[A Psalm] of instruction for Asaph. 74:1
Wherefore hast thou rejected [us], O God, for ever? [wherefore] is thy wrath
kindled against the sheep of thy pasture?
74:2 Remember thy congregation which thou hast purchased from the beginning;
thou didst ransom the rod of thine inheritance; this mount Sion wherein thou
hast dwelt.
74:3 Lift up thine hands against their pride continually; [because of] all
that the enemy has done wickedly in thy holy places.
74:4 And they that hate thee have boasted in the midst of thy feast; they
have set up their standards for signs,
74:5 ignorantly as it were in the entrance above;
74:6 they cut down its doors at once with axes as in a wood of trees; they
have broken it down with hatchet and stone cutter.
74:7 They have burnt thy sanctuary with fire to the ground; they have
profaned the habitation of thy name.
74:8 They have said in their heart, [even] all their kindred together, Come,
let us abolish the feasts of the Lord from the earth.
74:9 We have not seen our signs; there is no longer a prophet; and [God]
will not know us any more.
74:10 How long, O God, shall the enemy reproach? shall the enemy provoke thy
name forever?
74:11 Wherefore turnest thou away thine hand, and thy right hand from the
midst of thy bosom for ever?
74:12 But God is our King of old; he has wrought salvation in the midst of
the earth.
74:13 Thou didst establish the sea, in thy might, thou didst break to pieces
the heads of the dragons in the water.
74:14 Thou didst break to pieces the heads of the dragon; thou didst give
him [for] meat to the Ethiopian nations.
74:15 Thou didst cleave fountains and torrents; thou driedst up mighty
rivers.
74:16 The day is thine, and the night is thine; thou hast prepared the sun
and the moon.
74:17 Thou hast made all the borders of the earth; thou hast made summer and
spring.
74:18 Remember this thy creation: an enemy has reproached the Lord, and a
foolish people has provoked thy name.
74:19 Deliver not to the wild beasts a soul that gives praise to thee:
forget not for ever the souls of thy poor.
74:20 Look upon thy covenant: for the dark [places] of the earth are filled
with the habitations of iniquity.
74:21 let not the afflicted and shamed one be rejected: the poor and needy
shall praise thy name.
74:22 Arise, O God, plead thy cause: remember thy reproaches that come from
the foolish one all the day.
74:23 Forget not the voice of thy suppliants: let the pride of them that
hate thee continually ascend before thee. |
Maschil of Asaph. 74:1 O God, why hast
thou cast us off for ever? why doth thine anger smoke against the sheep of
thy pasture?
74:2 Remember thy congregation, which thou hast purchased of old; the rod of
thine inheritance, which thou hast redeemed; this mount Zion, wherein thou
hast dwelt.
74:3 Lift up thy feet unto the perpetual desolations; even all that the
enemy hath done wickedly in the sanctuary.
74:4 Thine enemies roar in the midst of thy congregations; they set up their
ensigns for signs.
74:5 A man was famous according as he had lifted up axes upon the thick
trees.
74:6 But now they break down the carved work thereof at once with axes and
hammers.
74:7 They have cast fire into thy sanctuary, they have defiled by casting
down the dwelling place of thy name to the ground.
74:8 They said in their hearts, Let us destroy them together: they have
burned up all the synagogues of God in the land.
74:9 We see not our signs: there is no more any prophet: neither is there
among us any that knoweth how long.
74:10 O God, how long shall the adversary reproach? shall the enemy
blaspheme thy name for ever?
74:11 Why withdrawest thou thy hand, even thy right hand? pluck it out of
thy bosom.
74:12 For God is my King of old, working salvation in the midst of the
earth.
74:13 Thou didst divide the sea by thy strength: thou brakest the heads of
the dragons in the waters.
74:14 Thou brakest the heads of leviathan in pieces, and gavest him to be
meat to the people inhabiting the wilderness.
74:15 Thou didst cleave the fountain and the flood: thou driedst up mighty
rivers.
74:16 The day is thine, the night also is thine: thou hast prepared the
light and the sun.
74:17 Thou hast set all the borders of the earth: thou hast made summer and
winter.
74:18 Remember this, that the enemy hath reproached, O LORD, and that the
foolish people have blasphemed thy name.
74:19 O deliver not the soul of thy turtledove unto the multitude of the
wicked: forget not the congregation of thy poor for ever.
74:20 Have respect unto the covenant: for the dark places of the earth are
full of the habitations of cruelty.
74:21 O let not the oppressed return ashamed: let the poor and needy praise
thy name.
74:22 Arise, O God, plead thine own cause: remember how the foolish man
reproacheth thee daily.
74:23 Forget not the voice of thine enemies: the tumult of those that rise
up against thee increaseth continually. |