Psalms 74
1 A Maskil of Asaph. Why have You rejected us forever, O God? Why does Your anger smolder against the sheep of Your pasture?
The understanding of Asaph. O God, why have you rejected us to the end. Why has your fury become enraged over the sheep of your pasture?
2 Remember Your congregation, which You purchased long ago and redeemed as the tribe of Your inheritance— Mount Zion where You dwell.
Be mindful of your congregation, which you have possessed from the beginning. You redeemed the scepter of your inheritance, mount Zion, in which you have dwelt.
3 Turn Your steps to the everlasting ruins, to everything in the sanctuary the enemy has destroyed.
Lift up your hands against their arrogance in the end. How great the malice of the enemy has been in the sanctuary!
4 Your foes have roared within Your meeting place; they have unfurled their banners as signs,
And those who hate you have been glorified, in the midst of your solemnity. They have set up their own signs as a proof,
5 like men wielding axes in a thicket of trees
as if it had been issued from on high; yet they did not understand. As in a forest of chopped wood,
6 and smashing all the carvings with hatchets and picks.
they have cut down the entrances themselves. With axe and hatchet, they have brought it down.
7 They have burned Your sanctuary to the ground; they have defiled the dwelling place of Your Name.
They have set fire to your Sanctuary. They have polluted the tabernacle of your name on earth.
8 They said in their hearts, “We will crush them completely.” They burned down every place where God met us in the land.
They have said in their heart, the whole group of them together: “Let us cause all the feast days of God to cease from the land.
9 There are no signs for us to see. There is no longer any prophet. And none of us knows how long this will last.
We have not seen our proof; there is now no prophet. And he will no longer know us.”
10 How long, O God, will the enemy taunt You? Will the foe revile Your name forever?
How long, O God, will the enemy place blame? Is the adversary to provoke your name until the end?
11 Why do You withdraw Your strong right hand? Stretch it out to destroy them!
Why do you turn your hand away, even your right hand, from the midst of your sinews, until the end?
12 Yet God is my King from ancient times, working salvation on the earth.
But God is our king before all ages. He has wrought salvation in the midst of the earth.
13 You divided the sea by Your strength; You smashed the heads of the dragons of the sea;
In your virtue, you confirmed the sea. You crushed the heads of the serpents in the waters.
14 You crushed the heads of Leviathan; You fed him to the creatures of the desert.
You have broken the heads of the serpent. You have given him as food for the people of the Ethiopians.
15 You broke open the fountain and the flood; You dried up the ever-flowing rivers.
You have disrupted the fountains and the torrents. You have dried up the rivers of Ethan.
16 The day is Yours, and also the night; You established the moon and the sun.
Yours is the day, and yours is the night. You have made the morning light and the sun.
17 You set all the boundaries of the earth; You made the summer and winter.
You have made all the limits of the earth. The summer and the spring were formed by you.
18 Remember how the enemy has mocked You, O LORD, how a foolish people has spurned Your name.
Be mindful of this: the enemy placed blame against the Lord, and a foolish people has incited against your name.
19 Do not deliver the soul of Your dove to beasts; do not forget the lives of Your afflicted forever.
Do not hand over to beasts the souls that confess to you; and do not forget the souls of your poor until the end.
20 Consider Your covenant, for haunts of violence fill the dark places of the land.
Consider your covenant. For those who have been darkened upon the earth have been filled by the iniquity of the houses.
21 Do not let the oppressed retreat in shame; may the poor and needy praise Your name.
Do not allow the humble to be turned away in confusion. The poor and the needy will praise your name.
22 Rise up, O God; defend Your cause! Remember how the fool mocks You all day long.
Rise up, O God, judge your own case. Call to mind the accusations against you, which are made by the foolish all day long.
23 Do not disregard the clamor of Your adversaries, the uproar of Your enemies that ascends continually.
Do not forget the voices of your adversaries. The arrogance of those who hate you rises up continually.
