Afternoon Prayer

Psalm 74 1O God, why have you utterly cast us off? * why is your wrath so hot against the sheep of your pasture? 2Remember your congregation that you purchased long ago, * the tribe you redeemed to be your inheritance, and Mount Zion where you dwell. 3Turn your steps toward the endless ruins; * the enemy has laid waste everything in your sanctuary. 4Your adversaries roared in your holy place; * they set up their banners as tokens of victory. 5They were like men coming up with axes to a grove of trees; * they broke down all your carved work with hatchets and hammers. 6They set fire to your holy place; * they defiled the dwelling-place of your Name and razed it to the ground. 7They said to themselves, "Let us destroy them altogether." * They burned down all the meeting-places of God in the land. 8There are no signs for us to see; there is no prophet left; * there is not one among us who knows how long. 9How long, O God, will the adversary scoff? * will the enemy blaspheme your Name for ever? 10Why do you draw back your hand? * why is your right hand hidden in your bosom? 11Yet God is my King from ancient times, * victorious in the midst of the earth. 12You divided the sea by your might * and shattered the heads of the dragons upon the waters; 13You crushed the heads of Leviathan * and gave him to the people of the desert for food. 14You split open spring and torrent; * you dried up ever-flowing rivers. 15Yours is the day, yours also the night; * you established the moon and the sun. 16You fixed all the boundaries of the earth; * you made both summer and winter. 17Remember, O LORD, how the enemy scoffed, * how a foolish people despised your Name. 18Do not hand over the life of your dove to wild beasts; * never forget the lives of your poor. 19Look upon your covenant; * the dark places of the earth are haunts of violence. 20Let not the oppressed turn away ashamed; * let the poor and needy praise your Name. 21Arise, O God, maintain your cause; * remember how fools revile you all day long. 22Forget not the clamor of your adversaries, * the unending tumult of those who rise up against you.