Psalm 74
74
An Appeal to God against the Enemy
Maschil of Asaph.
1O God, why hast thou cast us off for ever?
Why doth thine anger smoke against the sheep of thy pasture?
2Remember thy congregation,
which thou hast purchased of old;
the rod of thine inheritance,
which thou hast redeemed;
this mount Zion,
wherein thou hast dwelt.
3Lift up thy feet unto the perpetual desolations;
even all that the enemy hath done wickedly in the sanctuary.
4Thine enemies roar in the midst of thy congregations;
they set up their ensigns for signs.
5 A man was famous according as he had lifted up axes upon the thick trees.
6But now they break down the carved work thereof at once with axes and hammers.
7They have cast fire into thy sanctuary,
they have defiled by casting down the dwelling place of thy name to the ground.
8They said in their hearts, Let us destroy them together:
they have burned up all the synagogues of God in the land.
9We see not our signs:
there is no more any prophet:
neither is there among us any that knoweth how long.
10O God, how long shall the adversary reproach?
Shall the enemy blaspheme thy name for ever?
11Why withdrawest thou thy hand, even thy right hand?
Pluck it out of thy bosom.
12For God is my King of old,
working salvation in the midst of the earth.
13 #
Exod 14.21. Thou didst divide the sea by thy strength:
thou brakest the heads of the dragons in the waters.
14 #
Job 41.1; Ps 104.26; Isa 27.1. Thou brakest the heads of leviathan in pieces,
and gavest him to be meat to the people inhabiting the wilderness.
15Thou didst cleave the fountain and the flood:
thou driedst up mighty rivers.
16The day is thine, the night also is thine:
thou hast prepared the light and the sun.
17Thou hast set all the borders of the earth:
thou hast made summer and winter.
18Remember this, that the enemy hath reproached, O Lord,
and that the foolish people have blasphemed thy name.
19O deliver not the soul of thy turtledove unto the multitude of the wicked:
forget not the congregation of thy poor for ever.
20Have respect unto the covenant:
for the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty.
21O let not the oppressed return ashamed:
let the poor and needy praise thy name.
22Arise, O God, plead thine own cause:
remember how the foolish man reproacheth thee daily.
23Forget not the voice of thine enemies:
the tumult of those that rise up against thee increaseth continually.
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Psalm 74: KJVAAE
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King James Version 1611, spelling, punctuation and text formatting modernized by ABS in 1962; typesetting © 2010 American 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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