Psalms 74
1 “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?
A maskil of Asaph. Why, O God, have you spurned us forever? Why smokes your wrath against the sheep of your pasture?
2 Remember the people which thou didst purchase of old; Thine own inheritance, which thou didst redeem; That Mount Zion, where thou once didst dwell!
Remember the community you purchased of old to become by redemption the tribe of your heritage, Zion, the mountain you made your home.
3 Hasten thy steps to those utter desolations! Every thing in the sanctuary hath the enemy abused!
Rouse yourself, visit its ruins complete. In the temple the foe has made havoc of all things.
4 Thine enemies roar in the place of thine assemblies; Their own symbols have they set up for signs.
Like lions your enemies roared through your house, replacing our symbols by signs of their own,
5 They appear like those who raise the axe against a thicket;
hacking, like woodsmen who lift axes on thickets of trees,
6 They have broken down the carved work of thy temple with axes and hammers;
smashing with hatchets and hammers all of its carved work together.
7 They have cast fire into thy sanctuary; They have profaned, and cast to the ground, the dwelling-place of thy name.
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 destroy them all together!” They have burned all God's places of assembly 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 no longer see our signs; There is no prophet among us, Nor any one that knoweth how long this desolation shall endure.
No symbol of ours do we see any more: no prophet is there any more, none is with us who knows how long.
10 How long, O God! shall the adversary revile? Shall the enemy blaspheme thy name for ever?
How long, O God, is the foe to insult? Shall the enemy spurn your name forever?
11 Why withdrawest thou thy hand, even thy right hand? Take it from thy bosom, and destroy!
Why, O Lord, do you hold back your hand, why keep your right hand in the folds of your robe?
12 Yet God was our 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 Thou didst divide the sea by thy power; Thou didst crush the heads of the sea-monsters in the waters.
It was you who did cleave the sea by your might, and shatter the heads of the ocean monsters.
14 Thou didst break in pieces the head of the crocodile; Thou gavest him for food to the inhabitants of the desert.
It was you who did crush many-headed Leviathan, and give him as food to the beasts of the wilderness.
15 Thou didst cleave forth the fountain and the stream; Thou didst dry up perennial rivers.
It was you who did cleave the fountains and torrents; it was you who did dry the perennial streams.
16 Thine is the day, and thine the night; Thou didst prepare the light and the sun.
Yours is the day; yours, too, is the night, it was you who did establish the sun and the star.
17 Thou didst establish all the boundaries of the earth; Thou didst make summer and winter.
It was you who did fix all the borders of earth: summer and winter it’s you who have made them.
18 O remember that the enemy hath reviled Jehovah; That an impious people hath blasphemed thy name!
Yet, for all this, the foe has insulted you, Lord, and a nation of fools has reviled your name.
19 Give not up the life of thy turtle-dove to the wild beast; Forget not for ever thine afflicted people!
Do not give your dove to the beasts, do not forget your afflicted forever.
20 Have regard to thy covenant! For all the dark places of the land are full of the abodes of cruelty.
Look to the sleek ones – how full they are: the dark places of earth are the dwellings of violence.
21 O let not the afflicted go away ashamed! Let the poor and needy praise thy name!
O let not the downtrodden turn back ashamed: let the poor and the needy sing praise to your name.
22 Arise, O God! maintain thy cause! Remember how the impious revileth thee daily!
Arise, God, and defend your cause: remember how fools all the day insult you.
23 Forget not the clamor of thine adversaries, —The noise of thine enemies, which continually increaseth!
Do not forget the uproar of your enemies, the din of your foes that ascends evermore.
