Psalms 74

1 A contemplation by Asaph. God, why have you rejected us forever? Why does your anger smoulder against the sheep of your pasture?

Understanding for Asaph. O God, why hast thou cast us off unto the end: why is thy wrath enkindled 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 possessed from the beginning. The sceptre of thy inheritance which thou hast redeemed: mount Sion in which 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 thy hands against their pride unto the end; see what things the enemy hath done wickedly in the sanctuary.

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 made their boasts, in the midst of thy solemnity. They have set up their ensigns for signs,

5 They behaved like men wielding axes, cutting through a thicket of trees.

And they knew not both in the going out and on the highest top. As with axes in a wood of trees,

6 Now they break all its carved work down with hatchet and hammers.

They have cut down at once the gates thereof, with axe and hatchet they have brought it down.

7 They have burnt your sanctuary to the ground. They have profaned the dwelling place of your Name.

They have set fire to thy sanctuary: they have defiled the dwelling place of thy name on the earth.

8 They said in their heart, “We will crush them completely.” They have burnt up all the places in the land where God was worshipped.

They said in their heart, the whole kindred of them together: Let us abolish all the festival days of God from the land.

9 We see no miraculous signs. There is no longer any prophet, neither is there amongst us anyone who knows how long.

Our signs we have not seen, there is now no prophet: and he will know us no more.

10 How long, God, shall the adversary reproach? Shall the enemy blaspheme your name forever?

How long, O God, shall the enemy reproach: is the adversary to provoke thy name for ever?

11 Why do you draw back your hand, even your right hand? Take it from your chest and consume them!

Why dost thou turn away thy hand: and thy right hand out of 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 before ages: he hath 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 by thy strength didst make the sea firm: thou didst crush the heads of the dragons in the waters.

14 You broke the heads of Leviathan in pieces. You gave him as food to people and desert creatures.

Thou hast broken the heads of the dragon: thou hast given him to be meat for the people of the Ethiopians.

15 You opened up spring and stream. You dried up mighty rivers.

Thou hast broken up the fountains and the torrents: thou hast dried up the Ethan rivers.

16 The day is yours, the night is also yours. You have prepared the light and the sun.

Thine is the day, and thine is the night: thou hast made the morning light and the sun.

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: the summer and the spring were formed by thee.

18 Remember this, that the enemy has mocked you, LORD. Foolish people have blasphemed your name.

Remember this, the enemy hath reproached the Lord: and a foolish people hath 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 up to beasts the souls that confess to thee: and forget not to the end the souls of thy poor.

20 Honour your covenant, for haunts of violence fill the dark places of the earth.

Have regard to thy covenant: for they that are the obscure of the earth have been filled with dwellings of iniquity.

21 Don’t let the oppressed return ashamed. Let the poor and needy praise your name.

Let not the humble be turned away with confusion: 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, judge thy own cause: remember thy reproaches with which the foolish man hath reproached thee 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 voices of thy enemies: the pride of them that hate thee ascendeth continually.