Psalm 74
74
Arise, O God, Defend Your Cause
A Maskil#74:1 Probably a musical or liturgical term of #See Ps. 50, titleAsaph.
1O God, why do you #See Ps. 44:9 cast us off forever?
Why does your anger #Deut. 29:20; [Ps. 18:8] smoke against #Ps. 79:13; 100:3; Jer. 23:1; Ezek. 34:31; [Ps. 95:7]the sheep of your pasture?
2 # ver. 18, 22 Remember your congregation, which you have #Ex. 15:16; Deut. 32:6; [Ps. 78:54] purchased of old,
which you have #Ps. 77:15; Isa. 63:9 redeemed to be #Isa. 63:17; Jer. 10:16; 51:19 the tribe of your heritage!
Remember Mount Zion, #Ps. 9:11where you have dwelt.
3Direct your steps to #[Isa. 61:4]the perpetual ruins;
the enemy has destroyed everything in the sanctuary!
4Your foes have #Lam. 2:6, 7 roared in the midst of your meeting place;
# [Matt. 24:15] they set up their #Num. 2:2 own signs for #[ver. 9]signs.
5They were like those who swing #[Jer. 46:22]axes
in a forest of trees.#74:5 The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain
6And all its #[1 Kgs. 6:18, 29, 32, 35]carved wood
they broke down with hatchets and hammers.
7They #2 Kgs. 25:9; [Ps. 79:1] set your sanctuary on fire;
they #Ps. 89:39; [Lam. 2:2] profaned #[Ps. 26:8]the dwelling place of your name,
bringing it down to the ground.
8They #Ps. 83:4said to themselves, “We will utterly subdue them”;
they burned all the meeting places of God in the land.
9We do not see our #[ver. 4] signs;
# [1 Sam. 3:1; Lam. 2:9; Ezek. 7:26; Amos 8:11] there is no longer any prophet,
and there is none among us who knows how long.
10How long, O God, #ver. 18, 22; Ps. 79:12; 89:51is the foe to scoff?
Is the enemy to revile your name forever?
11Why #Lam. 2:3do you hold back your hand, your right hand?
Take it from the fold of your garment#74:11 Hebrew from your bosom and destroy them!
12Yet #Ps. 44:4God my King is from of old,
working salvation in the midst of the earth.
13You #Ex. 14:21 divided the sea by your might;
you #Isa. 51:9 broke the heads of #Isa. 27:1the sea monsters#74:13 Or the great sea creatures on the waters.
14You crushed the heads of #See Job 41:1Leviathan;
you gave him as food for the creatures of the wilderness.
15You #Ps. 78:15; 105:41; Ex. 17:5, 6; Num. 20:11; Isa. 48:21 split open springs and brooks;
you #Josh. 2:10; 4:23; Isa. 51:10; [Ps. 66:6]; See Ex. 14:21-25; Josh. 3:13-17dried up ever-flowing streams.
16Yours is the day, yours also the night;
you have established #Ps. 104:19; See Gen. 1:14-16the heavenly lights and the sun.
17You have #Deut. 32:8; [Acts 17:26] fixed all the boundaries of the earth;
you have made #Gen. 8:22summer and winter.
18 # ver. 2, 22; Ps. 89:50; Rev. 16:19; 18:5 Remember this, O Lord, how the enemy scoffs,
and #Ps. 39:8; Deut. 32:6a foolish people reviles your name.
19Do not deliver the soul of your #Song 2:14 dove to the wild beasts;
# [Ps. 68:10] do not forget the life of your poor forever.
20Have regard for #Ps. 106:45; Gen. 17:7, 8; Lev. 26:44, 45; Jer. 33:21 the covenant,
for #[Ps. 10:8]the dark places of the land are full of the habitations of violence.
21Let not #Ps. 9:9; 10:18 the downtrodden #[Ps. 6:10] turn back in shame;
let #Ps. 86:1the poor and needy praise your name.
22Arise, O God, #[1 Sam. 24:15] defend your cause;
# ver. 2, 18 remember how the foolish scoff at you all the day!
23Do not forget the clamor of your foes,
# See Ps. 65:7 the uproar of those who rise against you, which goes up continually!
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