Why art thou cast down, O my soul?
And why art thou disquieted within me?
Hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him,
Who is the health of my countenance, and my God.

Judge me, O God, and plead my cause against an ungodly nation:
O deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man.
For thou art the God of my strength; why hast thou cast me off?
Why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?
O send out thy light and thy truth; let them lead me:
Let them bring me unto thy holy hill,
And to thy tabernacles.
Then will I go unto the altar of God,
Unto God my exceeding joy:
And upon the harp will I praise thee, O God, my God.
Why art thou cast down, O my soul?
And why art thou disquieted within me?
Hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him,
Who is the health of my countenance, and my God.
--_Psalms 42, 43_.

{63}

IN THE DAY OF ADVERSITY

We have heard with our ears, O God,
Our fathers have told us,
What work thou didst in their days,
In the days of old.
Thou didst drive out the nations with thy hand;
But them thou didst plant:
Thou didst afflict the peoples;
But them thou didst spread abroad.
For they got not the land in possession by their own sword,
Neither did their own arm save them;
But thy right hand, and thine arm, and the light of thy countenance,
Because thou wast favorable unto them.
Thou art my King, O God:
Command deliverance for Jacob.
Through thee will we push down our adversaries:
Through thy name will we tread them under that rise up against us.
For I will not trust in my bow,
Neither shall my sword save me.
But thou hast saved us from our adversaries,
And hast put them to shame that hate us.
In God have we made our boast all the day long,
And we will give thanks unto thy name for ever. {64}
But now thou hast cast us off, and brought us to dishonour;
And goest not forth with our hosts.
Thou makest us to turn back from the adversary:
And they which hate us spoil for themselves.
Thou hast given us like sheep appointed for meat;
And hast scattered us among the nations.
Thou sellest thy people for nought,
And hast not increased thy wealth by their price.
Thou makest us a reproach to our neighbours,
A scorn and a derision to them that are round about us.
Thou makest us a byword among the nations,
A shaking of the head amo