Psalms 74
1 The understanding of Asaph. O God, why have you rejected us to the end. Why has your fury become enraged over the sheep of your pasture?
Maschil. Of Asaph. Of God, why have you put us away from you for ever? why is the fire of your wrath smoking against the sheep who are your care?
2 Be mindful of your congregation, which you have possessed from the beginning. You redeemed the scepter of your inheritance, mount Zion, in which you have dwelt.
Keep in mind your band of worshippers, for whom you gave payment in the days which are past, whom you took for yourself as the people of your heritage; even this mountain of Zion, which has been your resting-place.
3 Lift up your hands against their arrogance in the end. How great the malice of the enemy has been in the sanctuary!
Go up and see the unending destruction; all the evil which your haters have done in the holy place;
4 And those who hate you have been glorified, in the midst of your solemnity. They have set up their own signs as a proof,
Sending out their voices like lions among your worshippers; they have put up their signs to be seen.
5 as if it had been issued from on high; yet they did not understand. As in a forest of chopped wood,
They are cutting down, like a man whose blade is lifted up against the thick trees.
6 they have cut down the entrances themselves. With axe and hatchet, they have brought it down.
Your doors are broken down with hammers and iron blades.
7 They have set fire to your Sanctuary. They have polluted the tabernacle of your name on earth.
They have put on fire your holy place; they have made the place of your name unclean, pulling it down to the earth.
8 They have said in their heart, the whole group of them together: “Let us cause all the feast days of God to cease from the land.
They have said in their hearts, Let us put an end to them all together; they have given over to the fire all God's places of worship in the land.
9 We have not seen our proof; there is now no prophet. And he will no longer know us.”
We do not see our signs: there is no longer any prophet, or anyone among us to say how long.
10 How long, O God, will the enemy place blame? Is the adversary to provoke your name until the end?
O God, how long will those who are against us say cruel things? will the hater go on looking down on your name for ever?
11 Why do you turn your hand away, even your right hand, from the midst of your sinews, until the end?
Why are you keeping back your hand, and covering your right hand in your robe?
12 But God is our king before all ages. He has wrought salvation in the midst of the earth.
For from the past God is my King, working salvation in the earth.
13 In your virtue, you confirmed the sea. You crushed the heads of the serpents in the waters.
The sea was parted in two by your strength; the heads of the great sea-beasts were broken.
14 You have broken the heads of the serpent. You have given him as food for the people of the Ethiopians.
The heads of the great snake were crushed by you; you gave them as food to the fishes of the sea.
15 You have disrupted the fountains and the torrents. You have dried up the rivers of Ethan.
You made valleys for fountains and springs; you made the ever-flowing rivers dry.
16 Yours is the day, and yours is the night. You have made the morning light and the sun.
The day is yours and the night is yours: you made the light and the sun.
17 You have made all the limits of the earth. The summer and the spring were formed by you.
By you all the limits of the earth were fixed; you have made summer and winter.
18 Be mindful of this: the enemy placed blame against the Lord, and a foolish people has incited against your name.
Keep this in mind, O Lord, that your haters have said cruel things, and that your name has been looked down on by a people of evil behaviour.
19 Do not hand over to beasts the souls that confess to you; and do not forget the souls of your poor until the end.
O give not the soul of your dove to the hawk; let not the life of the poor go out of your memory for ever.
20 Consider your covenant. For those who have been darkened upon the earth have been filled by the iniquity of the houses.
Keep in mind your undertaking; for the dark places of the earth are full of pride and cruel acts.
21 Do not allow the humble to be turned away in confusion. The poor and the needy will praise your name.
O let not the crushed be turned back in shame; let the low man and the poor give praise to your name.
22 Rise up, O God, judge your own case. Call to mind the accusations against you, which are made by the foolish all day long.
Up! O God, be the judge of your cause; keep in mind the bitter things which the man of evil behaviour says against you every day.
23 Do not forget the voices of your adversaries. The arrogance of those who hate you rises up continually.
Keep in mind the voice of your haters; the outcry of those who come against you goes up every day.
