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73.28 :But as for me, the nearness of God is my good;
 * I have made the Lord my refuge,
 * That I may tell of all Thy works.

Maschil of Asaph.


 * Why, O God, hast Thou cast us off for ever?
 * Why doth Thine anger smoke against the flock of Thy pasture?
 * Remember Thy congregation, which Thou hast gotten of old,
 * Which Thou hast redeemed to be the tribe of Thine inheritance;
 * And mount Zion, wherein Thou hast dwelt.
 * Lift up Thy steps because of the perpetual ruins,
 * Even all the evil that the enemy hath done in the sanctuary.
 * Thine adversaries have roared in the midst of Thy meeting-place;
 * They have set up their own signs for signs.
 * It seemed as when men wield upwards
 * Axes in a thicket of trees.
 * And now all the carved work thereof together
 * They strike 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 meeting-places 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?
 * Shall the enemy blaspheme Thy name for ever?
 * Why withdrawest Thou Thy hand, even Thy right hand?
 * Draw it out of Thy bosom and consume them.


 * Yet God is my King of old, Working salvation in the midst of the earth.
 * Thou didst break the sea in pieces by Thy strength;
 * Thou didst shatter the heads of the sea-monsters in the waters.
 * Thou didst crush the heads of leviathan,
 * Thou gavest him to be food to the folk inhabiting the wilderness.
 * Thou didst cleave fountain and brook;
 * Thou driedst up ever-flowing rivers.
 * Thine is the day, Thine also the night;
 * Thou hast established luminary and sun.
 * Thou hast set all the borders of the earth;
 * Thou hast made summer and winter.


 * Remember this, how the enemy hath reproached the ,
 * And how a base people have blasphemed Thy name.
 * O deliver not the soul of Thy turtle-dove unto the wild beast;
 * Forget not the life of Thy poor for ever.
 * Look upon the covenant;
 * For the dark places of the land are full of the habitations of violence.
 * O let not the oppressed turn back in confusion;
 * Let the poor and needy praise Thy name.
 * Arise, O God, plead Thine own cause;