Psalms 74
1 [A Psalm] of instruction for Asaph. Therefore have you rejected [us], O God, for ever? [therefore] is your wrath kindled against the sheep of your pasture?
“A psalm of Asaph.” O God! why hast thou cast us off for ever? Why doth thine anger smoke against the flock of thy pasture?
2 Remember your congregation which you have purchased from the beginning; you did ransom the rod of your inheritance; this mount Sion wherein you have lived.
Remember the people which thou didst purchase of old; Thine own inheritance, which thou didst redeem; That Mount Zion, where thou once didst dwell!
3 Lift up your hands against their pride continually; [because of] all that the enemy has done wickedly in your holy places.
Hasten thy steps to those utter desolations! Every thing in the sanctuary hath the enemy abused!
4 And they that hate you have boasted in the midst of your feast; they have set up their standards for signs,
Thine enemies roar in the place of thine assemblies; Their own symbols have they set up for signs.
5 ignorantly as it were in the entrance above;
They appear like those who raise the axe against a thicket;
6 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.
They have broken down the carved work of thy temple with axes and hammers;
7 They have burnt your sanctuary with fire to the ground; they have profaned the habitation of your name.
They have cast fire into thy sanctuary; They have profaned, and cast to the ground, the dwelling-place of thy name.
8 They have said in their heart, [even] all their kindred together, Come, let us abolish the feasts of the Lord from the earth.
They said in their hearts, “Let us destroy them all together!” They have burned all God's places of assembly in the land.
9 We have not seen our signs; there is no longer a prophet; and [God] will not know us any more.
We no longer see our signs; There is no prophet among us, Nor any one that knoweth how long this desolation shall endure.
10 How long, O God, shall the enemy reproach? shall the enemy provoke your name forever?
How long, O God! shall the adversary revile? Shall the enemy blaspheme thy name for ever?
11 Therefore turn you away your hand, and your right hand from the midst of your bosom for ever?
Why withdrawest thou thy hand, even thy right hand? Take it from thy bosom, and destroy!
12 But God is our King of old; he has wrought salvation in the midst of the earth.
Yet God was our king of old, Working salvation in the midst of the earth.
13 You did establish the sea, in your might, you did break to pieces the heads of the dragons in the water.
Thou didst divide the sea by thy power; Thou didst crush the heads of the sea-monsters in the waters.
14 You did break to pieces the heads of the dragon; you did give him [for] meat to the Ethiopian nations.
Thou didst break in pieces the head of the crocodile; Thou gavest him for food to the inhabitants of the desert.
15 You did cleave fountains and torrents; you dried up mighty rivers.
Thou didst cleave forth the fountain and the stream; Thou didst dry up perennial rivers.
16 The day is your, and the night is your; you have prepared the sun and the moon.
Thine is the day, and thine the night; Thou didst prepare the light and the sun.
17 You have made all the borders of the earth; you have made summer and spring.
Thou didst establish all the boundaries of the earth; Thou didst make summer and winter.
18 Remember this your creation: an enemy has reproached the Lord, and a foolish people has provoked your name.
O remember that the enemy hath reviled Jehovah; That an impious people hath blasphemed thy name!
19 Deliver not to the wild beasts a soul that gives praise to you: forget not for ever the souls of your poor.
Give not up the life of thy turtle-dove to the wild beast; Forget not for ever thine afflicted people!
20 Look upon your covenant: for the dark [places] of the earth are filled with the habitations of iniquity.
Have regard to thy covenant! For all the dark places of the land are full of the abodes of cruelty.
21 let not the afflicted and shamed one be rejected: the poor and needy shall praise your name.
O let not the afflicted go away ashamed! Let the poor and needy praise thy name!
22 Arise, O God, plead your cause: remember your reproaches that come from the foolish one all the day.
Arise, O God! maintain thy cause! Remember how the impious revileth thee daily!
23 Forget not the voice of your suppliants: let the pride of them that hate you continually ascend before you.
Forget not the clamor of thine adversaries, —The noise of thine enemies, which continually increaseth!
