Psalms 74
1 A Psalme to give instruction, committed to Asaph. O God, why hast thou put vs away for euer? why is thy wrath kindled against the sheepe of thy pasture?
A maskil of Asaph. Why, O God, have you spurned us forever? Why smokes your wrath against the sheep of your pasture?
2 Thinke vpon thy Congregation, which thou hast possessed of olde, and on the rod of thine inheritance, which thou hast redeemed, and on this mount Zion, wherein thou hast dwelt.
Remember the community you purchased of old to become by redemption the tribe of your heritage, Zion, the mountain you made your home.
3 Lift vp thy strokes, that thou mayest for euer destroy euery enemie that doeth euill to the Sanctuarie.
Rouse yourself, visit its ruins complete. In the temple the foe has made havoc of all things.
4 Thine aduersaries roare in the middes of thy Congregation, and set vp their banners for signes.
Like lions your enemies roared through your house, replacing our symbols by signs of their own,
5 He that lifted the axes vpon the thicke trees, was renowmed, as one, that brought a thing to perfection:
hacking, like woodsmen who lift axes on thickets of trees,
6 But nowe they breake downe the carued worke thereof with axes and hammers.
smashing with hatchets and hammers all of its carved work together.
7 They haue cast thy Sanctuarie into the fire, and rased it to the grounde, and haue defiled the dwelling place of thy Name.
They have set your temple on fire, to the very ground they have outraged the place where lives your name.
8 They saide in their hearts, Let vs destroy them altogether: they haue burnt all the Synagogues of God in 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 see not our signes: there is not one Prophet more, nor any with vs that knoweth howe long.
No symbol of ours do we see any more: no prophet is there any more, none is with us who knows how long.
10 O God, howe long shall the aduersarie reproche thee? shall the enemie blaspheme thy Name for euer?
How long, O God, is the foe to insult? Shall the enemy spurn your name forever?
11 Why withdrawest thou thine hand, euen thy right hand? drawe it out of thy bosome, and consume them.
Why, O Lord, do you hold back your hand, why keep your right hand in the folds of your robe?
12 Euen God is my King of olde, working saluation in the middes of the earth.
Yet God is our king from the ancient days, in the midst of the earth working deeds of salvation.
13 Thou didest deuide the sea by thy power: thou brakest the heads of the dragons in the waters.
It was you who did cleave the sea by your might, and shatter the heads of the ocean monsters.
14 Thou brakest the head of Liuiathan in pieces, and gauest him to be meate for the people in wildernesse.
It was you who did crush many-headed Leviathan, and give him as food to the beasts of the wilderness.
15 Thou brakest vp the fountaine and riuer: thou dryedst vp mightie riuers.
It was you who did cleave the fountains and torrents; it was you who did dry the perennial streams.
16 The day is thine, and the night is thine: thou hast prepared the light and the sunne.
Yours is the day; yours, too, is the night, it was you who did establish the sun and the star.
17 Thou hast set all the borders of the earth: thou hast 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 Remember this, that the enemie hath reproched the Lord, and the foolish people hath blasphemed thy Name.
Yet, for all this, the foe has insulted you, Lord, and a nation of fools has reviled your name.
19 Giue not the soule of thy turtle doue vnto the beast, and forget not the Congregation of thy poore for euer.
Do not give your dove to the beasts, do not forget your afflicted forever.
20 Consider thy couenant: for the darke places of the earth are full of the habitations of the cruell.
Look to the sleek ones – how full they are: the dark places of earth are the dwellings of violence.
21 Oh let not the oppressed returne ashamed, but let the poore and needie prayse thy Name.
O let not the downtrodden turn back ashamed: let the poor and the needy sing praise to your name.
22 Arise, O God: mainteine thine owne cause: remember thy dayly reproche by the foolish man.
Arise, God, and defend your cause: remember how fools all the day insult you.
23 Forget not the voyce of thine enemies: for the tumult of them, that rise against thee, ascendeth continually.
Do not forget the uproar of your enemies, the din of your foes that ascends evermore.
