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?

“A Maskil of Assaph.” Why, O God, hast thou cast us off for ever? why will thy anger smoke against the flock 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 didst acquire of old; which thou didst redeem as the tribe of thy inheritance: this mount Zion, whereon thou hast dwelt.

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

Lift up thy steps unto the perpetual heaps of ruins: the enemy hath ill-used every thing in the sanctuary.

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

Thy adversaries have roared in the midst of thy places of assembly: they have set up their signs for signs.

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

[The enemy] is known as one that lifteth up high axes against the thickets of a forest.

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

And now they hew in pieces the carved work thereof altogether with hatchets 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 on fire thy sanctuary; to the ground have they profaned the dwelling-place of thy name.

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

They have said in their heart, We will oppress them altogether: they have burnt up all the places of assembly 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.

Our signs do we not see: there is no more any prophet: and there is no one among us that knoweth 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 utter defiance? shall the enemy blaspheme thy name for ever?

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

Why withdrawest thou thy hand, and thy right hand? [draw it] out of thy bosom—exterminate [them];

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

Since [thou] God art my King from olden days, 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.

It was thou that didst divide by thy strength the sea: thou brokest in pieces the heads of the crocodiles on the waters.

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

Thou didst crush the heads of leviathan, and gavest them as 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 didst cleave fountain and stream: thou didst dry up ever-flowing rivers.

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

Thine is the day and thine is the night: it is thou who hast prepared the luminary 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.

It is thou who hast set up all the boundaries of the earth: summer and winter—thou thyself hast formed them.

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 hath defied the Lord, and that a worthless foolish people have blasphemed thy name.

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

Oh give not up unto the multitude of enemies the soul of thy turtle-dove: the congregation of thy afflicted do not thou forget for ever.

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

Look unto the covenant; for the dark places of the earth are full of habitations of violence.

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

Oh let not the oppressed return confounded: let the poor and needy praise thy name.

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

Arise, O God, plead thy own cause: remember thy defiance from the worthless fool 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 thy adversaries: the tumult of those that rise up against thee ascendeth continually.