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?
O God, why hast thou cast us off for ever? why doth thine anger smoke against the sheep of thy 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 thy congregation, which thou hast purchased of old; the rod of thine inheritance, which thou hast redeemed; this mount Zion, wherein thou hast dwelt.
3 Lift up your hands against their pride continually; [because of] all that the enemy has done wickedly in your holy places.
Lift up thy feet unto the perpetual desolations; even all that the enemy hath done wickedly in the sanctuary.
4 And they that hate you have boasted in the midst of your feast; they have set up their standards for signs,
Thine enemies roar in the midst of thy congregations; they set up their ensigns for signs.
5 ignorantly as it were in the entrance above;
A man was famous according as he had lifted up axes upon the thick 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.
But now they break down the carved work thereof at once with axes and hammers.
7 They have burnt your sanctuary with fire to the ground; they have profaned the habitation of your name.
They have cast fire into thy sanctuary, they have defiled by casting down the dwelling place of thy name to the ground.
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, Let us destroy them together: they have burned up all the synagogues of God in the land.
9 We have not seen our signs; there is no longer a prophet; and [God] will not know us any more.
We see not our signs: there is no more any prophet: neither is there among us any that knoweth how long.
10 How long, O God, shall the enemy reproach? shall the enemy provoke your name forever?
O God, how long shall the adversary reproach? shall the enemy blaspheme thy name for ever?
11 Therefore turn you away your hand, and your right hand from the midst of your bosom for ever?
Why withdrawest thou thy hand, even thy right hand? pluck it out of thy bosom.
12 But God is our King of old; he has wrought salvation in the midst of the earth.
For God is my King of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth.
13 You did establish the sea, in your might, you did break to pieces the heads of the dragons in the water.
Thou didst divide the sea by thy strength: thou brakest the heads of the dragons in the waters.
14 You did break to pieces the heads of the dragon; you did give him [for] meat to the Ethiopian nations.
Thou brakest the heads of leviathan in pieces, and gavest him to be meat to the people inhabiting the wilderness.
15 You did cleave fountains and torrents; you dried up mighty rivers.
Thou didst cleave the fountain and the flood: thou driedst up mighty rivers.
16 The day is your, and the night is your; you have prepared the sun and the moon.
The day is thine, the night also is thine: thou hast prepared the light and the sun.
17 You have made all the borders of the earth; you have made summer and spring.
Thou hast set all the borders of the earth: thou hast made summer and winter.
18 Remember this your creation: an enemy has reproached the Lord, and a foolish people has provoked your name.
Remember this, that the enemy hath reproached, O Yhwh, and that the foolish people have blasphemed thy name.
19 Deliver not to the wild beasts a soul that gives praise to you: forget not for ever the souls of your poor.
O deliver not the soul of thy turtledove unto the multitude of the wicked: forget not the congregation of thy poor for ever.
20 Look upon your covenant: for the dark [places] of the earth are filled with the habitations of iniquity.
Have respect unto the covenant: for the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty.
21 let not the afflicted and shamed one be rejected: the poor and needy shall praise your name.
O let not the oppressed return ashamed: let the poor and needy praise thy name.
22 Arise, O God, plead your cause: remember your reproaches that come from the foolish one all the day.
Arise, O God, plead thine own cause: remember how the foolish man reproacheth thee daily.
23 Forget not the voice of your suppliants: let the pride of them that hate you continually ascend before you.
Forget not the voice of thine enemies: the tumult of those that rise up against thee increaseth continually.
