Psalms 74

1 A maskil of Asaph. Why, O God, have you spurned us forever? Why smokes your wrath against the sheep of your pasture?

O God, why have thou cast off forever? Why does thine anger smoke against the sheep of thy pasture?

2 Remember the community you purchased of old to become by redemption the tribe of your heritage, Zion, the mountain you made your home.

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 Rouse yourself, visit its ruins complete. In the temple the foe has made havoc of all things.

Lift up thy feet to the perpetual ruins, all the evil that the enemy has done in the sanctuary.

4 Like lions your enemies roared through your house, replacing our symbols by signs of their own,

Thine adversaries have roared in the midst of thine assembly. They have set up their ensigns for signs.

5 hacking, like woodsmen who lift axes on thickets of trees,

They seemed as men who lifted up axes upon a thicket of trees.

6 smashing with hatchets and hammers all of its carved work together.

And now they break down all the carved work of it with hatchet and hammers.

7 They have set your temple on fire, to the very ground they have outraged the place where lives your name.

They have set thy sanctuary on fire. They have profaned the dwelling-place of thy name to the ground.

8 They have said in their heart, ‘Let us utterly crush them.’ They have burned all the houses of God in the land.

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 No symbol of ours do we see any more: no prophet is there any more, none is with us who knows how long.

We do not see our signs. There is no more any prophet, nor is there among us he who knows how long.

10 How long, O God, is the foe to insult? Shall the enemy spurn your name forever?

How long, O God, shall the adversary reproach? Shall the enemy blaspheme thy name forever?

11 Why, O Lord, do you hold back your hand, why keep your right hand in the folds of your robe?

Why do thou draw back thy hand, even thy right hand? Remove it from the midst of thy bosom.

12 Yet God is our king from the ancient days, in the midst of the earth working deeds of salvation.

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

13 It was you who did cleave the sea by your might, and shatter the heads of the ocean monsters.

Thou divided the sea by thy strength. Thou break the heads of the sea-monsters in the waters.

14 It was you who did crush many-headed Leviathan, and give him as food to the beasts of the wilderness.

Thou break the heads of leviathan in pieces. Thou gave him to be food to the people inhabiting the wilderness.

15 It was you who did cleave the fountains and torrents; it was you who did dry the perennial streams.

Thou split fountain and flood. Thou dried up mighty rivers.

16 Yours is the day; yours, too, is the night, it was you who did establish the sun and the star.

The day is thine; the night is also thine. Thou have prepared the light and the sun.

17 It was you who did fix all the borders of earth: summer and winter it’s you who have made them.

Thou have set all the borders of the earth. Thou have made summer and winter.

18 Yet, for all this, the foe has insulted you, Lord, and a nation of fools has reviled your name.

Remember this, that the enemy has reproached, O Jehovah, and that a foolish people has blasphemed thy name.

19 Do not give your dove to the beasts, do not forget your afflicted forever.

O deliver not the soul of thy turtle-dove to the wild beast. Forget not the life of thy poor forever.

20 Look to the sleek ones – how full they are: the dark places of earth are the dwellings of violence.

Have respect to the covenant, for the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of violence.

21 O let not the downtrodden turn back ashamed: let the poor and the needy sing praise to your name.

O let not he who is oppressed return ashamed. Let a poor and needy man praise thy name.

22 Arise, God, and defend your cause: remember how fools all the day insult you.

Arise, O God, plead thine own cause. Remember how the foolish man reproaches thee all the day.

23 Do not forget the uproar of your enemies, the din of your foes that ascends evermore.

Forget not the voice of thine adversaries. The tumult of those who rise up against thee ascends continually.