Psalm 74

1 [Poem Of Asaph] God, why have you finally rejected us, your anger blazing against the flock you used to pasture?

2 Remember the people you took to yourself long ago, your own tribe which you redeemed, and this Mount Zion where you came to live.

3 Come up to these endless ruins! The enemy have sacked everything in the sanctuary;

4 your opponents made uproar in the place of assemblies, they fixed their emblems over the entrance, emblems

5 never known before. Their axes deep in the wood,

6 hacking at the panels, they battered them down with axe and pick;

7 they set fire to your sanctuary, profanely razed to the ground the dwelling-place of your name.

8 They said to themselves, 'Let us crush them at one stroke!' They burned down every sacred shrine in the land.

9 We see no signs, no prophet any more, and none of us knows how long it will last.

10 How much longer, God, will the enemy blaspheme? Is the enemy to insult your name for ever?

11 Why hold back your hand, keep your right hand hidden in the folds of your robe?

12 Yet, God, my king from the first, author of saving acts throughout the earth,

13 by your power you split the sea in two, and smashed the heads of the monsters on the waters.

14 You crushed Leviathan's heads, gave him as food to the wild animals.

15 You released the springs and brooks, and turned primordial rivers into dry land.

16 Yours is the day and yours the night, you caused sun and light to exist,

17 you fixed all the boundaries of the earth, you created summer and winter.

18 Remember, Yahweh, the enemy's blasphemy, a foolish people insults your name.

19 Do not surrender your turtledove to the beast; do not forget for ever the life of your oppressed people.

20 Look to the covenant! All the hiding-places of the land are full, haunts of violence.

21 Do not let the downtrodden retreat in confusion, give the poor and needy cause to praise your name.

22 Arise, God, champion your own cause, remember how fools blaspheme you all day long!

23 Do not forget the shouting of your enemies, the ever-mounting uproar of your adversaries.