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 maskil of Asaph. Why, O God, have you spurned us forever? Why smokes your wrath against 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.
Remember the community you purchased of old to become by redemption the tribe of your heritage, Zion, the mountain you made your home.
3 Lift up Your steps to the continuous desolations, Everything the enemy did wickedly in the sanctuary.
Rouse yourself, visit its ruins complete. In the temple the foe has made havoc of all things.
4 Your adversaries have roared, In the midst of Your meeting-places, They have set their ensigns as ensigns.
Like lions your enemies roared through your house, replacing our symbols by signs of their own,
5 He is known as one bringing in on high Against a thicket of wood—axes.
hacking, like woodsmen who lift axes on thickets of trees,
6 And now they break down its engravings, Together, with axe and hatchet,
smashing with hatchets and hammers all of its carved work together.
7 They have sent Your sanctuary into fire, They defiled the Dwelling Place of Your Name to the earth,
They have set your temple on fire, to the very ground they have outraged the place where lives your 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, ‘Let us utterly crush them.’ They have burned all the houses of God in the land.
9 We have not seen our ensigns, There is no longer a prophet, Nor with us is one knowing how long.
No symbol of ours do we see any more: no prophet is there any more, none is with us who knows how long.
10 Until when, O God, does an adversary reproach? Does an enemy despise Your Name forever?
How long, O God, is the foe to insult? Shall the enemy spurn your name forever?
11 Why do You turn back Your hand, Even Your right hand? Remove [it] from the midst of Your bosom.
Why, O Lord, do you hold back your hand, why keep your right hand in the folds of your robe?
12 And God [is] my king of old, Working salvation in the midst of the earth.
Yet God is our king from the ancient days, in the midst of the earth working deeds of salvation.
13 You have divided [the] sea by Your strength, You have shattered heads of dragons by the waters,
It was you who did cleave the sea by your might, and shatter the heads of the ocean monsters.
14 You have broken the heads of leviathan, You make him food for the people of desert-dwellers.
It was you who did crush many-headed Leviathan, and give him as food to the beasts of the wilderness.
15 You have cleaved a fountain and a stream, You have dried up perennial flowings.
It was you who did cleave the fountains and torrents; it was you who did dry the perennial streams.
16 The day [is] Yours, The night [is] also Yours, You have prepared a light-giver—the sun.
Yours is the day; yours, too, is the night, it was you who did establish the sun and the star.
17 You have set up all the borders of earth, Summer and winter—You have formed them.
It was you who did fix all the borders of earth: summer and winter it’s you who have made them.
18 Remember this—an enemy reproached YHWH, And a foolish people have despised Your Name.
Yet, for all this, the foe has insulted you, Lord, and a nation of fools has reviled 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 give your dove to the beasts, do not forget your afflicted forever.
20 Look attentively to the covenant, For the dark places of earth, Have been full of habitations of violence.
Look to the sleek ones – how full they are: the dark places of earth are the dwellings of violence.
21 Do not let the oppressed turn back ashamed, Let the poor and needy praise Your Name,
O let not the downtrodden turn back ashamed: let the poor and the needy sing praise to your name.
22 Arise, O God, plead Your plea, Remember Your reproach from a fool all the day.
Arise, God, and defend your cause: remember how fools all the day insult you.
23 Do not forget the voice of Your adversaries, The noise of Your withstanders is going up continually!
Do not forget the uproar of your enemies, the din of your foes that ascends evermore.
