Psalms 74
74
Intercession for Restoration of Zion
1A contemplative song of Asaph. Why have You cast us off forever, O God? Why does Your anger smolder against the flock of Your pasture?
2Remember Your congregation, which You purchased of old, redeemed as the tribe of Your inheritance, and Mount Zion, where You dwelt.
3Lift Your steps toward the perpetual ruins— an enemy has done all evil to the Sanctuary!
4Your adversaries have roared in the midst of Your meeting place. They have set up their standards as signs.
5It seemed like bringing up axes into a thicket of trees—
6and now all its carved work they smash with hatchet and hammers!
7They set Your Sanctuary on fire, burning it to the ground. They defiled the dwelling place of Your Name.
8They said in their hearts: “Let us crush them totally!” They burned down all the meeting places of God in the land.
9We do not see our signs. No longer is there any prophet— and no one among us knows how long.
10How long, O God, will the adversary mock? Will the enemy revile Your Name forever?
11Why do You hold back Your hand, Your right hand? Draw it out of Your bosom and consume them!
12Yet God is my King of old, working salvation in the midst of the land.
13You split the sea with Your power. You smashed the monsters’ heads in the waters.
14You crushed the heads of Leviathan, giving him as food to the desert dwellers.
15You opened up spring and brook. You dried up ever-flowing rivers.
16The day is Yours, the night also is Yours. You provided moon and sun.
17You set all the borders of earth. You made summer and winter.
18Remember how the enemy mocked, Adonai, and how foolish people despised Your Name.
19Do not deliver Your turtledove’s soul to the wild beast. Do not forget the life of Your afflicted ones forever.
20Look upon the covenant— for haunts of violence fill the dark places of earth.
21Do not let the oppressed turn back in shame. But let the poor and needy praise Your Name.
22Rise up O God, and defend Your cause. Remember how the fool mocks You all day.
23Do not forget the noise of Your foes, the uproar of those rising up against You, ascending continually.
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Copyright © 2014 - Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society
Psalms 74
74
Prayer at the Destruction of the Temple
1A maskil of Asaph.
I
Why, God, have you cast us off forever?#Forever: the word implies that the disaster is already of long duration, cf. Ps 74:9 and note.#Ps 10:1; 44:24; 77:8.
Why does your anger burn against the sheep of your pasture?#Ps 80:5.
2Remember your people, whom you acquired of old,
the tribe you redeemed as your own heritage,
Mount Zion where you dwell.#Ps 68:17; 132:13; Ex 15:17; Jer 10:16; 51:19.
3Direct your steps toward the utter destruction,
everything the enemy laid waste in the sanctuary.
4Your foes roared triumphantly in the place of your assembly;
they set up their own tokens of victory.
5They hacked away like a forester gathering boughs,
swinging his ax in a thicket of trees.
6They smashed all its engraved work,
struck it with ax and pick.
7They set your sanctuary on fire,
profaned your name’s abode by razing it to the ground.#Ps 79:1; Is 64:10.
8They said in their hearts, “We will destroy them all!
Burn all the assembly-places of God in the land!”
9#Even so we have seen no signs… : ancients often asked prophets to say for how long a divine punishment was to last, cf. 2 Sm 24:13. Here no prophet has arisen to indicate the duration.Even so we have seen no signs for us,
there is no prophet any more,#Lam 2:9.
no one among us who knows for how long.
10How long, O God, will the enemy jeer?#Ps 89:47.
Will the enemy revile your name forever?
11Why draw back your hand,
why hold back your right hand within your bosom?#Why hold back…within your bosom: i.e., idle beneath your cloak.
II
12#Comparable Canaanite literature describes the storm-god’s victory over all-encompassing Sea and its allies (dragons and Leviathan) and the subsequent peaceful arrangement of the universe, sometimes through the placement of paired cosmic elements (day and night, sun and moon), cf. Ps 89:12–13. The Psalm apparently equates the enemies attacking the Temple with the destructive cosmic forces already tamed by God. Why then are those forces now raging untamed against your own people?Yet you, God, are my king from of old,
winning victories throughout the earth.
13You stirred up the sea by your might;#Ps 89:10.
you smashed the heads of the dragons on the waters.#Is 51:9–10.
14You crushed the heads of Leviathan,#Jb 3:8; 40:25; Is 27:1.
gave him as food to the sharks.
15You opened up springs and torrents,
brought dry land out of the primeval waters.#Waters: lit., “rivers” (cf. Ps 24:7; Is 50:2) upon which, or from which, in primordial times the earth is created.
16Yours the day and yours the night too;
you set the moon and sun in place.
17You fixed all the limits of the earth;
summer and winter you made.#Gn 1.
18Remember how the enemy has jeered, Lord,
how a foolish people has reviled your name.
19Do not surrender to wild animals those who praise you;
do not forget forever the life of your afflicted.
20Look to your covenant,
for the recesses of the land
are full of the haunts of violence.
21Let not the oppressed turn back in shame;
may the poor and needy praise your name.
22Arise, God, defend your cause;
remember the constant jeering of the fools.
23Do not forget the clamor of your foes,
the unceasing uproar of your enemies.
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