Psalm 74

Psalm 74

A maskil^aby Asaph. 

¹Why, O God, have you rejected us forever? 

Why does your anger 

smolder against the sheep in your care? 

²Remember your congregation. 

Long ago you made it your own. 

You bought this tribe to be your possession. 

This tribe is Mount Zion, where you have made your home. 

³Turn your steps towardthese pathetic ruins. 

The enemy has destroyed everything in the holy temple. 

⁴Your opponents have roared inside your meeting place. 

They have set up their own emblems as symbols. 

⁵Starting from its entrance, they hacked away 

like a woodcutter in a forest. 

⁶They smashed all its carved paneling with axes and hatchets. 

⁷They burned your holy place to the ground. 

They dishonored the place where you live among us. 

⁸They said to themselves, “We will crush them.” 

They burned every meeting place of God in the land. 

⁹We no longer see miraculous signs. 

There are no prophets anymore. 

No one knows how long this will last. 

¹⁰How long, O God, will the enemy insult us? 

Will the enemy despise you forever? 

¹¹Why do you hold back your hand, especially your right hand? 

Take your hands out of your pockets. 

Destroy your enemies! 

¹²And yet, from long ago God has been my king, 

the one who has been victorious throughout the earth. 

¹³You stirred up the sea with your own strength. 

You smashed the heads of sea monsters in the water. 

¹⁴You crushed the heads of Leviathan 

and gave them to the creatures of the desert for food. 

¹⁵You opened the springs and brooks. 

You dried up the ever-flowing rivers. 

¹⁶The day and the night are yours. 

You set the moon and the sun in their places. 

¹⁷You determined all the boundaries of the earth. 

You created summer and winter. 

¹⁸Remember how the enemy insulted you, O Lord. 

Remember how an entire nation of godless fools despised your name. 

¹⁹Do not hand over the soul of your dove to wild animals. 

Do not forget the life of your oppressed people forever. 

²⁰Consider your promise^f

because every dark corner of the land is filled with violence. 

²¹Do not let oppressed people come back in disgrace. 

Let weak and needy people praise your name. 

²²Arise, O God! 

Fight for your own cause! 

Remember how godless fools insult you all day long. 

²³Do not forget the shouting of your opponents. 

Do not forget the uproar made by those who attack you.