Psalm 74

Psalm 74

A Contemplation of Asaph.

¹O God, why have You cast us off forever?

Why does Your anger smoke against the sheep of Your pasture?

²Remember Your congregation, which You have purchased of old,

The tribe of Your inheritance, which You have redeemed—

This Mount Zion where You have dwelt.

³Lift up Your feet to the perpetual desolations.

The enemy has damaged everything in the sanctuary.

^4aYour enemies roar in the midst of Your meeting place;

^bThey set up their banners for signs.

⁵They seem like men who lift up

Axes among the thick trees.

⁶And now they break down its carved work, all at once,

With axes and hammers.

⁷They have set fire to Your sanctuary;

They have defiled the dwelling place of Your name to the ground.

^8cThey said in their hearts,

“Let us ²destroy them altogether.”

They have burned up all the meeting places of God in the land.

⁹We do not see our signs;

^dThere is no longer any prophet;

Nor is there any among us who knows how long.

¹⁰O God, how long will the adversary ³reproach?

Will the enemy blaspheme Your name forever?

^11eWhy do You withdraw Your hand, even Your right hand?

Take it out of Your bosom and destroy them.

¹²For ^fGod is my King from of old,

Working salvation in the midst of the earth.

^13gYou divided the sea by Your strength;

You broke the heads of the ⁴sea serpents in the waters.

¹⁴You broke the heads of ⁵Leviathan in pieces,

And gave him as food to the people inhabiting the wilderness.

^15hYou broke open the fountain and the flood;

ⁱYou dried up mighty rivers.

¹⁶The day is Yours, the night also is ^jYours;

^kYou have prepared the light and the sun.

¹⁷You have ^lset all the borders of the earth;

^mYou have made summer and winter.

¹⁸Remember this, that the enemy has reproached, O Lord,

And that a foolish people has blasphemed Your name.

¹⁹Oh, do not deliver the life of Your turtledove to the wild beast!

Do not forget the life of Your poor forever.

²⁰ⁿHave respect to the covenant;

For the ⁶dark places of the earth are full of the ⁷haunts of ⁸cruelty.

²¹Oh, do not let the oppressed return ashamed!

Let the poor and needy praise Your name.

²²Arise, O God, plead Your own cause;

Remember how the foolish man ⁹reproaches You daily.

²³Do not forget the voice of Your enemies;

The tumult of those who rise up against You increases continually.