Psalms 74

1 Of God, why have you put us away from you for ever? why is the fire of your wrath smoking against the sheep who are your care?

1 Why, OGod, hast thou cast off for ever? [why] doth thine anger smoke against the sheep of thy pasture?

2Keep in mind your band of worshippers, for whom you gave payment in the days which are past, whom you took for yourself as the people of your heritage; even this mountain of Zion, which has been your resting-place.

2 Remember thine assembly, which thou hast purchased of old, which thou hast redeemed [to be] the portion of thine inheritance, this mount Zion, wherein thou hast dwelt.

3Go up and see the unending destruction; all the evil which your haters have done in the holy place;

3 Lift up thy steps unto the perpetual desolations: everything in the sanctuary hath the enemy destroyed.

4Sending out their voices like lions among your worshippers; they have put up their signs to be seen.

4 Thine adversaries roar in the midst of thy place of assembly; they set up their signs [for] signs.

5They are cutting down, like a man whose blade is lifted up against the thick trees.

5 [A man] was known as he could lift up axes in the thicket of trees;

6Your doors are broken down with hammers and iron blades.

6 And now they break down its carved work altogether, with hatchets and hammers.

7They have put on fire your holy place; they have made the place of your name unclean, pulling it down to the earth.

7 They have set on fire thy sanctuary, they have profaned the habitation of thy name to the ground.

8They have said in their hearts, Let us put an end to them all together; they have given over to the fire all God's places of worship in the land.

8 They said in their heart, Let us destroy them together: they have burned up allGod's places of assembly in the land.

9We do not see our signs: there is no longer any prophet, or anyone among us to say how long.

9 We see not our signs; there is no more any prophet, neither is there among us any that knoweth how long.

10O God, how long will those who are against us say cruel things? will the hater go on looking down on your name for ever?

10 How long, OGod, shall the adversary reproach? Shall the enemy contemn thy name for ever?

11Why are you keeping back your hand, and covering your right hand in your robe?

11 Why withdrawest thou thy hand, and thy right hand? [pluck it] out of thy bosom: consume [them].

12For from the past God is my King, working salvation in the earth.

12 ButGod is my king of old, accomplishing deliverances in the midst of the earth.

13The sea was parted in two by your strength; the heads of the great sea-beasts were broken.

13 Thou didst divide the sea by thy strength; thou didst break the heads of the monsters on the waters:

14The heads of the great snake were crushed by you; you gave them as food to the fishes of the sea.

14 Thou didst break in pieces the heads of leviathan, thou gavest him to be meat to those that people the desert.

15You made valleys for fountains and springs; you made the ever-flowing rivers dry.

15 Thou didst cleave fountain and torrent, thou driedst up ever-flowing rivers.

16The day is yours and the night is yours: you made the light and the sun.

16 The day is thine, the night also is thine; thou hast prepared the moon and the sun:

17By you all the limits of the earth were fixed; you have made summer and winter.

17 Thou hast set all the borders of the earth; summer and winter — thou didst form them.

18Keep this in mind, O Lord, that your haters have said cruel things, and that your name has been looked down on by a people of evil behaviour.

18 Remember this, that an enemy hath reproached Jehovah, and a foolish people have contemned thy name.

19O give not the soul of your dove to the hawk; let not the life of the poor go out of your memory for ever.

19 Give not up the soul of thy turtle-dove unto the wild beast; forget not the troop of thine afflicted for ever.

20Keep in mind your undertaking; for the dark places of the earth are full of pride and cruel acts.

20 Have respect unto the covenant; for the dark places of the earth are full of the dwellings of violence.

21O let not the crushed be turned back in shame; let the low man and the poor give praise to your name.

21 Oh let not the oppressed one return ashamed; let the afflicted and needy praise thy name.

22Up! O God, be the judge of your cause; keep in mind the bitter things which the man of evil behaviour says against you every day.

22 Rise up, OGod, plead thine own cause: remember how the foolish man reproacheth thee all the day;

23Keep in mind the voice of your haters; the outcry of those who come against you goes up every day.

23 Forget not the voice of thine adversaries: the tumult of those that rise up against thee ascendeth continually.