Psalms 74
1 An Instructive Psalm. Asaph’s. Wherefore, O God, hast thou cast off utterly? Shall thine anger smoke against the flock of thine own pasturing?
[A Psalm] of instruction for Asaph. Therefore have you rejected [us], O God, for ever? [therefore] is your wrath kindled against the sheep of your pasture?
2 Remember thine own assembly thou didst acquire aforetime, Thou didst redeem the tribe of thine own inheritance, Mount Zion, wherein thou didst take up thy habitation.
Remember your congregation which you have purchased from the beginning; you did ransom the rod of your inheritance; this mount Sion wherein you have lived.
3 Lift up thy steps unto the places utterly unsafe, All the mischief!—the foe in the sanctuary!
Lift up your hands against their pride continually; [because of] all that the enemy has done wickedly in your holy places.
4 Thine adversaries have roared in the midst of thine appointed meeting, They have set their ensigns as tokens!
And they that hate you have boasted in the midst of your feast; they have set up their standards for signs,
5 One used to be known according as he carried up high—into the thicket of trees—the axes;
ignorantly as it were in the entrance above;
6 But, now, the doors thereof all together, with axes and hammers, they batter down.
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, into the fire, thy sanctuary, To the ground, have they profaned the habitation of thy Name.
They have burnt your sanctuary with fire to the ground; they have profaned the habitation of your name.
8 They have said in their heart, Let us suppress them altogether, They have burned up all the meeting-places 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 Our own signs, have we not seen, —There is no longer a prophet, —Neither is there with us, one who knoweth—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, O God, shall the adversary, reproach? Shall the enemy revile thy Name perpetually?
How long, O God, shall the enemy reproach? shall the enemy provoke your name forever?
11 Wherefore shouldst thou withdraw thy hand—thy right hand? [Bring it] out of the midst of thy bosom! (Selah)
Therefore turn you away your hand, and your right hand from the midst of your bosom for ever?
12 But, God, hath been my king from aforetime, Working Deliverances in the midst of the earth.
But God is our King of old; he has wrought salvation in the midst of the earth.
13 Thou, didst cleave asunder, in thy might, the sea, Thou didst break in pieces the heads of the Crocodiles, [till they floated] on the waters;
You did establish the sea, in your might, you did break to pieces the heads of the dragons in the water.
14 Thou, didst crush the heads of the Sea-Monster, Thou didst give him to be food, for the people of the deserts;
You did break to pieces the heads of the dragon; you did give him [for] meat to the Ethiopian nations.
15 Thou, didst cleave open fountain and torrent, Thou, didst dry up rivers of steady flow:
You did cleave fountains and torrents; you dried up mighty rivers.
16 Thine, is the day, Yea, thine, the night, Thou, didst establish moon and sun;
The day is your, and the night is your; you have prepared the sun and the moon.
17 Thou, didst set up all the bounds of the earth, As for summer and winter, thou, didst form them!
You have made all the borders of the earth; you have made summer and spring.
18 Remember this, An enemy, hath reproached Yahweh, Yea, an impious people, have reviled thy Name.
Remember this your creation: an enemy has reproached the Lord, and a foolish people has provoked your name.
19 Do not deliver up, to a wild beast, the life of thy turtle-dove, The living host of thine oppressed ones, do not forget perpetually.
Deliver not to the wild beasts a soul that gives praise to you: forget not for ever the souls of your poor.
20 Have respect to thy covenant, For the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of violence.
Look upon your covenant: for the dark [places] of the earth are filled with the habitations of iniquity.
21 May the crushed one not again be confounded, As for the oppressed and the needy, let them praise thy Name.
let not the afflicted and shamed one be rejected: the poor and needy shall praise your name.
22 Arise! O God, plead thine own cause, Remember the reproach of thee, from the impious one, all the day:
Arise, O God, plead your cause: remember your reproaches that come from the foolish one all the day.
23 Do not forget the voice of thine adversaries, The noise of thine assailants, ascending continually.
Forget not the voice of your suppliants: let the pride of them that hate you continually ascend before you.
