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?
“A psalm of Asaph.” O God! why hast thou cast us off for ever? Why doth thine anger smoke against the flock 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 the people which thou didst purchase of old; Thine own inheritance, which thou didst redeem; That Mount Zion, where thou once didst dwell!
3 Lift up thy hands against their pride unto the end; see what things the enemy hath done wickedly in the sanctuary.
Hasten thy steps to those utter desolations! Every thing in the sanctuary hath the enemy abused!
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 enemies roar in the place of thine assemblies; Their own symbols have they set up 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 appear like those who raise the axe against a thicket;
6 They have cut down at once the gates thereof, with axe and hatchet they have brought it down.
They have broken down the carved work of thy temple 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 thy sanctuary; They have profaned, and cast to the ground, the dwelling-place of thy name.
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 all together!” They have burned all God's places of assembly in the land.
9 Our signs we have not seen, there is now no prophet: and he will know us no more.
We no longer see our signs; There is no prophet among us, Nor any one that knoweth how long this desolation shall endure.
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 revile? Shall the enemy blaspheme thy 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 withdrawest thou thy hand, even thy right hand? Take it from thy bosom, and destroy!
12 But God is our king before ages: he hath wrought salvation in the midst of the earth.
Yet God was our 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 didst divide the sea by thy power; Thou didst crush 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 didst break in pieces the head of the crocodile; Thou gavest him for food to the inhabitants of the desert.
15 Thou hast broken up the fountains and the torrents: thou hast dried up the Ethan rivers.
Thou didst cleave forth the fountain and the stream; Thou didst dry up perennial rivers.
16 Thine is the day, and thine is the night: thou hast made the morning light and the sun.
Thine is the day, and thine the night; Thou didst prepare 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 didst establish all the boundaries of the earth; Thou didst make summer and winter.
18 Remember this, the enemy hath reproached the Lord: and a foolish people hath provoked thy name.
O remember that the enemy hath reviled Jehovah; That an impious people hath 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.
Give not up the life of thy turtle-dove to the wild beast; Forget not for ever thine afflicted people!
20 Have regard to thy covenant: for they that are the obscure of the earth have been filled with dwellings of iniquity.
Have regard to thy covenant! For all the dark places of the land are full of the abodes of cruelty.
21 Let not the humble be turned away with confusion: the poor and needy shall praise thy name.
O let not the afflicted go away ashamed! Let the poor and needy 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! maintain thy cause! Remember how the impious revileth thee daily!
23 Forget not the voices of thy enemies: the pride of them that hate thee ascendeth continually.
Forget not the clamor of thine adversaries, —The noise of thine enemies, which continually increaseth!
