Psalms 74
1 AN INSTRUCTION OF ASAPH. Why, O God, have You cast off forever? Your anger smokes against the flock of Your pasture.
The understanding of Asaph. O God, why have you rejected us to the end. Why has your fury become enraged over the sheep of your pasture?
2 Remember Your congregation [That] You purchased of old, You redeemed the rod of Your inheritance, This Mount Zion—You dwelt in it.
Be mindful of your congregation, which you have possessed from the beginning. You redeemed the scepter of your inheritance, mount Zion, in which you have dwelt.
3 Lift up Your steps to the continuous desolations, Everything the enemy did wickedly in the sanctuary.
Lift up your hands against their arrogance in the end. How great the malice of the enemy has been in the sanctuary!
4 Your adversaries have roared, In the midst of Your meeting-places, They have set their ensigns as ensigns.
And those who hate you have been glorified, in the midst of your solemnity. They have set up their own signs as a proof,
5 He is known as one bringing in on high Against a thicket of wood—axes.
as if it had been issued from on high; yet they did not understand. As in a forest of chopped wood,
6 And now they break down its engravings, Together, with axe and hatchet,
they have cut down the entrances themselves. With axe and hatchet, they have brought it down.
7 They have sent Your sanctuary into fire, They defiled the Dwelling Place of Your Name to the earth,
They have set fire to your Sanctuary. They have polluted the tabernacle of your name on earth.
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, the whole group of them together: “Let us cause all the feast days of God to cease from the land.
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 proof; there is now no prophet. And he will no longer know us.”
10 Until when, O God, does an adversary reproach? Does an enemy despise Your Name forever?
How long, O God, will the enemy place blame? Is the adversary to provoke your name until the end?
11 Why do You turn back Your hand, Even Your right hand? Remove [it] from the midst of Your bosom.
Why do you turn your hand away, even your right hand, from the midst of your sinews, until the end?
12 And God [is] my king of old, Working salvation in the midst of the earth.
But God is our king before all ages. 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,
In your virtue, you confirmed the sea. You crushed the heads of the serpents in the waters.
14 You have broken the heads of leviathan, You make him food for the people of desert-dwellers.
You have broken the heads of the serpent. You have given him as food for the people of the Ethiopians.
15 You have cleaved a fountain and a stream, You have dried up perennial flowings.
You have disrupted the fountains and the torrents. You have dried up the rivers of Ethan.
16 The day [is] Yours, The night [is] also Yours, You have prepared a light-giver—the sun.
Yours is the day, and yours is the night. You have made the morning light and the sun.
17 You have set up all the borders of earth, Summer and winter—You have formed them.
You have made all the limits of the earth. The summer and the spring were formed by you.
18 Remember this—an enemy reproached YHWH, And a foolish people have despised Your Name.
Be mindful of this: the enemy placed blame against the Lord, and a foolish people has incited against your 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.
Do not hand over to beasts the souls that confess to you; and do not forget the souls of your poor until the end.
20 Look attentively to the covenant, For the dark places of earth, Have been full of habitations of violence.
Consider your covenant. For those who have been darkened upon the earth have been filled by the iniquity of the houses.
21 Do not let the oppressed turn back ashamed, Let the poor and needy praise Your Name,
Do not allow the humble to be turned away in confusion. The poor and the needy will praise your name.
22 Arise, O God, plead Your plea, Remember Your reproach from a fool all the day.
Rise up, O God, judge your own case. Call to mind the accusations against you, which are made by the foolish all day long.
23 Do not forget the voice of Your adversaries, The noise of Your withstanders is going up continually!
Do not forget the voices of your adversaries. The arrogance of those who hate you rises up continually.
