Psalms 74
1 O God, why hast thou cast us off for ever? why doth thine anger smoke against the sheep of thy pasture?
[A Psalm] of instruction for Asaph. Wherefore hast thou rejected [us], O God, for ever? [wherefore] is thy wrath kindled against the sheep of thy pasture?
2 Remember thy congregation, which thou hast purchased of old; the rod of thine inheritance, which thou hast redeemed; this mount Zion, wherein thou hast dwelt.
Remember thy congregation which thou hast purchased from the beginning; thou didst ransom the rod of thine inheritance; this mount Sion wherein thou hast dwelt.
3 Lift up thy feet unto the perpetual desolations; even all that the enemy hath done wickedly in the sanctuary.
Lift up thine hands against their pride continually; [because of] all that the enemy has done wickedly in thy holy places.
4 Thine enemies roar in the midst of thy congregations; they set up their ensigns for signs.
And they that hate thee have boasted in the midst of thy feast; they have set up their standards for signs,
5 A man was famous according as he had lifted up axes upon the thick trees.
ignorantly as it were in the entrance above;
6 But now they break down the carved work thereof at once with axes and hammers.
they cut down its doors at once with axes as in a wood of trees; they have broken it down with hatchet and stone cutter.
7 They have cast fire into thy sanctuary, they have defiled by casting down the dwelling place of thy name to the ground.
They have burnt thy sanctuary with fire to the ground; they have profaned the habitation of thy 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 have said in their heart, [even] all their kindred together, Come, let us abolish the feasts of the Lord from the earth.
9 We see not our signs: there is no more any prophet: neither is there among us any that knoweth how long.
We have not seen our signs; there is no longer a prophet; and [God] will not know us any more.
10 O God, how long shall the adversary reproach? shall the enemy blaspheme thy name for ever?
How long, O God, shall the enemy reproach? shall the enemy provoke thy name forever?
11 Why withdrawest thou thy hand, even thy right hand? pluck it out of thy bosom.
Wherefore turnest thou away thine hand, and thy right hand from the midst of thy bosom for ever?
12 For God is my King of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth.
But God is our King of old; he has wrought salvation in the midst of the earth.
13 Thou didst divide the sea by thy strength: thou brakest the heads of the dragons in the waters.
Thou didst establish the sea, in thy might, thou didst break to pieces the heads of the dragons in the water.
14 Thou brakest the heads of leviathan in pieces, and gavest him to be meat to the people inhabiting the wilderness.
Thou didst break to pieces the heads of the dragon; thou didst give him [for] meat to the Ethiopian nations.
15 Thou didst cleave the fountain and the flood: thou driedst up mighty rivers.
Thou didst cleave fountains and torrents; thou driedst up mighty rivers.
16 The day is thine, the night also is thine: thou hast prepared the light and the sun.
The day is thine, and the night is thine; thou hast prepared the sun and the moon.
17 Thou hast set all the borders of the earth: thou hast made summer and winter.
Thou hast made all the borders of the earth; thou hast made summer and spring.
18 Remember this, that the enemy hath reproached, O Yhwh, and that the foolish people have blasphemed thy name.
Remember this thy creation: an enemy has reproached the Lord, and a foolish people has provoked thy name.
19 O deliver not the soul of thy turtledove unto the multitude of the wicked: forget not the congregation of thy poor for ever.
Deliver not to the wild beasts a soul that gives praise to thee: forget not for ever the souls of thy poor.
20 Have respect unto the covenant: for the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty.
Look upon thy covenant: for the dark [places] of the earth are filled with the habitations of iniquity.
21 O let not the oppressed return ashamed: let the poor and needy praise thy name.
let not the afflicted and shamed one be rejected: the poor and needy shall praise thy name.
22 Arise, O God, plead thine own cause: remember how the foolish man reproacheth thee daily.
Arise, O God, plead thy cause: remember thy reproaches that come from the foolish one all the day.
23 Forget not the voice of thine enemies: the tumult of those that rise up against thee increaseth continually.
Forget not the voice of thy suppliants: let the pride of them that hate thee continually ascend before thee.
