Psalms 74
1 An Instructive Psalm. Asaph’s. Wherefore, O God, hast thou cast off utterly? Shall thine anger smoke against the flock of thine own pasturing?
O God, why have you cast us off for ever? why does your anger smoke against the sheep of your pasture?
2 Remember thine own assembly thou didst acquire aforetime, Thou didst redeem the tribe of thine own inheritance, Mount Zion, wherein thou didst take up thy habitation.
Remember your congregation, which you have purchased of old; the rod of your inheritance, which you have redeemed; this mount Zion, wherein you have dwelt.
3 Lift up thy steps unto the places utterly unsafe, All the mischief!—the foe in the sanctuary!
Lift up your feet unto the perpetual desolations; even all that the enemy has done wickedly in the sanctuary.
4 Thine adversaries have roared in the midst of thine appointed meeting, They have set their ensigns as tokens!
your enemies roar in the midst of your congregations; they set up their ensigns for signs.
5 One used to be known according as he carried up high—into the thicket of trees—the axes;
A man was famous according as he had lifted up axes upon the thick trees.
6 But, now, the doors thereof all together, with axes and hammers, they batter down.
But now they break down the carved work thereof at once with axes and hammers.
7 They have cast, into the fire, thy sanctuary, To the ground, have they profaned the habitation of thy Name.
They have cast fire into your sanctuary, they have defiled by casting down the dwelling place of your name to the ground.
8 They have said in their heart, Let us suppress them altogether, They have burned up all the meeting-places of GOD in the land.
They said in their hearts, Let us destroy them together: they have burned up all the synagogues of God in the land.
9 Our own signs, have we not seen, —There is no longer a prophet, —Neither is there with us, one who knoweth—How long!
We see not our signs: there is no more any prophet: neither is there among us any that knows how long.
10 How long, O God, shall the adversary, reproach? Shall the enemy revile thy Name perpetually?
O God, how long shall the adversary reproach? shall the enemy blaspheme your name for ever?
11 Wherefore shouldst thou withdraw thy hand—thy right hand? [Bring it] out of the midst of thy bosom! (Selah)
Why withdraw you your hand, even your right hand? pluck it out of your bosom.
12 But, God, hath been my king from aforetime, Working Deliverances in the midst of the earth.
For God is my King of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth.
13 Thou, didst cleave asunder, in thy might, the sea, Thou didst break in pieces the heads of the Crocodiles, [till they floated] on the waters;
You did divide the sea by your strength: you brake the heads of the dragons in the waters.
14 Thou, didst crush the heads of the Sea-Monster, Thou didst give him to be food, for the people of the deserts;
You brake the heads of leviathan (sea serpent) in pieces, and gave him to be food to the people inhabiting the wilderness.
15 Thou, didst cleave open fountain and torrent, Thou, didst dry up rivers of steady flow:
You did cleave the fountain and the flood: you dried up mighty rivers.
16 Thine, is the day, Yea, thine, the night, Thou, didst establish moon and sun;
The day is yours, the night also is yours: you have prepared the light and the sun.
17 Thou, didst set up all the bounds of the earth, As for summer and winter, thou, didst form them!
You have set all the borders of the earth: you have made summer and winter.
18 Remember this, An enemy, hath reproached Yahweh, Yea, an impious people, have reviled thy Name.
Remember this, that the enemy has reproached, O LORD, and that the foolish people have blasphemed your name.
19 Do not deliver up, to a wild beast, the life of thy turtle-dove, The living host of thine oppressed ones, do not forget perpetually.
O deliver not the soul of your turtledove unto the multitude of the wicked: forget not the congregation of your poor for ever.
20 Have respect to thy covenant, For the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of violence.
Have respect unto the covenant: for the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty.
21 May the crushed one not again be confounded, As for the oppressed and the needy, let them praise thy Name.
O let not the oppressed return ashamed: let the poor and needy praise your name.
22 Arise! O God, plead thine own cause, Remember the reproach of thee, from the impious one, all the day:
Arise, O God, plead your own cause: remember how the foolish man reproaches you daily.
23 Do not forget the voice of thine adversaries, The noise of thine assailants, ascending continually.
Forget not the voice of your enemies: the tumult of those that rise up against you increases continually.
