Psalms 74

Arise, O God, Defend Your Cause

A Maskil ▼
▼ Probably a musical or liturgical term
 of b Asaph.

1  O God, why do you c cast us off forever?
Why does your anger d smoke against e the sheep of your pasture?
 2  f Remember your congregation, which you have g purchased of old,
which you have h redeemed to be i the tribe of your heritage!
Remember Mount Zion j where you have dwelt.
 3 Direct your steps to k the perpetual ruins;
the enemy has destroyed everything in the sanctuary!
 4  Your foes have l roared in the midst of your meeting place;
m they set up their n own signs for o signs.
 5 They were like those who swing p axes
in a forest of trees. ▼
▼ The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain

 6 And all its r carved wood
they broke down with hatchets and hammers.
 7 They s set your sanctuary on fire;
they t profaned u the dwelling place of your name,
bringing it down to the ground.
 8 They v said to themselves, “We will utterly subdue them”;
they burned all the meeting places of God in the land.
 9  We do not see our w signs;
x there is no longer any prophet,
and there is none among us who knows how long.
 10 How long, O God y is the foe to scoff?
Is the enemy to revile your name forever?
 11 Why z do you hold back your hand, your right hand?
Take it from the fold of your garment ▼
▼ Hebrew  from your bosom
 and destroy them!
 12  Yet ab God my King is from of old,
working salvation in the midst of the earth.
 13 You ac divided the sea by your might;
you ad broke the heads of ae the sea monsters ▼
▼ Or  the great sea creatures
 on the waters.
 14 You crushed the heads of ag Leviathan;
you gave him as food for the creatures of the wilderness.
 15 You ah split open springs and brooks;
you ai dried up ever-flowing streams.
 16 Yours is the day, yours also the night;
you have established aj the heavenly lights and the sun.
 17 You have ak fixed all the boundaries of the earth;
you have made al summer and winter.
 18  am Remember this, O  Lord, how the enemy scoffs,
and an a foolish people reviles your name.
 19 Do not deliver the soul of your ao dove to the wild beasts;
ap do not forget the life of your poor forever.
 20  Have regard for aq the covenant,
for ar the dark places of the land are full of the habitations of violence.
 21 Let not as the downtrodden at turn back in shame;
let au the poor and needy praise your name.
 22  Arise, O God, av defend your cause;
aw remember how the foolish scoff at you all the day!
 23 Do not forget the clamor of your foes,
ax the uproar of those who rise against you, which goes up continually!
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