke your name until the end? BSB BSB: How long, O God, will the enemy taunt You? Will the foe revile Your name forever?
11 CPDV Why do you turn your hand away, even your right hand, from the midst of your sinews, until the end? BSB BSB: Why do You withdraw Your strong right hand? Stretch it out to destroy them!
12 CPDV But God is our king before all ages. He has wrought salvation in the midst of the earth. BSB BSB: Yet God is my King from ancient times, working salvation on the earth.
13 CPDV In your virtue, you confirmed the sea. You crushed the heads of the serpents in the waters. BSB BSB: You divided the sea by Your strength; You smashed the heads of the dragons of the sea;
14 CPDV You have broken the heads of the serpent. You have given him as food for the people of the Ethiopians. BSB BSB: You crushed the heads of Leviathan; You fed him to the creatures of the desert.
15 CPDV You have disrupted the fountains and the torrents. You have dried up the rivers of Ethan. BSB BSB: You broke open the fountain and the flood; You dried up the ever-flowing rivers.
16 CPDV Yours is the day, and yours is the night. You have made the morning light and the sun. BSB BSB: The day is Yours, and also the night; You established the moon and the sun.
17 CPDV You have made all the limits of the earth. The summer and the spring were formed by you. BSB BSB: You set all the boundaries of the earth; You made the summer and winter.
18 CPDV Be mindful of this: the enemy placed blame against the Lord, and a foolish people has incited against your name. BSB BSB: Remember how the enemy has mocked You, O LORD, how a foolish people has spurned Your name.
19 CPDV Do not hand over to beasts the souls that confess to you; and do not forget the souls of your poor until the end. BSB BSB: Do not deliver the soul of Your dove to beasts; do not forget the lives of Your afflicted forever.
20 CPDV Consider your covenant. For those who have been darkened upon the earth have been filled by the iniquity of the houses. BSB BSB: Consider Your covenant, for haunts of violence fill the dark places of the land.
21 CPDV Do not allow the humble to be turned away in confusion. The poor and the needy will praise your name. BSB BSB: Do not let the oppressed retreat in shame; may the poor and needy praise Your name.
22 CPDV Rise up, O God, judge your own case. Call to mind the accusations against you, which are made by the foolish all day long. BSB BSB: Rise up, O God; defend Your cause! Remember how the fool mocks You all day long.
23 CPDV Do not forget the voices of your adversaries. The arrogance of those who hate you rises up continually. BSB BSB: Do not disregard the clamor of Your adversaries, the uproar of Your enemies that ascends continually.
Select verses for actions: Enter goes to them and Escape comes back.