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?
Maschil of Asaph. O God, why hast thou cast [us] off for ever? why doth thine anger smoke against the sheep of thy 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 thy congregation, which thou hast purchased of old, which thou hast redeemed to be the tribe of thine inheritance; [and] mount Zion, wherein thou hast dwelt.
3 Lift up thy steps unto the places utterly unsafe, All the mischief!—the foe in the sanctuary!
Lift up thy feet unto the perpetual ruins, all the evil that the enemy hath done in the sanctuary.
4 Thine adversaries have roared in the midst of thine appointed meeting, They have set their ensigns as tokens!
Thine adversaries have roared in the midst of thine assembly; they have set up their ensigns for signs.
5 One used to be known according as he carried up high—into the thicket of trees—the axes;
They seemed as men that lifted up axes upon a thicket of trees.
6 But, now, the doors thereof all together, with axes and hammers, they batter down.
And now all the carved work thereof together they break down with hatchet and hammers.
7 They have cast, into the fire, thy sanctuary, To the ground, have they profaned the habitation of thy Name.
They have set thy sanctuary on fire; they have profaned the dwelling place of thy name even to the ground.
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 said in their heart, Let us make havoc of them altogether: they have burned up all the synagogues of God in the land.
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 see not our signs: there is no more any prophet; neither is there among us any that knoweth how long.
10 How long, O God, shall the adversary, reproach? Shall the enemy revile thy Name perpetually?
How long, O God, shall the adversary reproach? shall the enemy blaspheme thy name for ever?
11 Wherefore shouldst thou withdraw thy hand—thy right hand? [Bring it] out of the midst of thy bosom! (Selah)
Why drawest thou back thy hand, even thy right hand? [pluck it] out of thy bosom [and] consume [them].
12 But, God, hath been my king from aforetime, Working Deliverances in the midst of the earth.
Yet God is my King of old, working 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;
Thou didst divide the sea by thy strength: thou brakest the heads of the dragons in the waters.
14 Thou, didst crush the heads of the Sea-Monster, Thou didst give him to be food, for the people of the deserts;
Thou brakest the heads of leviathan in pieces, thou gavest him to be meat to the people inhabiting the wilderness.
15 Thou, didst cleave open fountain and torrent, Thou, didst dry up rivers of steady flow:
Thou didst cleave fountain and flood: thou driedst up mighty rivers.
16 Thine, is the day, Yea, thine, the night, Thou, didst establish moon and sun;
The day is thine, the night also is thine: thou hast prepared the light and the sun.
17 Thou, didst set up all the bounds of the earth, As for summer and winter, thou, didst form them!
Thou hast set all the borders of the earth: thou hast made summer and winter.
18 Remember this, An enemy, hath reproached Yahweh, Yea, an impious people, have reviled thy Name.
Remember this, that the enemy hath reproached, O LORD, and that foolish people have blasphemed thy 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.
O deliver not the soul of thy turtle-dove unto the wild beast: forget not the life of thy poor for ever.
20 Have respect to thy covenant, For the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of violence.
Have respect unto the covenant: for the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of violence.
21 May the crushed one not again be confounded, As for the oppressed and the needy, let them praise thy Name.
O let not the oppressed return ashamed: let the poor and needy praise thy 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 thine own cause: remember how the foolish man reproacheth thee all the day.
23 Do not forget the voice of thine adversaries, The noise of thine assailants, ascending continually.
Forget not the voice of thine adversaries: the tumult of those that rise up against thee ascendeth continually.
