Psalms 74
1 AN INSTRUCTION OF ASAPH. Why, O God, have You cast off forever? Your anger smokes against the flock of Your 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 Your congregation [That] You purchased of old, You redeemed the rod of Your inheritance, This Mount Zion—You dwelt in it.
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 Your steps to the continuous desolations, Everything the enemy did 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 Your adversaries have roared, In the midst of Your meeting-places, They have set their ensigns as ensigns.
And they that hate thee have boasted in the midst of thy feast; they have set up their standards for signs,
5 He is known as one bringing in on high Against a thicket of wood—axes.
ignorantly as it were in the entrance above;
6 And now they break down its engravings, Together, with axe and hatchet,
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 sent Your sanctuary into fire, They defiled the Dwelling Place of Your Name to the earth,
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 oppress them together,” They burned all the meeting-places 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 have not seen our ensigns, There is no longer a prophet, Nor with us is one knowing how long.
We have not seen our signs; there is no longer a prophet; and [God] will not know us any more.
10 Until when, O God, does an adversary reproach? Does an enemy despise Your Name forever?
How long, O God, shall the enemy reproach? shall the enemy provoke thy name forever?
11 Why do You turn back Your hand, Even Your right hand? Remove [it] from the midst of Your bosom.
Wherefore turnest thou away thine hand, and thy right hand from the midst of thy bosom for ever?
12 And 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 You have divided [the] sea by Your strength, You have shattered heads of dragons by the waters,
Thou didst establish the sea, in thy might, thou didst break to pieces the heads of the dragons in the water.
14 You have broken the heads of leviathan, You make him food for the people of desert-dwellers.
Thou didst break to pieces the heads of the dragon; thou didst give him [for] meat to the Ethiopian nations.
15 You have cleaved a fountain and a stream, You have dried up perennial flowings.
Thou didst cleave fountains and torrents; thou driedst up mighty rivers.
16 The day [is] Yours, The night [is] also Yours, You have prepared a light-giver—the sun.
The day is thine, and the night is thine; thou hast prepared the sun and the moon.
17 You have set up all the borders of earth, Summer and winter—You have formed them.
Thou hast made all the borders of the earth; thou hast made summer and spring.
18 Remember this—an enemy reproached YHWH, And a foolish people have despised Your Name.
Remember this thy creation: an enemy has reproached the Lord, and a foolish people has provoked thy name.
19 Do not give up to a [wild] creature, The soul of Your turtle-dove, Do not forget the life of Your poor ones forever.
Deliver not to the wild beasts a soul that gives praise to thee: forget not for ever the souls of thy poor.
20 Look attentively to the covenant, For the dark places of earth, Have been full of habitations of violence.
Look upon thy covenant: for the dark [places] of the earth are filled with the habitations of iniquity.
21 Do not let the oppressed turn back ashamed, Let the poor and needy praise Your Name,
let not the afflicted and shamed one be rejected: the poor and needy shall praise thy name.
22 Arise, O God, plead Your plea, Remember Your reproach from a fool all the day.
Arise, O God, plead thy cause: remember thy reproaches that come from the foolish one all the day.
23 Do not forget the voice of Your adversaries, The noise of Your withstanders is going up continually!
Forget not the voice of thy suppliants: let the pride of them that hate thee continually ascend before thee.
