Psalm 74

¹O God, why have you utterly cast us off? *why is your wrath so hot against the sheep of your pasture?

²Remember your congregation that you purchased long ago, *the tribe you redeemed to be your inheritance, and Mount Zion where you dwell.

³Turn your steps toward the endless ruins; *the enemy has laid waste everything in your sanctuary.

⁴Your adversaries roared in your holy place; *they set up their banners as tokens of victory.

⁵They were like men coming up with axes to a grove of trees; *they broke down all your carved work with hatchets and hammers.

⁶They set fire to your holy place; *they defiled the dwelling-place of your Name and razed it to the ground.

⁷They said to themselves, “Let us destroy them altogether.” *They burned down all the meeting-places of God in the land.

⁸There are no signs for us to see; there is no prophet left; *there is not one among us who knows how long.

⁹How long, O God, will the adversary scoff? *will the enemy blaspheme your Name for ever?

¹⁰Why do you draw back your hand? *why is your right hand hidden in your bosom?

¹¹Yet God is my King from ancient times, *victorious in the midst of the earth.

¹²You divided the sea by your might *and shattered the heads of the dragons upon the waters;

¹³You crushed the heads of Leviathan *and gave him to the people of the desert for food.

¹⁴You split open spring and torrent; *you dried up ever-flowing rivers.

¹⁵Yours is the day, yours also the night; *you established the moon and the sun.

¹⁶You fixed all the boundaries of the earth; *you made both summer and winter.

¹⁷Remember, O Lord, how the enemy scoffed, *how a foolish people despised your Name.

¹⁸Do not hand over the life of your dove to wild beasts; *never forget the lives of your poor.

¹⁹Look upon your covenant; *the dark places of the earth are haunts of violence.

²⁰Let not the oppressed turn away ashamed; *let the poor and needy praise your Name.

²¹Arise, O God, maintain your cause; *remember how fools revile you all day long.

²²Forget not the clamor of your adversaries, *the unending tumult of those who rise up against you.