74:1 O GOD, why do You cast us off forever? Why does Your anger burn {and} smoke against the sheep of Your pasture? |
74:2 [Earnestly] remember Your congregation which You have acquired of old, which You have redeemed to be the tribe of Your heritage; remember Mount Zion, where You have dwelt. |
74:3 Direct Your feet [quickly] to the perpetual ruins {and} desolations; the foe has devastated {and} desecrated everything in the sanctuary. |
74:4 In the midst of Your Holy Place Your enemies have roared [with their battle cry]; they set up their own [idol] emblems for signs [of victory]. |
74:5 They seemed like men who lifted up axes upon a thicket of trees to make themselves a record. |
74:6 And then all the carved wood of the Holy Place they broke down with hatchets and hammers. |
74:7 They have set Your sanctuary on fire; they have profaned the dwelling place of Your Name by casting it to the ground. |
74:8 They said in their hearts, Let us make havoc [of such places] altogether. They have burned up all God's meetinghouses in the land. |
74:9 We do not see our symbols; there is no longer any prophet, neither does any among us know for how long. |
74:10 O God, how long is the adversary to scoff {and} reproach? Is the enemy to blaspheme {and} revile Your name forever? |
74:11 Why do You hold back Your hand, even Your right hand? Draw it out of Your bosom {and} consume them [make an end of them]! |
74:12 Yet God is my King of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth. |
74:13 You did divide the [Red] Sea by Your might; You broke the heads of the [Egyptian] dragons in the waters. |
74:14 You crushed the heads of Leviathan (Egypt); You did give him as food for the creatures inhabiting the wilderness. |
74:15 You did cleave open [the rock bringing forth] fountains and streams; You dried up mighty, ever-flowing rivers (the Jordan). |
74:16 The day is Yours, the night also is Yours; You have established the [starry] light and the sun. |
74:17 You have fixed all the borders of the earth [the divisions of land and sea and of the nations]; You have made summer and winter. [Acts17:26.] |
74:18 [Earnestly] remember how the enemy has scoffed, O Lord, {and} reproached You, and how a foolish {and} impious people has blasphemed Your name. |
74:19 Oh, do not deliver the life of your turtledove to the wild beast (to the greedy multitude); forget not the life [of the multitude] of Your poor forever. |
74:20 Have regard for the covenant [You made with Abraham], for the dark places of the land are full of the habitations of violence. |
74:21 Oh, let not the downtrodden return in shame; let the oppressed and needy praise Your name. |
74:22 Arise, O God, plead Your own cause; remember [earnestly] how the foolish {and} impious man scoffs {and} reproaches You day after day {and} all day long. |
74:23 Do not forget the [clamoring] voices of Your adversaries, the tumult of those who rise up against You, which ascends continually. |