(For my heart was grieved, Nevertheless I am continually with thee: And there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee. My flesh and my heart faileth: But God is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever. For, lo, they that are far from thee shall perish : Thou hast destroyed all them that go a whoring from thee. But it is good for me to draw near unto God: I have made the Lord GOD my refuge, that I may tell of all thy works. lxxiv Elegy of the Ruined Sanctuary I O God, why hast thou cast us off for ever? Why doth thine anger smoke against the sheep of thy pasture? Remember thy congregation, which thou hast purchased of old, Which thou hast redeemed to be the tribe of thine in heritance; And mount Zion, wherein thou hast dwelt. Lift up thy feet unto the perpetual ruins, All the evil that the enemy hath done in the sanctuary. assembly; They have set up their ensigns for signs. They seemed as men that lifted up axes upon a thicket of trees. And now all the carved work thereof together they break down with hatchet and hammers. They have set thy sanctuary on fire; They have profaned the dwelling place of thy name even to the ground. They said in their heart, Let us make havoc of them altogether: They have burned up all the synagogues of God in the land. We see not our signs, there is no more any prophet; Neither is there among us any that knoweth how long. How long, O God, shall the adversary reproach? Even thy right hand? Pluck it out of thy bosom and consume them. Yet God is my King of old, 2 Working salvation in the midst of the earth. Thou didst divide the sea by thy strength: Thou brakest the heads of the dragons in the waters. Thou brakest the heads of leviathan in pieces, Thou gavest him to be meat to the people inhabiting the wilderness. Thou didst cleave fountain and flood: The day is thine, the night also is thine: Thou hast prepared the light and the sun. Thou hast set all the borders of the earth : Thou hast made summer and winter. Remember this, that the enemy hath reproached, O LORD, And that a foolish people have blasphemed thy name. O deliver not the soul of thy turtledove unto the wild beast: Forget not the life of thy poor for ever. Have respect unto the covenant: For the dark places of the land are full of the habitations of violence. O let not the oppressed return ashamed: Let the poor and needy praise thy name. Arise, O God, plead thine own cause: Remember how the foolish man reproacheth thee all the day. Forget not the voice of thine adversaries : The tumult of those that rise up against thee which ascendeth continually. We give thanks unto thee, O God, we give thanks; For that thy name is near thy wondrous works declare. "When I shall find the set time, "I will judge uprightly. "When the earth and all the inhabitants thereof are dissolved, "I set up the pillars of it. "I said unto the arrogant, "Deal not arrogantly; "And to the wicked, Lift not up the horn, "Lift not up your horn on high; "Speak not with a stiff neck." For neither from the east nor from the west nor yet from the south cometh lifting up: But God is the judge, he putteth down one and lifteth up another. For in the hand of the LORD there is a cup, and the wine foameth; It is full of mixture, and he poureth out of the same: Surely the dregs thereof, all the wicked of the earth shall wring them out and drink them. But I will declare for ever, I will sing praises to the God of Jacob. All the horns of the wicked also will I cut off; But the horns of the righteous shall be lifted up. lxxvi The Stouthearted Spoiled A Song of Deliverance In Judah is God known: |