Psalms 74

ISV(i) 1 An instruction of Asaph
A Plea for Deliverance Why, God? Have you rejected us forever? Your anger is burning against the sheep of your pasture. 2 Remember your community, whom you purchased long ago, the tribe whom you redeemed for your possession. Remember Mount Zion, where you live. 3 Hurry! Look at the permanent ruins— every calamity the enemy brought upon the Holy Place. 4 Those who are opposing you roar where we were meeting with you; they unfurl their war banners as signs. 5 As one blazes a trail through a forest with an ax, 6 now they’re tearing down all its carved work with hatchets and hammers. 7 They burned your sanctuary to the ground, desecrating your dwelling place. 8 They say to themselves, “We’ll crush them completely;” They burned down all the meeting places of God in the land. 9 We see no signs for us; there is no longer a prophet, and no one among us knows the future. 10 God, how long will the adversary scorn while the enemy despises your name endlessly? 11 Why do you not withdraw your hand— your right hand—from your bosom and destroy them? 12 But God is my king from ancient times, who brings acts of deliverance throughout the earth. 13 You split the sea by your own power. You shattered the heads of sea monsters in the water. 14 You crushed the heads of Leviathan. You set it as food for desert creatures. 15 You opened both the spring and the river; you dried up flowing rivers. 16 Yours is the day, and yours is the night; you established the moon and the sun. 17 You set all the boundaries of the earth; you made summer and winter. 18 Remember this: The enemy scorns the LORD and a foolish people despises your name. 19 Don’t hand over the life of your dove to beasts; do not continuously forget your afflicted ones. 20 Pay attention to your covenant, for the dark regions of the earth are full of violence. 21 Don’t let the oppressed return in humiliation. The poor and needy will praise your name. 22 Get up, God, and prosecute your case— remember that you’re being scorned by fools all day long. 23 Don’t ignore the shout of those opposing you, The uproar of those who rebel against you continuously.