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 you cast us off for ever? why does your anger smoke against the sheep of your 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 your congregation, which you have purchased of old; the rod of your inheritance, which you have redeemed; this mount Zion, wherein you have dwelled.
3 Lift up thy hands against their pride unto the end; see what things the enemy hath done wickedly in the sanctuary.
Lift up your feet to the perpetual desolations; even all that the enemy has done wickedly 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,
Your enemies roar in the middle of your congregations; they 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,
A man was famous according as he had lifted up axes on the thick trees.
6 They have cut down at once the gates thereof, with axe and hatchet they have brought it down.
But now they break down the carved work thereof at once with axes and hammers.
7 They have set fire to thy sanctuary: they have defiled the dwelling place of thy name on the earth.
They have cast fire into your sanctuary, they have defiled by casting down the dwelling place of your 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 hearts, Let us destroy them together: they have burned up all the synagogues 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 see not our signs: there is no more any prophet: neither is there among us any that knows how long.
10 How long, O God, shall the enemy reproach: is the adversary to provoke thy name for ever?
O God, how long shall the adversary reproach? shall the enemy blaspheme your name for ever?
11 Why dost thou turn away thy hand: and thy right hand out of the midst of thy bosom for ever?
Why withdraw you your hand, even your right hand? pluck it out of your bosom.
12 But God is our king before ages: he hath wrought salvation in the midst of the earth.
For God is my King of old, working salvation in the middle of the earth.
13 Thou by thy strength didst make the sea firm: thou didst crush the heads of the dragons in the waters.
You did divide the sea by your strength: you brake the heads of the dragons 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.
You brake the heads of leviathan in pieces, and gave him to be meat to the people inhabiting the wilderness.
15 Thou hast broken up the fountains and the torrents: thou hast dried up the Ethan rivers.
You did split the fountain and the flood: you 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 yours, the night also is yours: you 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.
You have set all the borders of the earth: you 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 LORD, and that the foolish people have blasphemed your 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 your turtledove to the multitude of the wicked: forget not the congregation of your poor for ever.
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 cruelty.
21 Let not the humble be turned away with confusion: the poor and needy shall praise thy name.
O let not the oppressed return ashamed: let the poor and needy praise your 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 your own cause: remember how the foolish man reproaches you daily.
23 Forget not the voices of thy enemies: the pride of them that hate thee ascendeth continually.
Forget not the voice of your enemies: the tumult of those that rise up against you increases continually.
