Psalms 74

1 O God, why have you cast us off for ever? why does your anger smoke against the sheep of your pasture?

[A Psalm] of instruction for Asaph. Wherefore hast thou rejected [us], O God, for ever? [wherefore] is thy wrath kindled against the sheep of thy pasture?

2 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.

Remember thy congregation which thou hast purchased from the beginning; thou didst ransom the rod of thine inheritance; this mount Sion wherein thou hast dwelt.

3 Lift up your feet unto the perpetual desolations; even all that the enemy has done wickedly in the sanctuary.

Lift up thine hands against their pride continually; [because of] all that the enemy has done wickedly in thy holy places.

4 your enemies roar in the midst of your congregations; they set up their ensigns for signs.

And they that hate thee have boasted in the midst of thy feast; they have set up their standards for signs,

5 A man was famous according as he had lifted up axes upon the thick trees.

ignorantly as it were in the entrance above;

6 But now they break down the carved work thereof at once with axes and hammers.

they cut down its doors at once with axes as in a wood of trees; they have broken it down with hatchet and stone cutter.

7 They have cast fire into your sanctuary, they have defiled by casting down the dwelling place of your name to the ground.

They have burnt thy sanctuary with fire to the ground; they have profaned the habitation of thy name.

8 They said in their hearts, Let us destroy them together: they have burned up all the synagogues of God in the land.

They have said in their heart, [even] all their kindred together, Come, let us abolish the feasts of the Lord from the earth.

9 We see not our signs: there is no more any prophet: neither is there among us any that knows how long.

We have not seen our signs; there is no longer a prophet; and [God] will not know us any more.

10 O God, how long shall the adversary reproach? shall the enemy blaspheme your name for ever?

How long, O God, shall the enemy reproach? shall the enemy provoke thy name forever?

11 Why withdraw you your hand, even your right hand? pluck it out of your bosom.

Wherefore turnest thou away thine hand, and thy right hand from the midst of thy bosom for ever?

12 For God is my King of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth.

But God is our King of old; he has wrought salvation in the midst of the earth.

13 You did divide the sea by your strength: you brake the heads of the dragons in the waters.

Thou didst establish the sea, in thy might, thou didst break to pieces the heads of the dragons in the water.

14 You brake the heads of leviathan (sea serpent) in pieces, and gave him to be food to the people inhabiting the wilderness.

Thou didst break to pieces the heads of the dragon; thou didst give him [for] meat to the Ethiopian nations.

15 You did cleave the fountain and the flood: you dried up mighty rivers.

Thou didst cleave fountains and torrents; thou driedst up mighty rivers.

16 The day is yours, the night also is yours: you have prepared the light and the sun.

The day is thine, and the night is thine; thou hast prepared the sun and the moon.

17 You have set all the borders of the earth: you have made summer and winter.

Thou hast made all the borders of the earth; thou hast made summer and spring.

18 Remember this, that the enemy has reproached, O LORD, and that the foolish people have blasphemed your name.

Remember this thy creation: an enemy has reproached the Lord, and a foolish people has provoked thy name.

19 O deliver not the soul of your turtledove unto the multitude of the wicked: forget not the congregation of your poor for ever.

Deliver not to the wild beasts a soul that gives praise to thee: forget not for ever the souls of thy poor.

20 Have respect unto the covenant: for the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty.

Look upon thy covenant: for the dark [places] of the earth are filled with the habitations of iniquity.

21 O let not the oppressed return ashamed: let the poor and needy praise your name.

let not the afflicted and shamed one be rejected: the poor and needy shall praise thy name.

22 Arise, O God, plead your own cause: remember how the foolish man reproaches you daily.

Arise, O God, plead thy cause: remember thy reproaches that come from the foolish one all the day.

23 Forget not the voice of your enemies: the tumult of those that rise up against you increases continually.

Forget not the voice of thy suppliants: let the pride of them that hate thee continually ascend before thee.