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?
Maschil of Asaph. O God, why hast thou cast [us] off for ever? [why] doth thine anger smoke against the sheep of thy 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 thy congregation, [which] thou hast purchased of old; the rod of thine inheritance, [which] thou hast redeemed; this mount Zion, wherein thou hast dwelt.
3 Lift up thy steps unto the places utterly unsafe, All the mischief!—the foe in the sanctuary!
Lift up thy feet unto the perpetual desolations; [even] all [that] the enemy hath done wickedly in the sanctuary.
4 Thine adversaries have roared in the midst of thine appointed meeting, They have set their ensigns as tokens!
Thine enemies roar in the midst of thy 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 thy sanctuary, they have defiled [by casting down] the dwelling place of thy 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 knoweth 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 thy name for ever?
11 Wherefore shouldst thou withdraw thy hand—thy right hand? [Bring it] out of the midst of thy bosom! (Selah)
Why withdrawest thou thy hand, even thy right hand? pluck [it] out of thy 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;
Thou didst divide the sea by thy strength: thou brakest 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;
Thou brakest the heads of leviathan in pieces, [and] gavest him [to be] meat to the people inhabiting the wilderness.
15 Thou, didst cleave open fountain and torrent, Thou, didst dry up rivers of steady flow:
Thou didst cleave the fountain and the flood: thou driedst up mighty rivers.
16 Thine, is the day, Yea, thine, the night, Thou, didst establish moon and sun;
The day [is] thine, the night also [is] thine: thou hast 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!
Thou hast set all the borders of the earth: thou hast 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 hath reproached, O LORD, and [that] the foolish people have blasphemed thy 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 thy turtledove unto the multitude [of the wicked: ] forget not the congregation of thy 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 thy 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 thine own cause: remember how the foolish man reproacheth thee daily.
23 Do not forget the voice of thine adversaries, The noise of thine assailants, ascending continually.
Forget not the voice of thine enemies: the tumult of those that rise up against thee increaseth continually.
