A Maskil of Asaph. O God, why do you cast us off forever? Why does your anger smoke against the sheep of your pasture?
The Lord will not be willing to forgive him, but rather the anger of the Lord and his jealousy will smoke against that man, and the curses written in this book will settle upon him, and the Lord will blot out his name from under heaven.
Know that the Lord, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
But we your people, the sheep of your pasture, will give thanks to you forever; from generation to generation we will recount your praise.
For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. Today, if you hear his voice,
But you have rejected us and disgraced us and have not gone out with our armies.
I ask, then, has God rejected his people? By no means! For I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. Do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he appeals to God against Israel?
but you do not believe because you are not among my sheep. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. I and the Father are one.”
“Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.
And you are my sheep, human sheep of my pasture, and I am your God, declares the Lord God.”
Thus says the Lord: “If the heavens above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth below can be explored, then I will cast off all the offspring of Israel for all that they have done, declares the Lord.”
“Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture!” declares the Lord.
How long, O Lord? Will you be angry forever? Will your jealousy burn like fire?
“Will the Lord spurn forever, and never again be favorable?
Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.
As I live, declares the Lord God, surely because my sheep have become a prey, and my sheep have become food for all the wild beasts, since there was no shepherd, and because my shepherds have not searched for my sheep, but the shepherds have fed themselves, and have not fed my sheep,
A Maskil of Asaph. Give ear, O my people, to my teaching; incline your ears to the words of my mouth!
Have you not rejected us, O God? You do not go forth, O God, with our armies.
To the choirmaster: according to Shushan Eduth. A Miktam of David; for instruction; when he strove with Aram-naharaim and with Aram-zobah, and when Joab on his return struck down twelve thousand of Edom in the Valley of Salt. O God, you have rejected us, broken our defenses; you have been angry; oh, restore us.
I say to God, my rock: “Why have you forgotten me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?”
Smoke went up from his nostrils, and devouring fire from his mouth; glowing coals flamed forth from him.
Why, O Lord, do you stand far away? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?
“Have you not observed that these people are saying, ‘The Lord has rejected the two clans that he chose’? Thus they have despised my people so that they are no longer a nation in their sight. Thus says the Lord: If I have not established my covenant with day and night and the fixed order of heaven and earth, then I will reject the offspring of Jacob and David my servant and will not choose one of his offspring to rule over the offspring of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. For I will restore their fortunes and will have mercy on them.”
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