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?
[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?
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.
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.
3 Lift up your hands against their arrogance in the end. How great the malice of the enemy has been in the sanctuary!
Lift up your hands against their pride continually; [because of] all that the enemy has done wickedly in your holy places.
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,
And they that hate you have boasted in the midst of your feast; they have set up their standards for signs,
5 as if it had been issued from on high; yet they did not understand. As in a forest of chopped wood,
ignorantly as it were in the entrance above;
6 they have cut down the entrances themselves. With axe and hatchet, they have brought it down.
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.
7 They have set fire to your Sanctuary. They have polluted the tabernacle of your name on earth.
They have burnt your sanctuary with fire to the ground; they have profaned the habitation of your name.
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 heart, [even] all their kindred together, Come, let us abolish the feasts of the Lord from the earth.
9 We have not seen our proof; there is now no prophet. And he will no longer know us.”
We have not seen our signs; there is no longer a prophet; and [God] will not know us any more.
10 How long, O God, will the enemy place blame? Is the adversary to provoke your name until the end?
How long, O God, shall the enemy reproach? shall the enemy provoke your name forever?
11 Why do you turn your hand away, even your right hand, from the midst of your sinews, until the end?
Therefore turn you away your hand, and your right hand from the midst of your bosom for ever?
12 But God is our king before all ages. He has wrought salvation in the midst of the earth.
But God is our King of old; he has wrought salvation in the midst of the earth.
13 In your virtue, you confirmed the sea. You crushed the heads of the serpents in the waters.
You did establish the sea, in your might, you did break to pieces the heads of the dragons in the water.
14 You have broken the heads of the serpent. You have given him as food for the people of the Ethiopians.
You did break to pieces the heads of the dragon; you did give him [for] meat to the Ethiopian nations.
15 You have disrupted the fountains and the torrents. You have dried up the rivers of Ethan.
You did cleave fountains and torrents; you dried up mighty rivers.
16 Yours is the day, and yours is the night. You have made the morning light and the sun.
The day is your, and the night is your; you have prepared the sun and the moon.
17 You have made all the limits of the earth. The summer and the spring were formed by you.
You have made all the borders of the earth; you have made summer and spring.
18 Be mindful of this: the enemy placed blame against the Lord, and a foolish people has incited against your name.
Remember this your creation: an enemy has reproached the Lord, and a foolish people has provoked your name.
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.
Deliver not to the wild beasts a soul that gives praise to you: forget not for ever the souls of your poor.
20 Consider your covenant. For those who have been darkened upon the earth have been filled by the iniquity of the houses.
Look upon your covenant: for the dark [places] of the earth are filled with the habitations of iniquity.
21 Do not allow the humble to be turned away in confusion. The poor and the needy will praise your name.
let not the afflicted and shamed one be rejected: the poor and needy shall praise 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.
Arise, O God, plead your cause: remember your reproaches that come from the foolish one all the day.
23 Do not forget the voices of your adversaries. The arrogance of those who hate you rises up continually.
Forget not the voice of your suppliants: let the pride of them that hate you continually ascend before you.
