NRSV Psalms 74 Chapter
74:1
O God, why do you cast us off forever? Why does your anger smoke against the sheep of your pasture?
74:2
Remember your congregation, which you acquired long ago, which you redeemed to be the tribe of your heritage. Remember Mount Zion, where you came to dwell.
74:3
Direct your steps to the perpetual ruins; the enemy has destroyed everything in the sanctuary.
74:4
Your foes have roared within your holy place; they set up their emblems there.
74:5
At the upper entrance they hacked the wooden trellis with axes.
74:6
And then, with hatchets and hammers, they smashed all its carved work.
74:7
They set your sanctuary on fire; they desecrated the dwelling place of your name, bringing it to the ground.
74:8
They said to themselves, "We will utterly subdue them"; they burned all the meeting places of God in the land.
74:9
We do not see our emblems; there is no longer any prophet, and there is no one among us who knows how long.
74:10
How long, O God, is the foe to scoff? Is the enemy to revile your name forever?
74:11
Why do you hold back your hand; why do you keep your hand in your bosom?
74:12
Yet God my King is from of old, working salvation in the earth.
74:13
You divided the sea by your might; you broke the heads of the dragons in the waters.
74:14
You crushed the heads of Leviathan; you gave him as food for the creatures of the wilderness.
74:15
You cut openings for springs and torrents; you dried up ever-flowing streams.
74:16
Yours is the day, yours also the night; you established the luminaries and the sun.
74:17
You have fixed all the bounds of the earth; you made summer and winter.
74:18
Remember this, O LORD, how the enemy scoffs, and an impious people reviles your name.
74:19
Do not deliver the soul of your dove to the wild animals; do not forget the life of your poor forever.
74:20
Have regard for your covenant, for the dark places of the land are full of the haunts of violence.
74:21
Do not let the downtrodden be put to shame; let the poor and needy praise your name.
74:22
Rise up, O God, plead your cause; remember how the impious scoff at you all day long.
74:23
Do not forget the clamor of your foes, the uproar of your adversaries that goes up continually.