Psalms 74
74
Psalm 74
A maskil #74:0 Unknown musical term. by Asaph.
1Why, O God, have you rejected us forever?
Why does your anger
smolder against the sheep in your care?
2Remember your congregation.
Long ago you made it your own.
You bought this tribe to be your possession.
This tribe is Mount Zion, where you have made your home.
3Turn your steps toward these pathetic ruins.
The enemy has destroyed everything in the holy temple.
4Your opponents have roared inside your meeting place.
They have set up their own emblems as symbols.
5Starting from its entrance, they hacked away
like a woodcutter in a forest.
6They smashed all its carved paneling with axes and hatchets.
7They burned your holy place to the ground.
They dishonored the place where you live among us.
8They said to themselves, “We will crush them.”
They burned every meeting place of God in the land.
9We no longer see miraculous signs.
There are no prophets anymore.
No one knows how long this will last.
10How long, O God, will the enemy insult us?
Will the enemy despise you forever?
11Why do you hold back your hand, especially your right hand?
Take your hands out of your pockets.
Destroy your enemies!
12And yet, from long ago God has been my king,
the one who has been victorious throughout the earth.
13You stirred up the sea with your own strength.
You smashed the heads of sea monsters in the water.
14You crushed the heads of Leviathan
and gave them to the creatures of the desert for food.
15You opened the springs and brooks.
You dried up the ever-flowing rivers.
16The day and the night are yours.
You set the moon and the sun in their places.
17You determined all the boundaries of the earth.
You created summer and winter.
18Remember how the enemy insulted you, O Lord.
Remember how an entire nation of godless fools despised your name.
19Do not hand over the soul of your dove to wild animals.
Do not forget the life of your oppressed people forever.
20Consider your promise #74:20 Or “covenant.”
because every dark corner of the land is filled with violence.
21Do not let oppressed people come back in disgrace.
Let weak and needy people praise your name.
22Arise, O God!
Fight for your own cause!
Remember how godless fools insult you all day long.
23Do not forget the shouting of your opponents.
Do not forget the uproar made by those who attack you.
Currently Selected:
Psalms 74: GW
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
GOD'S WORD® Translation ©1995, 2003, 2013, 2014, 2019, 2020 by God's Word to the Nations Mission Society. All rights reserved.
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.
Currently Selected:
:
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc