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 TranslationPsalm 74
74
An Appeal to God against the Enemy
Maschil of Asaph.
1O God, why hast thou cast us off for ever?
Why doth thine anger smoke against the sheep of thy pasture?
2Remember thy congregation,
which thou hast purchased of old;
the rod of thine inheritance,
which thou hast redeemed;
this mount Zion,
wherein thou hast dwelt.
3Lift up thy feet unto the perpetual desolations;
even all that the enemy hath done wickedly in the sanctuary.
4Thine enemies roar in the midst of thy congregations;
they set up their ensigns for signs.
5 A man was famous according as he had lifted up axes upon the thick trees.
6But now they break down the carved work thereof at once with axes and hammers.
7They have cast fire into thy sanctuary,
they have defiled by casting down the dwelling place of thy name to the ground.
8They said in their hearts, Let us destroy them together:
they have burned up all the synagogues of God in the land.
9We see not our signs:
there is no more any prophet:
neither is there among us any that knoweth how long.
10O God, how long shall the adversary reproach?
Shall the enemy blaspheme thy name for ever?
11Why withdrawest thou thy hand, even thy right hand?
Pluck it out of thy bosom.
12For God is my King of old,
working salvation in the midst of the earth.
13 #
Exod 14.21. Thou didst divide the sea by thy strength:
thou brakest the heads of the dragons in the waters.
14 #
Job 41.1; Ps 104.26; Isa 27.1. Thou brakest the heads of leviathan in pieces,
and gavest him to be meat to the people inhabiting the wilderness.
15Thou didst cleave the fountain and the flood:
thou driedst up mighty rivers.
16The day is thine, the night also is thine:
thou hast prepared the light and the sun.
17Thou hast set all the borders of the earth:
thou hast made summer and winter.
18Remember this, that the enemy hath reproached, O Lord,
and that the foolish people have blasphemed thy name.
19O deliver not the soul of thy turtledove unto the multitude of the wicked:
forget not the congregation of thy poor for ever.
20Have respect unto the covenant:
for the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty.
21O let not the oppressed return ashamed:
let the poor and needy praise thy name.
22Arise, O God, plead thine own cause:
remember how the foolish man reproacheth thee daily.
23Forget not the voice of thine enemies:
the tumult of those that rise up against thee increaseth continually.
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King James Version 1611, spelling, punctuation and text formatting modernized by ABS in 1962; typesetting © 2010 American Bible Society.