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]
A maskil of Asaph. Why, O God, have you spurned us forever? Why smokes your wrath against the sheep of your 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 the community you purchased of old to become by redemption the tribe of your heritage, Zion, the mountain you made your home.
3 Walk along [and see] where everything has been totally ruined; our enemies have destroyed everything in the sacred temple.
Rouse yourself, visit its ruins complete. In the temple the foe has made havoc of all things.
4 Your enemies shouted triumphantly in this sacred place; they erected their banners [to show they had defeated us].
Like lions your enemies roared through your house, replacing our symbols by signs of their own,
5 They cut down all the [engraved objects in the temple] like woodsmen cut down trees.
hacking, like woodsmen who lift axes on thickets of trees,
6 Then they smashed all the carved wood with their axes and hammers.
smashing with hatchets and hammers all of its carved work together.
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 your temple on fire, to the very ground they have outraged the place where lives your name.
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 have said in their heart, ‘Let us utterly crush them.’ They have burned all the houses 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].
No symbol of ours do we see any more: no prophet is there any more, none is with us 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, is the foe to insult? Shall the enemy spurn your 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, O Lord, do you hold back your hand, why keep your right hand in the folds of your robe?
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 our king from the ancient days, in the midst of the earth working deeds of salvation.
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].
It was you who did cleave the sea by your might, and shatter the heads of the ocean monsters.
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.
It was you who did crush many-headed Leviathan, and give him as food to the beasts of the wilderness.
15 You caused springs and streams to flow, and you [also] dried up rivers that had never dried up previously.
It was you who did cleave the fountains and torrents; it was you who did dry the perennial streams.
16 You created the days and the nights, and you put the sun and the moon in their places.
Yours is the day; yours, too, is the night, it was you who did establish the sun and the star.
17 You determined where the oceans end and the land begins, and you created the summer/hot season and the winter/cold season.
It was you who did fix all the borders of earth: summer and winter it’s you who have made them.
18 Yahweh, do not forget that your enemies laugh at you, and that it is foolish people who despise you [MTY].
Yet, for all this, the foe has insulted you, Lord, and a nation of fools has reviled your name.
19 Do not let your helpless people [MET] fall into the hands of their cruel enemies; do not forget your suffering/persecuted people.
Do not give your dove to the beasts, do not forget your afflicted 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.
Look to the sleek ones – how full they are: the dark places of earth are the dwellings 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 the downtrodden turn back ashamed: let the poor and the needy sing praise to your 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, God, and defend your cause: remember how fools all the day insult you.
23 Do not forget that your enemies shout angrily [at you]; the uproar that they make [while they oppose you] never stops.
Do not forget the uproar of your enemies, the din of your foes that ascends evermore.
