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?
An Instructive Psalm. Asaph’s. Wherefore, O God, hast thou cast off utterly? Shall thine anger smoke against the flock of thine own pasturing?
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 thine own assembly thou didst acquire aforetime, Thou didst redeem the tribe of thine own inheritance, Mount Zion, wherein thou didst take up thy habitation.
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 steps unto the places utterly unsafe, All the mischief!—the foe 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 appointed meeting, They have set their ensigns as tokens!
5 And they knew not both in the going out and on the highest top. As with axes in a wood of trees,
One used to be known according as he carried up high—into the thicket of trees—the axes;
6 They have cut down at once the gates thereof, with axe and hatchet they have brought it down.
But, now, the doors thereof all together, with axes and hammers, they batter down.
7 They have set fire to thy sanctuary: they have defiled the dwelling place of thy name on the earth.
They have cast, into the fire, thy sanctuary, To the ground, have they profaned the habitation 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 have said in their heart, Let us suppress 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.
Our own signs, have we not seen, —There is no longer a prophet, —Neither is there with us, one who knoweth—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 revile thy Name perpetually?
11 Why dost thou turn away thy hand: and thy right hand out of the midst of thy bosom for ever?
Wherefore shouldst thou withdraw thy hand—thy right hand? [Bring it] out of the midst of thy bosom! (Selah)
12 But God is our king before ages: he hath wrought salvation in the midst of the earth.
But, God, hath been my king from aforetime, Working Deliverances 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 cleave asunder, in thy might, the sea, Thou didst break in pieces the heads of the Crocodiles, [till they floated] on 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 crush the heads of the Sea-Monster, Thou didst give him to be food, for the people of the deserts;
15 Thou hast broken up the fountains and the torrents: thou hast dried up the Ethan rivers.
Thou, didst cleave open fountain and torrent, Thou, didst dry up rivers of steady flow:
16 Thine is the day, and thine is the night: thou hast made the morning light and the sun.
Thine, is the day, Yea, thine, the night, Thou, didst establish moon and sun;
17 Thou hast made all the borders of the earth: the summer and the spring were formed by thee.
Thou, didst set up all the bounds of the earth, As for summer and winter, thou, didst form them!
18 Remember this, the enemy hath reproached the Lord: and a foolish people hath provoked thy name.
Remember this, An enemy, hath reproached Yahweh, Yea, an impious people, have reviled 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.
Do not deliver up, to a wild beast, the life of thy turtle-dove, The living host of thine oppressed ones, do not forget perpetually.
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 thy 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.
May the crushed one not again be confounded, As for the oppressed and the needy, let them 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 the reproach of thee, from the impious one, all the day:
23 Forget not the voices of thy enemies: the pride of them that hate thee ascendeth continually.
Do not forget the voice of thine adversaries, The noise of thine assailants, ascending continually.
