Psalms 74

Arise, O God, Defend Your Cause

A Maskil
Probably a musical or liturgical term
of bAsaph.

1 O God, why do you ccast us off forever?
Why does your anger dsmoke against ethe sheep of your pasture?
2 fRemember your congregation, which you have gpurchased of old,
which you have hredeemed to be ithe tribe of your heritage!
Remember Mount Zion, jwhere you have dwelt.
3Direct your steps to kthe perpetual ruins;
the enemy has destroyed everything in the sanctuary!
4 Your foes have lroared in the midst of your meeting place;
mthey set up their nown signs for osigns.
5They were like those who swing paxes
in a forest of trees.
The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain

6And all its rcarved wood
they broke down with hatchets and hammers.
7They sset your sanctuary on fire;
they tprofaned uthe dwelling place of your name,
bringing it down to the ground.
8They vsaid to themselves, “We will utterly subdue them”;
they burned all the meeting places of God in the land.
9 We do not see our wsigns;
xthere is no longer any prophet,
and there is none among us who knows how long.
10How long, O God, yis the foe to scoff?
Is the enemy to revile your name forever?
11Why zdo you hold back your hand, your right hand?
Take it from the fold of your garment
Hebrew  from your bosom
and destroy them!
12 Yet abGod my King is from of old,
working salvation in the midst of the earth.
13You acdivided the sea by your might;
you adbroke the heads of aethe sea monsters
Or  the great sea creatures
on the waters.
14You crushed the heads of agLeviathan;
you gave him as food for the creatures of the wilderness.
15You ahsplit open springs and brooks;
you aidried up ever-flowing streams.
16Yours is the day, yours also the night;
you have established ajthe heavenly lights and the sun.
17You have akfixed all the boundaries of the earth;
you have made alsummer and winter.
18 amRemember this, O Lord, how the enemy scoffs,
and ana foolish people reviles your name.
19Do not deliver the soul of your aodove to the wild beasts;
apdo not forget the life of your poor forever.
20 Have regard for aqthe covenant,
for arthe dark places of the land are full of the habitations of violence.
21Let not asthe downtrodden atturn back in shame;
let authe poor and needy praise your name.
22 Arise, O God, avdefend your cause;
awremember how the foolish scoff at you all the day!
23Do not forget the clamor of your foes,
axthe uproar of those who rise against you, which goes up continually!
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