¹ <Maschil. Of Asaph.> Of God, why have you put us away from you for ever? why is the fire of your wrath smoking against the sheep who are your care?

³ Be certain that the Lord is God; it is he who has made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep to whom he gives food.

⁷ For he is our God; and we are the people to whom he gives food, and the sheep of his flock. Today, if you would only give ear to his voice!

¹³ So we your people, and the sheep of your flock, will give you glory for ever: we will go on praising you through all generations.

²⁰ The Lord will have no mercy on him, but the wrath of the Lord will be burning against that man, and all the curses recorded in this book will be waiting for him, and the Lord will take away his name completely from the earth.

⁹ But now you have sent us away from you, and put us to shame; you do not go out with our armies.

⁷ Will the Lord put me away for ever? will he be kind no longer?

¹ A curse is on the keepers who are causing the destruction and loss of the sheep of my field, says the Lord.

³¹ And you are my sheep, the sheep of my grass-lands, and I am your God, says the Lord.

¹ So I say, Has God put his people on one side? Let there be no such thought. For I am of Israel, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.

² God has not put away the people of his selection. Or have you no knowledge of what is said about Elijah in the holy Writings? how he says words to God against Israel,

²⁶ But you have no belief because you are not of my sheep.

²⁷ My sheep give ear to my voice, and I have knowledge of them, and they come after me:

²⁸ And I give them eternal life; they will never come to destruction, and no one will ever take them out of my hand.

²⁹ That which my Father has given to me has more value than all; and no one is able to take anything out of the Father's hand.

³⁰ I and my Father are one.

³² Have no fear, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

⁸ By my life, says the Lord, truly, because my sheep have been taken away, and my sheep became food for all the beasts of the field, because there was no keeper, and my keepers did not go in search of the sheep, but the keepers took food for themselves and gave my sheep no food;

¹ Why do you keep far away, O Lord? why are you not to be seen in times of trouble?

⁸ There went up a smoke from his nose, and a fire of destruction from his mouth: flames were lighted by it.

⁹ I will say to God my Rock, Why have you let me go from your memory? why do I go in sorrow because of the attacks of my haters?

¹¹ Why are you crushed down, O my soul? and why are you troubled in me? put your hope in God; for I will again give him praise who is my help and my God.

¹ <To the chief music-maker; put to Shushan-eduth. Michtam. Of David. For teaching. When he was fighting against Aram-naharaim and Aramzobah, when Joab came back, and put twelve thousand of the Edomites to death, in the Valley of Salt.> God, you have put us away from you, you have sent us in all directions, you have been angry; O be turned to us again.

¹⁰ Have not you put us away, O God? and you have not gone out with our armies.

¹ <Maschil. Of Asaph.> Give ear, O my people, to my law; let your ears be bent down to the words of my mouth.

⁵ How long, O Lord? will you be angry for ever? will your wrath go on burning like fire?

³⁷ This is what the Lord has said: If the heavens on high may be measured, and the bases of the earth searched out, then I will give up the seed of Israel, because of all they have done, says the Lord.

²⁴ Have you taken note of what these people have said, The two families, which the Lord took for himself, he has given up? This they say, looking down on my people as being, in their eyes, no longer a nation.

²⁵ The Lord has said, If I have not made day and night, and if the limits of heaven and earth have not been fixed by me,

²⁶ Then I will give up caring for the seed of Jacob and of David my servant, so that I will not take of his seed to be rulers over the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: for I will let their fate be changed and will have mercy on them.