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?
[A Psalm] of instruction for Asaph. Therefore have you rejected [us], O God, for ever? [therefore] is your wrath kindled against 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.
Remember your congregation which you have purchased from the beginning; you did ransom the rod of your inheritance; this mount Sion wherein you have lived.
3 Turn Your steps to the everlasting ruins, to everything in the sanctuary the enemy has destroyed.
Lift up your hands against their pride continually; [because of] all that the enemy has done wickedly in your holy places.
4 Your foes have roared within Your meeting place; they have unfurled their banners as signs,
And they that hate you have boasted in the midst of your feast; they have set up their standards for signs,
5 like men wielding axes in a thicket of trees
ignorantly as it were in the entrance above;
6 and smashing all the carvings with hatchets and picks.
they cut down its doors at once with axes as in a wood of trees; they have broken it down with hatchet and stone cutter.
7 They have burned Your sanctuary to the ground; they have defiled the dwelling place of Your Name.
They have burnt your sanctuary with fire to the ground; they have profaned the habitation of your name.
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, [even] all their kindred together, Come, let us abolish the feasts of the Lord from the earth.
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 signs; there is no longer a prophet; and [God] will not know us any more.
10 How long, O God, will the enemy taunt You? Will the foe revile Your name forever?
How long, O God, shall the enemy reproach? shall the enemy provoke your name forever?
11 Why do You withdraw Your strong right hand? Stretch it out to destroy them!
Therefore turn you away your hand, and your right hand from the midst of your bosom for ever?
12 Yet God is my King from ancient times, working salvation on the earth.
But God is our King of old; 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;
You did establish the sea, in your might, you did break to pieces the heads of the dragons in the water.
14 You crushed the heads of Leviathan; You fed him to the creatures of the desert.
You did break to pieces the heads of the dragon; you did give him [for] meat to the Ethiopian nations.
15 You broke open the fountain and the flood; You dried up the ever-flowing rivers.
You did cleave fountains and torrents; you dried up mighty rivers.
16 The day is Yours, and also the night; You established the moon and the sun.
The day is your, and the night is your; you have prepared the sun and the moon.
17 You set all the boundaries of the earth; You made the summer and winter.
You have made all the borders of the earth; you have made summer and spring.
18 Remember how the enemy has mocked You, O LORD, how a foolish people has spurned Your name.
Remember this your creation: an enemy has reproached the Lord, and a foolish people has provoked your name.
19 Do not deliver the soul of Your dove to beasts; do not forget the lives of Your afflicted forever.
Deliver not to the wild beasts a soul that gives praise to you: forget not for ever the souls of your poor.
20 Consider Your covenant, for haunts of violence fill the dark places of the land.
Look upon your covenant: for the dark [places] of the earth are filled with the habitations of iniquity.
21 Do not let the oppressed retreat in shame; may the poor and needy praise Your name.
let not the afflicted and shamed one be rejected: the poor and needy shall praise your name.
22 Rise up, O God; defend Your cause! Remember how the fool mocks You all day long.
Arise, O God, plead your cause: remember your reproaches that come from the foolish one all the day.
23 Do not disregard the clamor of Your adversaries, the uproar of Your enemies that ascends continually.
Forget not the voice of your suppliants: let the pride of them that hate you continually ascend before you.
