Psalms 74
1 An instruction: of Asaph. Why, O God, hast thou cast off for ever? [why] doth thine anger smoke against the sheep of thy 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 thine assembly, which thou hast purchased of old, which thou hast redeemed [to be] the portion of thine inheritance, this mount Zion, wherein thou hast dwelt.
Remember Your congregation, which You purchased long ago and redeemed as the tribe of Your inheritance— Mount Zion where You dwell.
3 Lift up thy steps unto the perpetual desolations: everything in the sanctuary hath the enemy destroyed.
Turn Your steps to the everlasting ruins, to everything in the sanctuary the enemy has destroyed.
4 Thine adversaries roar in the midst of thy place of assembly; they set up their signs [for] signs.
Your foes have roared within Your meeting place; they have unfurled their banners as signs,
5 [A man] was known as he could lift up axes in the thicket of trees;
like men wielding axes in a thicket of trees
6 And now they break down its carved work altogether, with hatchets and hammers.
and smashing all the carvings with hatchets and picks.
7 They have set on fire thy sanctuary, they have profaned the habitation of thy name to the ground.
They have burned Your sanctuary to the ground; they have defiled the dwelling place of Your Name.
8 They said in their heart, Let us destroy them together: they have burned up all God's places of assembly in the land.
They said in their hearts, “We will crush them completely.” They burned down every place where God met us in the land.
9 We see not our signs; there is no more any prophet, neither is there among us any that knoweth how long.
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 adversary reproach? Shall the enemy contemn thy name for ever?
How long, O God, will the enemy taunt You? Will the foe revile Your name forever?
11 Why withdrawest thou thy hand, and thy right hand? [pluck it] out of thy bosom: consume [them].
Why do You withdraw Your strong right hand? Stretch it out to destroy them!
12 But God is my king of old, accomplishing deliverances in the midst of the earth.
Yet God is my King from ancient times, working salvation on the earth.
13 Thou didst divide the sea by thy strength; thou didst break the heads of the monsters on the waters:
You divided the sea by Your strength; You smashed the heads of the dragons of the sea;
14 Thou didst break in pieces the heads of leviathan, thou gavest him to be meat to those that people the desert.
You crushed the heads of Leviathan; You fed him to the creatures of the desert.
15 Thou didst cleave fountain and torrent, thou driedst up ever-flowing rivers.
You broke open the fountain and the flood; You dried up the ever-flowing rivers.
16 The day is thine, the night also is thine; thou hast prepared the moon and the sun:
The day is Yours, and also the night; You established the moon and the sun.
17 Thou hast set all the borders of the earth; summer and winter — thou didst form them.
You set all the boundaries of the earth; You made the summer and winter.
18 Remember this, that an enemy hath reproached Jehovah, and a foolish people have contemned thy name.
Remember how the enemy has mocked You, O LORD, how a foolish people has spurned Your name.
19 Give not up the soul of thy turtle-dove unto the wild beast; forget not the troop of thine afflicted for ever.
Do not deliver the soul of Your dove to beasts; do not forget the lives of Your afflicted forever.
20 Have respect unto the covenant; for the dark places of the earth are full of the dwellings of violence.
Consider Your covenant, for haunts of violence fill the dark places of the land.
21 Oh let not the oppressed one return ashamed; let the afflicted and needy praise thy name.
Do not let the oppressed retreat in shame; may the poor and needy praise Your name.
22 Rise up, O God, plead thine own cause: remember how the foolish man reproacheth thee 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 thine adversaries: the tumult of those that rise up against thee ascendeth continually.
Do not disregard the clamor of Your adversaries, the uproar of Your enemies that ascends continually.
