Psalm 74:1-23
A masʹkil.* Of Aʹsaph.+
74 Why, O God, have you rejected us forever?+
Why does your anger burn* against the flock of your pasture?+
2 Remember the people* you acquired long ago,+The tribe you redeemed as your inheritance.+
Remember Mount Zion, where you have resided.+
3 Direct your steps to the perpetual ruins.+
The enemy has devastated everything in the holy place.+
4 Your foes roared inside your meeting place.*+
They have set up their own banners as signs there.
5 They were like men wielding axes against a thick forest.
6 They broke up all its engravings+ with axes and iron bars.
7 They set your sanctuary on fire.+
They profaned the tabernacle bearing your name, casting it to the ground.
8 They and their offspring have said in their hearts:
“All the meeting places of God* in the land must be burned.”
9 There are no signs for us to see;There is no longer any prophet,And no one among us knows how long this will last.
10 How long, O God, will the adversary keep taunting?+
Will the enemy treat your name with disrespect forever?+
11 Why do you hold back your hand, your right hand?+
Draw it out of your bosom* and put an end to them.
12 But God is my King from long ago,The one performing acts of salvation on the earth.+
13 You stirred up the sea with your strength;+You smashed the heads of the sea monsters in the waters.
14 You crushed the heads of Le·viʹa·than;*You gave it as food to the people, to those inhabiting the deserts.
15 You cut openings for the springs and the streams;+You dried up ever-flowing rivers.+
16 The day belongs to you, also the night.
You made the light* and the sun.+
17 You set up all the boundaries of the earth;+You made summer and winter.+
18 Remember the enemy’s taunts, O Jehovah,How a foolish people treats your name with disrespect.+
19 Do not surrender the life* of your turtledove to the wild beasts.
Do not forget the life of your afflicted people forever.
20 Remember the covenant,For the dark places of the earth have become full of the haunts of violence.
21 May the crushed one not turn away disappointed;+May the lowly and the poor praise your name.+
22 Rise up, O God, and plead your legal case.
Remember how the foolish taunt you all day long.+
23 Do not forget what your foes are saying.
The uproar of those who defy you is ascending constantly.
Footnotes
^ Lit., “smoke.”
^ Lit., “your assembly.”
^ Or “your place of assembly.”
^ Or “All places where God is worshipped.”
^ Or “from the folds of your garment.”
^ Or “the luminary.”
^ Or “soul.”