Psalm 74
1 O God, why have you utterly cast us off?*
why is your wrath so hot against the sheep of your pasture?
2 Remember your congregation that you purchased long ago,*
the tribe you redeemed to be your inheritance,
and Mount Zion where you dwell.
3 Turn your steps toward the endless ruins;*
the enemy has laid waste everything in your sanctuary.
4 Your adversaries roared in your holy place;*
they set up their banners as tokens of victory.
5 They were like men coming up with axes to a grove of trees;*
they broke down all your carved work with hatchets and hammers.
6 They set fire to your holy place;*
they defiled the dwelling-place of your Name
and razed it to the ground.
7 They said to themselves, “Let us destroy them altogether.”*
They burned down all the meeting-places of God in the land.
8 There are no signs for us to see;
there is no prophet left;*
there is not one among us who knows how long.
9 How long, O God, will the adversary scoff?*
will the enemy blaspheme your Name for ever?
10 Why do you draw back your hand?*
why is your right hand hidden in your bosom?
11 Yet God is my King from ancient times,*
victorious in the midst of the earth.
12 You divided the sea by your might*
and shattered the heads of the dragons upon the waters;
13 You crushed the heads of Leviathan*
and gave him to the people of the desert for food.
14 You split open spring and torrent;*
you dried up ever-flowing rivers.
15 Yours is the day, yours also the night;*
you established the moon and the sun.
16 You fixed all the boundaries of the earth;*
you made both summer and winter.
17 Remember, O LORD, how the enemy scoffed,*
how a foolish people despised your Name.
18 Do not hand over the life of your dove to wild beasts;*
never forget the lives of your poor.
19 Look upon your covenant;*
the dark places of the earth are haunts of violence.
20 Let not the oppressed turn away ashamed;*
let the poor and needy praise your Name.
21 Arise, O God, maintain your cause;*
remember how fools revile you all day long.
22 Forget not the clamor of your adversaries,*
the unending tumult of those who rise up against you.