Psalm 74

An Instruction of Asaph.

1. O God, why have You cast us off forever? Why does Your anger smoke against the sheep of Your pasture?

2. Remember Your congregation, which You have purchased of old, the rod of Your inheritance which You have redeemed; this Mount Zion in which You have dwelt.

3. Lift up Your feet unto the perpetual ruins; all this destruction the enemy has done in the sanctuary.

4. Your enemies roar in the midst of Your congregation; they set up their own banners for signs.

5. They seem like men who lifted up their axes against the thick trees.

6. With axes and hammers, they strike down all its carved idols at once.

7. They burned Your sanctuary to the ground; they defiled the dwelling place of Your name.

8. They said in their hearts, “Together let us rage against them;” they have burned up all God’s meeting places in the land.

9. We did not see our signs; there is no longer any prophet; neither is there among us any who knows how long.

10. O God, how long shall the adversary speak evil? Shall the enemy blaspheme Your name forever?

11. Why do You withdraw Your hand, even Your right hand? Draw it out of Your bosom and consume them,

12. For God is my King of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth,

13. You divide the sea by Your strength; You break the heads of the sea monsters in the waters.

14. You crushed the heads of leviathan in pieces, and gave him to be food to the people living in the wilderness.

15. You break open the fountain and the flood; You dry up mighty rivers.

16. The day is Yours, the night also is Yours; You have established the light and the sun.

17. You have set all the boundaries of the earth; You have made summer and winter.

18. Remember this—that the enemy has reproached, O LORD, and the foolish people have blasphemed Your name.

19. O deliver not the life of Your turtledove unto the wild beasts; forget not the lives of Your afflicted people forever.

20. Have respect unto the covenant; for the dark places of the earth are full of the houses of cruelty.

21. Oh, let not the oppressed ones return ashamed; let the poor and needy praise Your name.

22. Arise, O God, plead Your own cause; remember how the foolish man reproaches You daily.

23. Forget not the voice of Your enemies; the noise of those who rise up against You increases continually.