﻿Psalm.
Chapter 74.
God, why have you rejected us forever? Why does your anger smoke against the sheep of your pasture? 
Remember your congregation, which you acquired long ago, the tribe you redeemed as your inheritance, this Mount Zion where you have dwelt. 
Direct your steps to the perpetual ruins, to all the destruction the enemy has done in the sanctuary. 
Your adversaries roared within your meeting place; they set up their own banners as signs. 
They appeared like men raising axes in a thicket of trees. 
Now they smash all its carved work with hatchets and hammers. 
They set your sanctuary on fire; they profaned the dwelling place of your name, bringing it to the ground. 
They said in their hearts, “Let us crush them all together!” They burned every meeting place of God in the land. 
We do not see our signs; there is no longer a prophet, and no one among us knows how long. 
How long, God, will the adversary taunt? Will the enemy revile your name forever? 
Why do you hold back your hand, your right hand? Bring it out from your bosom and destroy them! 
Yet God is my King from long ago, working acts of salvation in the midst of the earth. 
You divided the sea by your strength; you shattered the heads of the sea monsters on the waters. 
You crushed the heads of Leviathan; you gave him as food to the desert dwellers. 
You split open springs and streams; you dried up ever-flowing rivers. 
The day is yours, and the night is yours as well; you established the light and the sun. 
You set all the boundaries of the earth; you formed summer and winter. 
Remember this: the enemy has taunted you, LORD, and a foolish people has reviled your name. 
Do not give the life of your turtledove to the wild beast; do not forget the lives of your afflicted ones forever. 
Have regard for the covenant, for the dark places of the land are full of haunts of violence. 
Do not let the oppressed turn back in disgrace; let the afflicted and needy praise your name. 
Rise up, God, defend your cause! Remember how the fool taunts you all day long. 
Do not forget the clamor of your adversaries, the uproar of those who rise against you, which goes up continually. 
