Psalms 74
1 A contemplation by Asaph. God, why have you rejected us forever? Why does your anger smolder 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 purchased of old, which you have redeemed to be the tribe of your inheritance: Mount Zion, in which you have lived.
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 to the perpetual ruins, all the evil that the enemy has done 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 adversaries have roared in the middle of your assembly. They have set up their standards as signs.
And they that hate thee have boasted in the midst of thy feast; they have set up their standards for signs,
5 They behaved like men wielding axes, cutting through a thicket of trees.
ignorantly as it were in the entrance above;
6 Now they break all its carved work down with hatchet 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 burned your sanctuary to the ground. They have profaned the dwelling place of your Name.
They have burnt thy sanctuary with fire to the ground; they have profaned the habitation of thy name.
8 They said in their heart, “We will crush them completely.” They have burned up all the places in the land where God was worshiped.
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 no miraculous signs. There is no longer any prophet, neither is there among us anyone who knows how long.
We have not seen our signs; there is no longer a prophet; and [God] will not know us any more.
10 How long, God, shall the adversary reproach? Shall the enemy blaspheme your name forever?
How long, O God, shall the enemy reproach? shall the enemy provoke thy name forever?
11 Why do you draw back your hand, even your right hand? Take it from your chest and consume them!
Wherefore turnest thou away thine hand, and thy right hand from the midst of thy bosom for ever?
12 Yet God is my King of old, working salvation throughout the earth.
But God is our King of old; he has wrought salvation in the midst of the earth.
13 You divided the sea by your strength. You broke the heads of the sea monsters 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 broke the heads of Leviathan in pieces. You gave him as food to people and desert creatures.
Thou didst break to pieces the heads of the dragon; thou didst give him [for] meat to the Ethiopian nations.
15 You opened up spring and stream. You dried up mighty rivers.
Thou didst cleave fountains and torrents; thou driedst up mighty rivers.
16 The day is yours, the night is also 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 boundaries 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 mocked you, Yahweh. 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 Don’t deliver the soul of your dove to wild beasts. Don’t forget the life of your poor forever.
Deliver not to the wild beasts a soul that gives praise to thee: forget not for ever the souls of thy poor.
20 Honor your covenant, for haunts of violence fill the dark places of the earth.
Look upon thy covenant: for the dark [places] of the earth are filled with the habitations of iniquity.
21 Don’t let 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, God! Plead your own cause. Remember how the foolish man mocks you all day.
Arise, O God, plead thy cause: remember thy reproaches that come from the foolish one all the day.
23 Don’t forget the voice of your adversaries. The tumult of those who rise up against you ascends continually.
Forget not the voice of thy suppliants: let the pride of them that hate thee continually ascend before thee.
