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?
AN INSTRUCTION OF ASAPH. Why, O God, have You cast off forever? Your anger smokes against the flock 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 [That] You purchased of old, You redeemed the rod of Your inheritance, This Mount Zion—You dwelt in it.
3 Lift up thy steps unto the places utterly unsafe, All the mischief!—the foe in the sanctuary!
Lift up Your steps to the continuous desolations, Everything the enemy did wickedly in the sanctuary.
4 Thine adversaries have roared in the midst of thine appointed meeting, They have set their ensigns as tokens!
Your adversaries have roared, In the midst of Your meeting-places, They have set their ensigns as ensigns.
5 One used to be known according as he carried up high—into the thicket of trees—the axes;
He is known as one bringing in on high Against a thicket of wood—axes.
6 But, now, the doors thereof all together, with axes and hammers, they batter down.
And now they break down its engravings, Together, with axe and hatchet,
7 They have cast, into the fire, thy sanctuary, To the ground, have they profaned the habitation of thy Name.
They have sent Your sanctuary into fire, They defiled the Dwelling Place of Your Name to the earth,
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 oppress them together,” They burned all the meeting-places 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 have not seen our ensigns, There is no longer a prophet, Nor with us is one knowing how long.
10 How long, O God, shall the adversary, reproach? Shall the enemy revile thy Name perpetually?
Until when, O God, does an adversary reproach? Does an enemy despise Your Name forever?
11 Wherefore shouldst thou withdraw thy hand—thy right hand? [Bring it] out of the midst of thy bosom! (Selah)
Why do You turn back Your hand, Even Your right hand? Remove [it] from the midst of Your bosom.
12 But, God, hath been my king from aforetime, Working Deliverances in the midst of the earth.
And 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 have divided [the] sea by Your strength, You have shattered heads of dragons by 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 have broken the heads of leviathan, You make him food for the people of desert-dwellers.
15 Thou, didst cleave open fountain and torrent, Thou, didst dry up rivers of steady flow:
You have cleaved a fountain and a stream, You have dried up perennial flowings.
16 Thine, is the day, Yea, thine, the night, Thou, didst establish moon and sun;
The day [is] Yours, The night [is] also Yours, You have prepared a light-giver—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 up all the borders of earth, Summer and winter—You have formed them.
18 Remember this, An enemy, hath reproached Yahweh, Yea, an impious people, have reviled thy Name.
Remember this—an enemy reproached YHWH, And a foolish people have despised 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.
Do not give up to a [wild] creature, The soul of Your turtle-dove, Do not forget the life of Your poor ones forever.
20 Have respect to thy covenant, For the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of violence.
Look attentively to the covenant, For the dark places of earth, Have been full of habitations of violence.
21 May the crushed one not again be confounded, As for the oppressed and the needy, let them praise thy Name.
Do not let the oppressed turn back 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 plea, Remember Your reproach from a fool all the day.
23 Do not forget the voice of thine adversaries, The noise of thine assailants, ascending continually.
Do not forget the voice of Your adversaries, The noise of Your withstanders is going up continually!
