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 Asaph.” O God! why hast thou cast us off for ever? Why doth thine anger smoke against the flock of thy pasture?
2 Remember Your congregation, which You purchased long ago and redeemed as the tribe of Your inheritance— Mount Zion where You dwell.
Remember the people which thou didst purchase of old; Thine own inheritance, which thou didst redeem; That Mount Zion, where thou once didst dwell!
3 Turn Your steps to the everlasting ruins, to everything in the sanctuary the enemy has destroyed.
Hasten thy steps to those utter desolations! Every thing in the sanctuary hath the enemy abused!
4 Your foes have roared within Your meeting place; they have unfurled their banners as signs,
Thine enemies roar in the place of thine assemblies; Their own symbols have they set up for signs.
5 like men wielding axes in a thicket of trees
They appear like those who raise the axe against a thicket;
6 and smashing all the carvings with hatchets and picks.
They have broken down the carved work of thy temple with axes and hammers;
7 They have burned Your sanctuary to the ground; they have defiled the dwelling place of Your Name.
They have cast fire into thy sanctuary; They have profaned, and cast to the ground, the dwelling-place of thy 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 said in their hearts, “Let us destroy them all together!” They have burned all God's places of assembly in 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 no longer see our signs; There is no prophet among us, Nor any one that knoweth how long this desolation shall endure.
10 How long, O God, will the enemy taunt You? Will the foe revile Your name forever?
How long, O God! shall the adversary revile? Shall the enemy blaspheme thy name for ever?
11 Why do You withdraw Your strong right hand? Stretch it out to destroy them!
Why withdrawest thou thy hand, even thy right hand? Take it from thy bosom, and destroy!
12 Yet God is my King from ancient times, working salvation on the earth.
Yet God was our king of old, Working 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;
Thou didst divide the sea by thy power; Thou didst crush the heads of the sea-monsters in the waters.
14 You crushed the heads of Leviathan; You fed him to the creatures of the desert.
Thou didst break in pieces the head of the crocodile; Thou gavest him for food to the inhabitants of the desert.
15 You broke open the fountain and the flood; You dried up the ever-flowing rivers.
Thou didst cleave forth the fountain and the stream; Thou didst dry up perennial rivers.
16 The day is Yours, and also the night; You established the moon and the sun.
Thine is the day, and thine the night; Thou didst prepare the light and the sun.
17 You set all the boundaries of the earth; You made the summer and winter.
Thou didst establish all the boundaries of the earth; Thou didst make summer and winter.
18 Remember how the enemy has mocked You, O LORD, how a foolish people has spurned Your name.
O remember that the enemy hath reviled Jehovah; That an impious people hath blasphemed thy name!
19 Do not deliver the soul of Your dove to beasts; do not forget the lives of Your afflicted forever.
Give not up the life of thy turtle-dove to the wild beast; Forget not for ever thine afflicted people!
20 Consider Your covenant, for haunts of violence fill the dark places of the land.
Have regard to thy covenant! For all the dark places of the land are full of the abodes of cruelty.
21 Do not let the oppressed retreat in shame; may the poor and needy praise Your name.
O let not the afflicted go away ashamed! Let the poor and needy praise thy name!
22 Rise up, O God; defend Your cause! Remember how the fool mocks You all day long.
Arise, O God! maintain thy cause! Remember how the impious revileth thee daily!
23 Do not disregard the clamor of Your adversaries, the uproar of Your enemies that ascends continually.
Forget not the clamor of thine adversaries, —The noise of thine enemies, which continually increaseth!
