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 maskil of Asaph. Why, O God, have you spurned us forever? Why smokes your wrath 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 the community you purchased of old to become by redemption the tribe of your heritage, Zion, the mountain you made your home.
3 Turn Your steps to the everlasting ruins, to everything in the sanctuary the enemy has destroyed.
Rouse yourself, visit its ruins complete. In the temple the foe has made havoc of all things.
4 Your foes have roared within Your meeting place; they have unfurled their banners as signs,
Like lions your enemies roared through your house, replacing our symbols by signs of their own,
5 like men wielding axes in a thicket of trees
hacking, like woodsmen who lift axes on thickets of trees,
6 and smashing all the carvings with hatchets and picks.
smashing with hatchets and hammers all of its carved work together.
7 They have burned Your sanctuary to the ground; they have defiled the dwelling place of Your Name.
They have set your temple on fire, to the very ground they have outraged the place where lives 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, ‘Let us utterly crush them.’ They have burned all the houses of God 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.
No symbol of ours do we see any more: no prophet is there any more, none is with us who knows how long.
10 How long, O God, will the enemy taunt You? Will the foe revile Your name forever?
How long, O God, is the foe to insult? Shall the enemy spurn your name forever?
11 Why do You withdraw Your strong right hand? Stretch it out to destroy them!
Why, O Lord, do you hold back your hand, why keep your right hand in the folds of your robe?
12 Yet God is my King from ancient times, working salvation on the earth.
Yet God is our king from the ancient days, in the midst of the earth working deeds of salvation.
13 You divided the sea by Your strength; You smashed the heads of the dragons of the sea;
It was you who did cleave the sea by your might, and shatter the heads of the ocean monsters.
14 You crushed the heads of Leviathan; You fed him to the creatures of the desert.
It was you who did crush many-headed Leviathan, and give him as food to the beasts of the wilderness.
15 You broke open the fountain and the flood; You dried up the ever-flowing rivers.
It was you who did cleave the fountains and torrents; it was you who did dry the perennial streams.
16 The day is Yours, and also the night; You established the moon and the sun.
Yours is the day; yours, too, is the night, it was you who did establish the sun and the star.
17 You set all the boundaries of the earth; You made the summer and winter.
It was you who did fix all the borders of earth: summer and winter it’s you who have made them.
18 Remember how the enemy has mocked You, O LORD, how a foolish people has spurned Your name.
Yet, for all this, the foe has insulted you, Lord, and a nation of fools has reviled your name.
19 Do not deliver the soul of Your dove to beasts; do not forget the lives of Your afflicted forever.
Do not give your dove to the beasts, do not forget your afflicted forever.
20 Consider Your covenant, for haunts of violence fill the dark places of the land.
Look to the sleek ones – how full they are: the dark places of earth are the dwellings of violence.
21 Do not let the oppressed retreat in shame; may the poor and needy praise Your name.
O let not the downtrodden turn back ashamed: let the poor and the needy sing praise to your name.
22 Rise up, O God; defend Your cause! Remember how the fool mocks You all day long.
Arise, God, and defend your cause: remember how fools all the day insult you.
23 Do not disregard the clamor of Your adversaries, the uproar of Your enemies that ascends continually.
Do not forget the uproar of your enemies, the din of your foes that ascends evermore.
