Psalm 74
1 O God, why hast thou cast us off for ever? why doth thine anger
smoke against the sheep of thy pasture?
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.
3 Lift up thy feet unto the perpetual desolations; even all that
the enemy hath done wickedly in the sanctuary.
4 Thine enemies roar in the midst of thy congregations; they set up
their ensigns for signs.
5 A man was famous according as he had lifted up axes upon the
thick trees.
6 But now they break down the carved work thereof at once with axes
and hammers.
7 They have cast fire into thy sanctuary, they have defiled by
casting down the dwelling place of thy name to the ground.
8 They said in their hearts, Let us destroy them together: they
have burned up all the synagogues of God in the land.
9 We see not our signs: there is no more any prophet: neither is
there among us any that knoweth how long.
10 O God, how long shall the adversary reproach? shall the enemy
blaspheme thy name for ever?
11 Why withdrawest thou thy hand, even thy right hand? pluck it out
of thy bosom.
12 For God is my King of old, working salvation in the midst of the
earth.
13 Thou didst divide the sea by thy strength: thou brakest the
heads of the dragons in the waters.
14 Thou brakest the heads of leviathan in pieces, and gavest him to
be meat to the people inhabiting the wilderness.
15 Thou didst cleave the fountain and the flood: thou driedst up
mighty rivers.
16 The day is thine, the night also is thine: thou hast prepared
the light and the sun.
17 Thou hast set all the borders of the earth: thou hast made
summer and winter.
18 Remember this, that the enemy hath reproached, O LORD, and that
the foolish people have blasphemed thy name.
19 O deliver not the soul of thy turtledove unto the multitude of
the wicked: forget not the congregation of thy poor for ever.
20 Have respect unto the covenant: for the dark places of the earth
are full of the habitations of cruelty.
21 O let not the oppressed return ashamed: let the poor and needy
praise thy name.
22 Arise, O God, plead thine own cause: remember how the foolish
man reproacheth thee daily.
23 Forget not the voice of thine enemies: the tumult of those that
rise up against thee increaseth continually.
