Psalms 74
1 God, why have you abandoned/rejected us? Will you keep rejecting us forever [RHQ]? Why are you angry with us, since we are like sheep in your pasture [and you are like our shepherd]? [MET, RHQ]
O God, why have thou cast off forever? Why does thine anger smoke against the sheep of thy pasture?
2 Do not forget your people whom you chose long ago, the people whom you freed [from being slaves in Egypt] and caused to become your tribe. Do not forget Jerusalem, which was (your home/where you dwelt) [on this earth].
Remember thy congregation, which thou have gotten of old, which thou have redeemed to be the tribe of thine inheritance, and mount Zion, at which thou have dwelt.
3 Walk along [and see] where everything has been totally ruined; our enemies have destroyed everything in the sacred temple.
Lift up thy feet to the perpetual ruins, all the evil that the enemy has done in the sanctuary.
4 Your enemies shouted triumphantly in this sacred place; they erected their banners [to show they had defeated us].
Thine adversaries have roared in the midst of thine assembly. They have set up their ensigns for signs.
5 They cut down all the [engraved objects in the temple] like woodsmen cut down trees.
They seemed as men who lifted up axes upon a thicket of trees.
6 Then they smashed all the carved wood with their axes and hammers.
And now they break down all the carved work of it with hatchet and hammers.
7 [Then] they burned your temple to the ground; they caused that place where you were worshiped to be unfit for people to worship in.
They have set thy sanctuary on fire. They have profaned the dwelling-place of thy name to the ground.
8 They said to themselves, “We will destroy the Israelis completely,” and they [also] burned down all the other places where we gathered to worship God.
They said in their heart, Let us make havoc of them altogether. They have burned up all the meeting-places of God in the land.
9 All our sacred symbols (OR, miracles) are gone; there are no prophets now/any more, and no one knows how long [this situation will continue].
We do not see our signs. There is no more any prophet, nor is there among us he who knows how long.
10 God, how long will our enemies make fun of you [RHQ]? Will they insult you [MTY] forever [RHQ]?
How long, O God, shall the adversary reproach? Shall the enemy blaspheme thy name forever?
11 Why do you refuse to help [MTY, RHQ] us? Why do you keep your hand inside your cloak [instead of using it to destroy our enemies] [RHQ]?
Why do thou draw back thy hand, even thy right hand? Remove it from the midst of thy bosom.
12 God, you have been our king [all the time] since we came out of Egypt [HYP], and you have enabled us to defeat [our enemies] in the land [of Israel].
Yet God is my King of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth.
13 By your power you caused the [Red] Sea to divide; [it was as though] you smashed the heads of the [rulers of Egypt who were like] huge sea dragons [MET].
Thou divided the sea by thy strength. Thou break the heads of the sea-monsters in the waters.
14 [It was as though] you crushed the head of the king of Egypt [MET] and gave his body to the animals in the desert to eat.
Thou break the heads of leviathan in pieces. Thou gave him to be food to the people inhabiting the wilderness.
15 You caused springs and streams to flow, and you [also] dried up rivers that had never dried up previously.
Thou split fountain and flood. Thou dried up mighty rivers.
16 You created the days and the nights, and you put the sun and the moon in their places.
The day is thine; the night is also thine. Thou have prepared the light and the sun.
17 You determined where the oceans end and the land begins, and you created the summer/hot season and the winter/cold season.
Thou have set all the borders of the earth. Thou have made summer and winter.
18 Yahweh, do not forget that your enemies laugh at you, and that it is foolish people who despise you [MTY].
Remember this, that the enemy has reproached, O Jehovah, and that a foolish people has blasphemed thy name.
19 Do not let your helpless people [MET] fall into the hands of their cruel enemies; do not forget your suffering/persecuted people.
O deliver not the soul of thy turtle-dove to the wild beast. Forget not the life of thy poor forever.
20 Do not forget the agreement that you made with us; remember that there are violent people in every dark place on the earth.
Have respect to the covenant, for the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of violence.
21 Do not allow your oppressed people to be disgraced; help those poor and needy people in order that they will [again] praise you [MTY].
O let not he who is oppressed return ashamed. Let a poor and needy man praise thy name.
22 God, arise and defend yourself [by defending your people]! Do not forget that foolish people laugh at you (all day long/continually)!
Arise, O God, plead thine own cause. Remember how the foolish man reproaches thee all the day.
23 Do not forget that your enemies shout angrily [at you]; the uproar that they make [while they oppose you] never stops.
Forget not the voice of thine adversaries. The tumult of those who rise up against thee ascends continually.
