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?
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 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 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 vp thy strokes, that thou mayest for euer destroy euery enemie that doeth euill to the Sanctuarie.
Lift up thy steps unto the places utterly unsafe, All the mischief!—the foe in the sanctuary!
4 Thine aduersaries roare in the middes of thy Congregation, and set vp their banners for signes.
Thine adversaries have roared in the midst of thine appointed meeting, They have set their ensigns as tokens!
5 He that lifted the axes vpon the thicke trees, was renowmed, as one, that brought a thing to perfection:
One used to be known according as he carried up high—into the thicket of trees—the axes;
6 But nowe they breake downe the carued worke thereof with axes and hammers.
But, now, the doors thereof all together, with axes and hammers, they batter down.
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 cast, into the fire, thy sanctuary, To the ground, have they profaned the habitation of thy 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 suppress them altogether, They have burned up all the meeting-places 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.
Our own signs, have we not seen, —There is no longer a prophet, —Neither is there with us, one who knoweth—How long!
10 O God, howe long shall the aduersarie reproche thee? shall the enemie blaspheme thy Name for euer?
How long, O God, shall the adversary, reproach? Shall the enemy revile thy Name perpetually?
11 Why withdrawest thou thine hand, euen thy right hand? drawe it out of thy bosome, and consume them.
Wherefore shouldst thou withdraw thy hand—thy right hand? [Bring it] out of the midst of thy bosom! (Selah)
12 Euen God is my King of olde, working saluation in the middes of the earth.
But, God, hath been my king from aforetime, Working Deliverances in the midst of the earth.
13 Thou didest deuide the sea by thy power: thou brakest 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 brakest the head of Liuiathan in pieces, and gauest him to be meate for the people in wildernesse.
Thou, didst crush the heads of the Sea-Monster, Thou didst give him to be food, for the people of the deserts;
15 Thou brakest vp the fountaine and riuer: thou dryedst vp mightie riuers.
Thou, didst cleave open fountain and torrent, Thou, didst dry up rivers of steady flow:
16 The day is thine, and the night is thine: thou hast prepared the light and the sunne.
Thine, is the day, Yea, thine, the night, Thou, didst establish moon and sun;
17 Thou hast set all the borders of the earth: thou hast made summer and winter.
Thou, didst set up all the bounds of the earth, As for summer and winter, thou, didst form them!
18 Remember this, that the enemie hath reproched the Lord, and the foolish people hath blasphemed thy Name.
Remember this, An enemy, hath reproached Yahweh, Yea, an impious people, have reviled thy 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 deliver up, to a wild beast, the life of thy turtle-dove, The living host of thine oppressed ones, do not forget perpetually.
20 Consider thy couenant: for the darke places of the earth are full of the habitations of the cruell.
Have respect to thy covenant, For the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of violence.
21 Oh let not the oppressed returne ashamed, but let the poore and needie prayse 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: mainteine thine owne cause: remember thy dayly reproche by the foolish man.
Arise! O God, plead thine own cause, Remember the reproach of thee, from the impious one, all the day:
23 Forget not the voyce of thine enemies: for the tumult of them, that rise against thee, ascendeth continually.
Do not forget the voice of thine adversaries, The noise of thine assailants, ascending continually.
