Psalms 74
1 A psalm (maskil) of Asaph. God, why have you rejected us? Is it forever? Why does your anger burn so hot against the sheep of your own field?
A maskil of Asaph. Why, O God, have you spurned us forever? Why smokes your wrath against the sheep of your pasture?
2 Remember the people you made your own long ago, the tribe you redeemed and made your own. Remember too Mount Zion, the place where you live.
Remember the community you purchased of old to become by redemption the tribe of your heritage, Zion, the mountain you made your home.
3 Come and walk through the complete devastation. The enemy has totally destroyed your Temple.
Rouse yourself, visit its ruins complete. In the temple the foe has made havoc of all things.
4 The enemy shouted in triumph right where you met with us. There they set up their war banners as signs of their victory.
Like lions your enemies roared through your house, replacing our symbols by signs of their own,
5 They acted like men chopping down a forest with axes.
hacking, like woodsmen who lift axes on thickets of trees,
6 With axes and hammers they smashed in the carved wooden panels.
smashing with hatchets and hammers all of its carved work together.
7 Then they set fire to your Temple, burning it to the ground. They defiled the place where you live, the place that bears your name.
They have set your temple on fire, to the very ground they have outraged the place where lives your name.
8 They said to themselves, “Let's destroy it all!” So they burned down every place where God was worshiped throughout the land.
They have said in their heart, ‘Let us utterly crush them.’ They have burned all the houses of God in the land.
9 We no longer see any signs. There are no prophets left. And no one among us knows how long this will last.
No symbol of ours do we see any more: no prophet is there any more, none is with us who knows how long.
10 How long will the enemy ridicule you, God? Will they insult your character forever?
How long, O God, is the foe to insult? Shall the enemy spurn your name forever?
11 Why do you hold back from doing something? Take action and destroy them!
Why, O Lord, do you hold back your hand, why keep your right hand in the folds of your robe?
12 But you, God, are our king from long ago. You have saved us many times in the land.
Yet God is our king from the ancient days, in the midst of the earth working deeds of salvation.
13 You were the one who split apart the sea by your strength; you broke the heads of the sea monsters.
It was you who did cleave the sea by your might, and shatter the heads of the ocean monsters.
14 You were the one who crushed the heads of Leviathan, and you gave its body to the desert animals to eat.
It was you who did crush many-headed Leviathan, and give him as food to the beasts of the wilderness.
15 You were the one who made springs and rivers flow with water. You made permanent rivers dry up.
It was you who did cleave the fountains and torrents; it was you who did dry the perennial streams.
16 You created the day, and also the night; you made the moon and the sun.
Yours is the day; yours, too, is the night, it was you who did establish the sun and the star.
17 You set the boundaries of the earth; you made summer and winter.
It was you who did fix all the borders of earth: summer and winter it’s you who have made them.
18 So keep in mind how the enemy ridiculed you, Lord, and how irreverent people insulted your reputation.
Yet, for all this, the foe has insulted you, Lord, and a nation of fools has reviled your name.
19 Don't let wild animals kill your turtledoves! Don't abandon your people forever!
Do not give your dove to the beasts, do not forget your afflicted forever.
20 Remember your promises in the agreement, because the land is full of dark places and violence.
Look to the sleek ones – how full they are: the dark places of earth are the dwellings of violence.
21 Don't let those who suffer be mistreated again. Let the poor and needy praise you for you who are.
O let not the downtrodden turn back ashamed: let the poor and the needy sing praise to your name.
22 Stand up, God, and plead your case. Don't forget how these foolish people insulted you all the time.
Arise, God, and defend your cause: remember how fools all the day insult you.
23 Don't ignore what your enemies have said, for their loud accusations against you are getting worse and worse!
Do not forget the uproar of your enemies, the din of your foes that ascends evermore.
