Psalms 74
1 [A contemplation by Asaph.] God, why have you rejected us forever? Why does your anger smolder against the sheep of your pasture?
An instruction: of Asaph. Why, O God, hast thou cast off for ever? [why] doth thine anger smoke against the sheep of thy pasture?
2 Remember your congregation, which you purchased of old, which you have redeemed to be the tribe of your inheritance; Mount Zion, in which you have lived.
Remember thine assembly, which thou hast purchased of old, which thou hast redeemed [to be] the portion of thine inheritance, this mount Zion, wherein thou hast dwelt.
3 Lift up your feet to the perpetual ruins, all the evil that the enemy has done in the sanctuary.
Lift up thy steps unto the perpetual desolations: everything in the sanctuary hath the enemy destroyed.
4 Your adversaries have roared in the midst of your assembly. They have set up their standards as signs.
Thine adversaries roar in the midst of thy place of assembly; they set up their signs [for] signs.
5 They behaved like men wielding axes, cutting through a thicket of trees.
[A man] was known as he could lift up axes in the thicket of trees;
6 Now they break all its carved work down with hatchet and hammers.
And now they break down its carved work altogether, with hatchets and hammers.
7 They have burned your sanctuary to the ground. They have profaned the dwelling place of your Name.
They have set on fire thy sanctuary, they have profaned the habitation of thy name to the ground.
8 They said in their heart, "We will crush them completely." They have burned up all the places in the land where God was worshiped.
They said in their heart, Let us destroy them together: they have burned up all God's places of assembly in the land.
9 We see no miraculous signs. There is no longer any prophet, neither is there among us anyone who knows how long.
We see not our signs; there is no more any prophet, neither is there among us any that knoweth how long.
10 How long, God, shall the enemy mock? Shall the enemy blaspheme your name forever?
How long, O God, shall the adversary reproach? Shall the enemy contemn thy name for ever?
11 Why do you draw back your hand, even your right hand? Take it out of your pocket and consume them.
Why withdrawest thou thy hand, and thy right hand? [pluck it] out of thy bosom: consume [them].
12 Yet God is my King from long ago, working salvation in the midst of the earth.
But God is my king of old, accomplishing deliverances in the midst of the earth.
13 You divided the sea by your strength. You broke the heads of the sea monsters in the waters.
Thou didst divide the sea by thy strength; thou didst break the heads of the monsters on the waters:
14 You broke the heads of Leviathan in pieces. You gave him as food to people and desert creatures.
Thou didst break in pieces the heads of leviathan, thou gavest him to be meat to those that people the desert.
15 You opened up spring and stream. You dried up mighty rivers.
Thou didst cleave fountain and torrent, thou driedst up ever-flowing rivers.
16 The day is yours, the night is also yours. You have prepared the light and the sun.
The day is thine, the night also is thine; thou hast prepared the moon and the sun:
17 You have set all the boundaries of the earth. You have made summer and winter.
Thou hast set all the borders of the earth; summer and winter — thou didst form them.
18 Remember this, that the enemy has mocked you, YHWH. Foolish people have blasphemed your name.
Remember this, that an enemy hath reproached Jehovah, and a foolish people have contemned thy name.
19 Do not deliver the soul of your dove to wild beasts. Do not forget the life of your poor forever.
Give not up the soul of thy turtle-dove unto the wild beast; forget not the troop of thine afflicted for ever.
20 Honor your covenant, for haunts of violence fill the dark places of the earth.
Have respect unto the covenant; for the dark places of the earth are full of the dwellings of violence.
21 Do not let the oppressed return ashamed. Let the poor and needy praise your name.
Oh let not the oppressed one return ashamed; let the afflicted and needy praise thy name.
22 Arise, God. Plead your own cause. Remember how the foolish man mocks you all day.
Rise up, O God, plead thine own cause: remember how the foolish man reproacheth thee all the day;
23 Do not forget the voice of your adversaries. The tumult of those who rise up against you ascends continually.
Forget not the voice of thine adversaries: the tumult of those that rise up against thee ascendeth continually.
