Psalms 74
1 O God, why have you cast us off for ever? why does your anger smoke against the sheep of your pasture?
A Maskil of Asaph. Why have You rejected us forever, O God? Why does Your anger smolder against the sheep of Your pasture?
2 Remember your congregation, which you have purchased of old; the rod of your inheritance, which you have redeemed; this mount Zion, wherein you have dwelled.
Remember Your congregation, which You purchased long ago and redeemed as the tribe of Your inheritance— Mount Zion where You dwell.
3 Lift up your feet to the perpetual desolations; even all that the enemy has done wickedly in the sanctuary.
Turn Your steps to the everlasting ruins, to everything in the sanctuary the enemy has destroyed.
4 Your enemies roar in the middle of your congregations; they set up their ensigns for signs.
Your foes have roared within Your meeting place; they have unfurled their banners as signs,
5 A man was famous according as he had lifted up axes on the thick trees.
like men wielding axes in a thicket of trees
6 But now they break down the carved work thereof at once with axes and hammers.
and smashing all the carvings with hatchets and picks.
7 They have cast fire into your sanctuary, they have defiled by casting down the dwelling place of your name to the ground.
They have burned Your sanctuary to the ground; they have defiled the dwelling place of Your Name.
8 They said in their hearts, Let us destroy them together: they have burned up all the synagogues of God in the land.
They said in their hearts, “We will crush them completely.” They burned down every place where God met us in the land.
9 We see not our signs: there is no more any prophet: neither is there among us any that knows how long.
There are no signs for us to see. There is no longer any prophet. And none of us knows how long this will last.
10 O God, how long shall the adversary reproach? shall the enemy blaspheme your name for ever?
How long, O God, will the enemy taunt You? Will the foe revile Your name forever?
11 Why withdraw you your hand, even your right hand? pluck it out of your bosom.
Why do You withdraw Your strong right hand? Stretch it out to destroy them!
12 For God is my King of old, working salvation in the middle of the earth.
Yet God is my King from ancient times, working salvation on the earth.
13 You did divide the sea by your strength: you brake the heads of the dragons in the waters.
You divided the sea by Your strength; You smashed the heads of the dragons of the sea;
14 You brake the heads of leviathan in pieces, and gave him to be meat to the people inhabiting the wilderness.
You crushed the heads of Leviathan; You fed him to the creatures of the desert.
15 You did split the fountain and the flood: you dried up mighty rivers.
You broke open the fountain and the flood; You dried up the ever-flowing rivers.
16 The day is yours, the night also is yours: you have prepared the light and the sun.
The day is Yours, and also the night; You established the moon and the sun.
17 You have set all the borders of the earth: you have made summer and winter.
You set all the boundaries of the earth; You made the summer and winter.
18 Remember this, that the enemy has reproached, O LORD, and that the foolish people have blasphemed your name.
Remember how the enemy has mocked You, O LORD, how a foolish people has spurned Your name.
19 O deliver not the soul of your turtledove to the multitude of the wicked: forget not the congregation of your poor for ever.
Do not deliver the soul of Your dove to beasts; do not forget the lives of Your afflicted forever.
20 Have respect to the covenant: for the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty.
Consider Your covenant, for haunts of violence fill the dark places of the land.
21 O let not the oppressed return ashamed: let the poor and needy praise your name.
Do not let the oppressed retreat in shame; may the poor and needy praise Your name.
22 Arise, O God, plead your own cause: remember how the foolish man reproaches you daily.
Rise up, O God; defend Your cause! Remember how the fool mocks You all day long.
23 Forget not the voice of your enemies: the tumult of those that rise up against you increases continually.
Do not disregard the clamor of Your adversaries, the uproar of Your enemies that ascends continually.
