Psalms74

¹A Maskil of Asaph . O God , why do you cast us off forever ? Why does your anger smoke against the sheep of your pasture ?

²Remember your congregation , which you have purchased of old , which you have redeemed to be the tribe of your heritage ! Remember Mount Zion , where you have dwelt .

³Direct your steps to the perpetual ruins ; the enemy has destroyed everything in the sanctuary !

⁴Your foes have roared in the midst of your meeting place ; they set up their own signs for signs .

⁵They were like those who swing axes in a forest of trees .

⁶And all its carved wood they broke down with hatchets and hammers .

⁷They set your sanctuary on fire ; they profaned the dwelling place of your name , bringing it down to the ground .

⁸They said to themselves , We will utterly subdue them; they burned all the meeting places of God in the land .

⁹We do not see our signs ; there is no longer any prophet , and there is none among us who knows how long .

¹⁰How long , O God , is the foe to scoff ? Is the enemy to revile your name forever ?

¹¹Why do you hold back your hand , your right hand ? Take it from the fold of your garment and destroy them!

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

¹³You divided the sea by your might ; you broke the heads of the sea monsters on the waters .

¹⁴You crushed the heads of Leviathan ; you gave him as food for the creatures of the wilderness .

¹⁵You split open springs and brooks ; you dried up ever-flowing streams .

¹⁶Yours is the day , yours also the night ; you have established the heavenly lights and the sun .

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

¹⁸Remember this , O Lord, how the enemy scoffs , and a foolish people reviles your name .

¹⁹Do not deliver the soul of your dove to the wild beasts ; do not forget the life of your poor forever .

²⁰Have regard for the covenant , for the dark places of the land are full of the habitations of violence .

²¹Let not the downtrodden turn back in shame ; let the poor and needy praise your name .

²²Arise , O God , defend your cause ; remember how the foolish scoff at you all the day !

²³Do not forget the clamor of your foes , the uproar of those who rise against you, which goes up continually !