Psalms, 74

0.

0. A Maskil of Asaph.

1. [Poem Of Asaph] God, why have you finally rejected us, your anger blazing against the flock you used to pasture?

1. O God, why dost thou cast us off for ever? Why does thy anger smoke against the sheep of thy pasture?

2. Remember the people you took to yourself long ago, your own tribe which you redeemed, and this Mount Zion where you came to live.

2. Remember thy congregation, which thou hast gotten of old, which thou hast redeemed to be the tribe of thy heritage! Remember Mount Zion, where thou hast dwelt.

3. Come up to these endless ruins! The enemy have sacked everything in the sanctuary;

3. Direct thy steps to the perpetual ruins; the enemy has destroyed everything in the sanctuary!

4. your opponents made uproar in the place of assemblies, they fixed their emblems over the entrance, emblems

4. Thy foes have roared in the midst of thy holy place; they set up their own signs for signs.

5. never known before. Their axes deep in the wood,

5. At the upper entrance they hacked the wooden trellis with axes.

6. hacking at the panels, they battered them down with axe and pick;

6. And then all its carved wood they broke down with hatchets and hammers.

7. they set fire to your sanctuary, profanely rased to the ground the dwelling-place of your name.

7. They set thy sanctuary on fire; to the ground they desecrated the dwelling place of thy name.

8. They said to themselves, 'Let us crush them at one stroke!' They burned down every sacred shrine in the land.

8. They said to themselves, "We will utterly subdue them"; they burned all the meeting places of God in the land.

9. We see no signs, no prophet any more, and none of us knows how long it will last.

9. We do not see our signs; there is no longer any prophet, and there is none among us who knows how long.

10. How much longer, God, will the enemy blaspheme? Is the enemy to insult your name for ever?

10. How long, O God, is the foe to scoff? Is the enemy to revile thy name for ever?

11. Why hold back your hand, keep your right hand hidden in the folds of your robe?

11. Why dost thou hold back thy hand, why dost thou keep thy right hand in thy bosom?

12. Yet, God, my king from the first, author of saving acts throughout the earth,

12. Yet God my King is from of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth.

13. by your power you split the sea in two, and smashed the heads of the monsters on the waters.

13. Thou didst divide the sea by thy might; thou didst break the heads of the dragons on the waters.

14. You crushed Leviathan's heads, gave him as food to the wild animals.

14. Thou didst crush the heads of Leviathan, thou didst give him as food for the creatures of the wilderness.

15. You released the springs and brooks, and turned primordial rivers into dry land.

15. Thou didst cleave open springs and brooks; thou didst dry up ever-flowing streams.

16. Yours is the day and yours the night, you caused sun and light to exist,

16. Thine is the day, thine also the night; thou hast established the luminaries and the sun.

17. you fixed all the boundaries of the earth, you created summer and winter.

17. Thou hast fixed all the bounds of the earth; thou hast made summer and winter.

18. Remember, Yahweh, the enemy's blasphemy, a foolish people insults your name.

18. Remember this, O LORD, how the enemy scoffs, and an impious people reviles thy name.

19. Do not surrender your turtledove to the beast; do not forget for ever the life of your oppressed people.

19. Do not deliver the soul of thy dove to the wild beasts; do not forget the life of thy poor for ever.

20. Look to the covenant! All the hiding-places of the land are full, haunts of violence.

20. Have regard for thy covenant; for the dark places of the land are full of the habitations of violence.

21. Do not let the downtrodden retreat in confusion, give the poor and needy cause to praise your name.

21. Let not the downtrodden be put to shame; let the poor and needy praise thy name.

22. Arise, God, champion your own cause, remember how fools blaspheme you all day long!

22. Arise, O God, plead thy cause; remember how the impious scoff at thee all the day!

23. Do not forget the shouting of your enemies, the ever-mounting uproar of your adversaries.

23. Do not forget the clamor of thy foes, the uproar of thy adversaries which goes up continually!