Psalms 74
1 Understanding for Asaph. O God, why hast thou cast us off unto the end: why is thy wrath enkindled against the sheep of thy pasture?
O God, why have thou cast off forever? Why does thine anger smoke against the sheep of thy pasture?
2 Remember thy congregation, which thou hast possessed from the beginning. The sceptre of thy inheritance which thou hast redeemed: mount Sion in which thou hast dwelt.
Remember thy congregation, which thou have gotten of old, which thou have redeemed to be the tribe of thine inheritance, and mount Zion, at which thou have dwelt.
3 Lift up thy hands against their pride unto the end; see what things the enemy hath done wickedly in the sanctuary.
Lift up thy feet to the perpetual ruins, all the evil that the enemy has done in the sanctuary.
4 And they that hate thee have made their boasts, in the midst of thy solemnity. They have set up their ensigns for signs,
Thine adversaries have roared in the midst of thine assembly. They have set up their ensigns for signs.
5 And they knew not both in the going out and on the highest top. As with axes in a wood of trees,
They seemed as men who lifted up axes upon a thicket of trees.
6 They have cut down at once the gates thereof, with axe and hatchet they have brought it down.
And now they break down all the carved work of it with hatchet and hammers.
7 They have set fire to thy sanctuary: they have defiled the dwelling place of thy name on the earth.
They have set thy sanctuary on fire. They have profaned the dwelling-place of thy name to the ground.
8 They said in their heart, the whole kindred of them together: Let us abolish all the festival days of God from the land.
They said in their heart, Let us make havoc of them altogether. They have burned up all the meeting-places of God in the land.
9 Our signs we have not seen, there is now no prophet: and he will know us no more.
We do not see our signs. There is no more any prophet, nor is there among us he who knows how long.
10 How long, O God, shall the enemy reproach: is the adversary to provoke thy name for ever?
How long, O God, shall the adversary reproach? Shall the enemy blaspheme thy name forever?
11 Why dost thou turn away thy hand: and thy right hand out of the midst of thy bosom for ever?
Why do thou draw back thy hand, even thy right hand? Remove it from the midst of thy bosom.
12 But God is our king before ages: he hath wrought salvation in the midst of the earth.
Yet God is my King of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth.
13 Thou by thy strength didst make the sea firm: thou didst crush the heads of the dragons in the waters.
Thou divided the sea by thy strength. Thou break the heads of the sea-monsters in the waters.
14 Thou hast broken the heads of the dragon: thou hast given him to be meat for the people of the Ethiopians.
Thou break the heads of leviathan in pieces. Thou gave him to be food to the people inhabiting the wilderness.
15 Thou hast broken up the fountains and the torrents: thou hast dried up the Ethan rivers.
Thou split fountain and flood. Thou dried up mighty rivers.
16 Thine is the day, and thine is the night: thou hast made the morning light and the sun.
The day is thine; the night is also thine. Thou have prepared the light and the sun.
17 Thou hast made all the borders of the earth: the summer and the spring were formed by thee.
Thou have set all the borders of the earth. Thou have made summer and winter.
18 Remember this, the enemy hath reproached the Lord: and a foolish people hath provoked thy name.
Remember this, that the enemy has reproached, O Jehovah, and that a foolish people has blasphemed thy name.
19 Deliver not up to beasts the souls that confess to thee: and forget not to the end the souls of thy poor.
O deliver not the soul of thy turtle-dove to the wild beast. Forget not the life of thy poor forever.
20 Have regard to thy covenant: for they that are the obscure of the earth have been filled with dwellings of iniquity.
Have respect to the covenant, for the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of violence.
21 Let not the humble be turned away with confusion: the poor and needy shall praise thy name.
O let not he who is oppressed return ashamed. Let a poor and needy man praise thy name.
22 Arise, O God, judge thy own cause: remember thy reproaches with which the foolish man hath reproached thee all the day.
Arise, O God, plead thine own cause. Remember how the foolish man reproaches thee all the day.
23 Forget not the voices of thy enemies: the pride of them that hate thee ascendeth continually.
Forget not the voice of thine adversaries. The tumult of those who rise up against thee ascends continually.
