Psalms 74
74
We Need You Now
Asaph’s poem of instruction
1Are you really going to leave us, God?
Would you turn your back on us, rejecting your people?
We are yours, your very own. # 74:1 Or “the sheep of your pasture.”
Will your anger smolder against us forever?
2Don’t forget that we are your beloved ones.
Wrap us back into your heart again, for you chose us.
You brought us out of our slavery and bondage
and made us your favored ones, your Zion-people,
your home on earth.
3Turn your steps toward this devastation.
Come running to bring your restoring grace to these ruins, # 74:3 This verse reads differently in the Aramaic: “Lift up your servants with your might above those who take them captive, for those who oppress us are enemies to your holiness.”
to what the enemy has done to devastate your Holy Place.
4They have come into the very midst of your dwelling place,
roaring like beasts, setting up their banners to flaunt their conquest.
5Now everything is in shambles! They’ve totally destroyed it.
Like a forest chopped down to the ground,
there’s nothing left.
6All of the beauty of the craftsmanship
of the inner place has been ruined,
smashed, broken, and shattered. # 74:6 This psalm describes physical destruction as well as what the enemy of our souls has done spiritually to mar the image of God in the “inner place” of man’s spirit. God will fully restore all things, including his image within us, as our hearts become his Holy Place on the earth.
7They’ve burned it all to the ground.
They’ve violated your sanctuary,
the very dwelling place of your glory and your name.
8They boasted, “Let’s completely crush them!
Let’s wipe out every trace of this God.
Let’s burn up every sacred place where they worship this God.”
9We don’t see any miraculous signs anymore.
There’s no longer a prophet among us
who can tell us how long this devastation will continue.
10God, how much longer will you let this go on
and allow these barbarians to blaspheme your name?
Will you stand back and watch them get away with this forever?
11Why don’t you do something?
You have the power to break in,
so why would you hide your great power from us?
Don’t hold back! Unleash your might and give them a final blow.
12You have always been, and always will be, my King.
You are the mighty conqueror, working wonders all over the world.
13It was you who split the sea in two by your glorious strength.
You smashed the power of Tannin, the sea monster.
14You crushed the might of Leviathan, # 74:14 Leviathan is mentioned six times in Job 41. Leviathan means “twisted” or “coiled” and is considered to be a sea monster. See Gen. 1:21. the great dragon,
then you took the crumbs and fed them to the sharks.
15With your glory you opened up springs and fountains,
then you spoke, and the ever-flowing springs of Jordan
dried up so we could cross over.
16You own the day and the night.
Sunlight and starlight call you Creator.
17The four corners of the earth were formed by your hands,
and every changing season owes its beauty to you.
18O Yahweh, don’t ever forget how these arrogant enemies,
like fools, have mocked your name.
19Lord, aren’t we your beloved dove that praises you? # 74:19 As translated from the Septuagint, Syriac, and one Hebrew manuscript.
Protect us from these wild beasts who want to harm us.
Don’t leave us as lambs among wolves!
You can’t abandon us after all we’ve been through!
20Remember your promises to us,
for darkness covers the land,
giving the violent ones a hiding place.
21Don’t let these insults continue.
Can’t you see that we are your downtrodden
and oppressed people?
Make the poor and needy into a choir of praise to you!
22Don’t ignore these ignorant words, this continual mocking.
Rise up, God; it’s time to defend yourself from all this.
23Never forget what your adversaries are saying.
For their rage and uproar rise continually against you.
It’s time to stand up to them!
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Psalms 74: TPT
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Learn More About The Passion TranslationPsalms 74
74
Prayer at the Destruction of the Temple
1A maskil of Asaph.
I
Why, God, have you cast us off forever?#Forever: the word implies that the disaster is already of long duration, cf. Ps 74:9 and note.#Ps 10:1; 44:24; 77:8.
Why does your anger burn against the sheep of your pasture?#Ps 80:5.
2Remember your people, whom you acquired of old,
the tribe you redeemed as your own heritage,
Mount Zion where you dwell.#Ps 68:17; 132:13; Ex 15:17; Jer 10:16; 51:19.
3Direct your steps toward the utter destruction,
everything the enemy laid waste in the sanctuary.
4Your foes roared triumphantly in the place of your assembly;
they set up their own tokens of victory.
5They hacked away like a forester gathering boughs,
swinging his ax in a thicket of trees.
6They smashed all its engraved work,
struck it with ax and pick.
7They set your sanctuary on fire,
profaned your name’s abode by razing it to the ground.#Ps 79:1; Is 64:10.
8They said in their hearts, “We will destroy them all!
Burn all the assembly-places of God in the land!”
9#Even so we have seen no signs… : ancients often asked prophets to say for how long a divine punishment was to last, cf. 2 Sm 24:13. Here no prophet has arisen to indicate the duration.Even so we have seen no signs for us,
there is no prophet any more,#Lam 2:9.
no one among us who knows for how long.
10How long, O God, will the enemy jeer?#Ps 89:47.
Will the enemy revile your name forever?
11Why draw back your hand,
why hold back your right hand within your bosom?#Why hold back…within your bosom: i.e., idle beneath your cloak.
II
12#Comparable Canaanite literature describes the storm-god’s victory over all-encompassing Sea and its allies (dragons and Leviathan) and the subsequent peaceful arrangement of the universe, sometimes through the placement of paired cosmic elements (day and night, sun and moon), cf. Ps 89:12–13. The Psalm apparently equates the enemies attacking the Temple with the destructive cosmic forces already tamed by God. Why then are those forces now raging untamed against your own people?Yet you, God, are my king from of old,
winning victories throughout the earth.
13You stirred up the sea by your might;#Ps 89:10.
you smashed the heads of the dragons on the waters.#Is 51:9–10.
14You crushed the heads of Leviathan,#Jb 3:8; 40:25; Is 27:1.
gave him as food to the sharks.
15You opened up springs and torrents,
brought dry land out of the primeval waters.#Waters: lit., “rivers” (cf. Ps 24:7; Is 50:2) upon which, or from which, in primordial times the earth is created.
16Yours the day and yours the night too;
you set the moon and sun in place.
17You fixed all the limits of the earth;
summer and winter you made.#Gn 1.
18Remember how the enemy has jeered, Lord,
how a foolish people has reviled your name.
19Do not surrender to wild animals those who praise you;
do not forget forever the life of your afflicted.
20Look to your covenant,
for the recesses of the land
are full of the haunts of violence.
21Let not the oppressed turn back in shame;
may the poor and needy praise your name.
22Arise, God, defend your cause;
remember the constant jeering of the fools.
23Do not forget the clamor of your foes,
the unceasing uproar of your enemies.
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