Psalms 74
1 [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?
A Maskil of Asaph. Why have You rejected us forever, O God? Why does Your anger smolder against the sheep of Your pasture?
2 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.
Remember Your congregation, which You purchased long ago and redeemed as the tribe of Your inheritance— Mount Zion where You dwell.
3 Lift up your hands against their pride continually; [because of] all that the enemy has done wickedly in your holy places.
Turn Your steps to the everlasting ruins, to everything in the sanctuary the enemy has destroyed.
4 And they that hate you have boasted in the midst of your feast; they have set up their standards for signs,
Your foes have roared within Your meeting place; they have unfurled their banners as signs,
5 ignorantly as it were in the entrance above;
like men wielding axes in a thicket of trees
6 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.
and smashing all the carvings with hatchets and picks.
7 They have burnt your sanctuary with fire to the ground; they have profaned the habitation of your name.
They have burned Your sanctuary to the ground; they have defiled the dwelling place of Your Name.
8 They have said in their heart, [even] all their kindred together, Come, let us abolish the feasts of the Lord from the earth.
They said in their hearts, “We will crush them completely.” They burned down every place where God met us in the land.
9 We have not seen our signs; there is no longer a prophet; and [God] will not know us any more.
There are no signs for us to see. There is no longer any prophet. And none of us knows how long this will last.
10 How long, O God, shall the enemy reproach? shall the enemy provoke your name forever?
How long, O God, will the enemy taunt You? Will the foe revile Your name forever?
11 Therefore turn you away your hand, and your right hand from the midst of your bosom for ever?
Why do You withdraw Your strong right hand? Stretch it out to destroy them!
12 But God is our King of old; he has wrought salvation in the midst of the earth.
Yet God is my King from ancient times, working salvation on the earth.
13 You did establish the sea, in your might, you did break to pieces the heads of the dragons in the water.
You divided the sea by Your strength; You smashed the heads of the dragons of the sea;
14 You did break to pieces the heads of the dragon; you did give him [for] meat to the Ethiopian nations.
You crushed the heads of Leviathan; You fed him to the creatures of the desert.
15 You did cleave fountains and torrents; you dried up mighty rivers.
You broke open the fountain and the flood; You dried up the ever-flowing rivers.
16 The day is your, and the night is your; you have prepared the sun and the moon.
The day is Yours, and also the night; You established the moon and the sun.
17 You have made all the borders of the earth; you have made summer and spring.
You set all the boundaries of the earth; You made the summer and winter.
18 Remember this your creation: an enemy has reproached the Lord, and a foolish people has provoked your name.
Remember how the enemy has mocked You, O LORD, how a foolish people has spurned Your name.
19 Deliver not to the wild beasts a soul that gives praise to you: forget not for ever the souls of your poor.
Do not deliver the soul of Your dove to beasts; do not forget the lives of Your afflicted forever.
20 Look upon your covenant: for the dark [places] of the earth are filled with the habitations of iniquity.
Consider Your covenant, for haunts of violence fill the dark places of the land.
21 let not the afflicted and shamed one be rejected: the poor and needy shall praise your name.
Do not let the oppressed retreat in shame; may the poor and needy praise Your name.
22 Arise, O God, plead your cause: remember your reproaches that come from the foolish one all the day.
Rise up, O God; defend Your cause! Remember how the fool mocks You all day long.
23 Forget not the voice of your suppliants: let the pride of them that hate you continually ascend before you.
Do not disregard the clamor of Your adversaries, the uproar of Your enemies that ascends continually.
