Psalm 74:1-23 AMPC

[1] O God, why do You cast us off forever? Why does Your anger burn and smoke against the sheep of Your pasture? [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. [3] Direct Your feet [quickly] to the perpetual ruins and desolations; the foe has devastated and desecrated everything in the sanctuary. [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]. [5] They seemed like men who lifted up axes upon a thicket of trees to make themselves a record. [6] And then all the carved wood of the Holy Place they broke down with hatchets and hammers. [7] They have set Your sanctuary on fire; they have profaned the dwelling place of Your Name by casting it to the ground. [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. [9] We do not see our symbols; there is no longer any prophet, neither does any among us know for how long. [10] O God, how long is the adversary to scoff and reproach? Is the enemy to blaspheme and revile Your name forever? [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]! [12] Yet God is my King of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth. [13] You did divide the [Red] Sea by Your might; You broke the heads of the [Egyptian] dragons in the waters. [14] You crushed the heads of Leviathan (Egypt); You did give him as food for the creatures inhabiting the wilderness. [15] You did cleave open [the rock bringing forth] fountains and streams; You dried up mighty, ever-flowing rivers (the Jordan). [16] The day is Yours, the night also is Yours; You have established the [starry] light and the sun. [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. [18] [Earnestly] remember how the enemy has scoffed, O Lord, and reproached You, and how a foolish and impious people has blasphemed Your name. [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. [20] Have regard for the covenant [You made with Abraham], for the dark places of the land are full of the habitations of violence. [21] Oh, let not the downtrodden return in shame; let the oppressed and needy praise Your name. [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. [23] Do not forget the [clamoring] voices of Your adversaries, the tumult of those who rise up against You, which ascends continually.