Psalms 74:1-10

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?

Psalms 80:12-16

12Why then have you ^zbroken down its walls,
so that all who pass along the way pluck its fruit?
13 ^aaThe boar from the forest ravages it,
and all that move in the field feed on it.
14 Turn again, O God of hosts!
^abLook down from heaven, and see;
have regard for this vine,
15the stock that your right hand planted,
and for the son whom you made strong for yourself.
16They have ^acburned it with fire; they have ^adcut it down;
may they perish at ^aethe rebuke of your face!

Lamentations 1:2-9

2 ^afShe weeps bitterly in the night,
with tears on her cheeks;
^agamong all her lovers
she has ^ahnone to comfort her;
^aiall her friends have dealt treacherously with her;
they have become her enemies.
3 ^ajJudah has gone into exile because of affliction
and hard servitude;
^akshe dwells now among the nations,
^albut finds no resting place;
her pursuers have all overtaken her
in the midst of her distress. ▼

▼Or  in the narrow passes

4 The roads to Zion mourn,
for none come to ^anthe festival;
^aoall her gates are desolate;
her priests ^apgroan;
her virgins have been afflicted, ▼

▼Septuagint, Old Latin dragged away

and she herself suffers bitterly.
5 ^arHer foes have become the head;
her ^asenemies prosper,
because ^atthe Lord has afflicted her
^aufor the multitude of her transgressions;
^avher children have gone away,
captives before the foe.
6 From the daughter of Zion
all her majesty has departed.
Her princes have become like deer
^awthat find no pasture;
they fled without strength
before the pursuer.
7 Jerusalem remembers
in the days of her affliction and wandering
^axall the precious things
that were hers from ^aydays of old.
When her people fell into the hand of the foe,
and there was none to help her,
her foes gloated over her;
they ^azmocked at her downfall.
8 ^baJerusalem sinned grievously;
therefore she became filthy;
all who honored her despise her,
^bbfor they have seen her nakedness;
she herself ^bcgroans
and turns her face away.
9 Her uncleanness was ^bdin her skirts;
^beshe took no thought of her future; ▼

▼Or end

therefore her fall is terrible;
^bgshe has no comforter.
“O Lord, behold my affliction,
for the enemy has ^bhtriumphed!”

Lamentations 4:12

12 ^biThe kings of the earth did not believe,
nor any of the inhabitants of the world,
that foe or enemy could enter
the gates of Jerusalem.