Psalms 74: Verse-by-Verse Commentary (with Videos)

¹A Maskil of Asaph. Why have You rejected us forever, O God? Why does Your anger smolder against the sheep of Your pasture?

²Remember Your congregation, which You purchased long ago and redeemed as the tribe of Your inheritance—Mount Zion, where You dwell.

³Turn Your steps to the everlasting ruins, to everything in the sanctuary the enemy has destroyed.

⁴Your foes have roared within Your meeting place; they have unfurled their banners as signs,

⁵like men wielding axes in a thicket of trees

⁶and smashing all the carvings with hatchets and picks.

⁷They have burned Your sanctuary to the ground; they have defiled the dwelling place of Your Name.

⁸They said in their hearts, “We will crush them completely.” They burned down every place where God met us in the land.

⁹There are no signs for us to see. There is no longer any prophet. And none of us knows how long this will last.

¹⁰How long, O God, will the enemy taunt You? Will the foe revile Your name forever?

¹¹Why do You withdraw Your strong right hand? Stretch it out to destroy them!

¹²Yet God is my King from ancient times, working salvation on the earth.

¹³You divided the sea by Your strength; You smashed the heads of the dragons of the sea;

¹⁴You crushed the heads of Leviathan; You fed him to the creatures of the desert.

¹⁵You broke open the fountain and the flood; You dried up the ever-flowing rivers.

¹⁶The day is Yours, and also the night; You established the moon and the sun.

¹⁷You set all the boundaries of the earth; You made the summer and winter.

¹⁸Remember how the enemy has mocked You, O LORD, how a foolish people has spurned Your name.

¹⁹Do not deliver the soul of Your dove to beasts; do not forget the lives of Your afflicted forever.

²⁰Consider Your covenant, for haunts of violence fill the dark places of the land.

²¹Do not let the oppressed retreat in shame; may the poor and needy praise Your name.

²²Rise up, O God; defend Your cause! Remember how the fool mocks You all day long.

²³Do not disregard the clamor of Your adversaries, the uproar of Your enemies that ascends continually.