73
(74) A Psalm of * instruction for Asaph.
1 Therefore have you rejected us, O God, for ever? therefore is your wrath kindled against the sheep of your pasture?
2 Remember your congregation which you have purchased from the beginning; you did ransom the rod of your inheritance; this mount Sion wherein you have lived.
3 Lift up your hands against their pride continually; because of all that the enemy has done wickedly in your holy places.
4 And they that hate you have boasted in the midst of your feast; they have set up their standards for signs,
5 ignorantly as it were in the entrance above;
6 they cut down its doors at once with axes as in a wood of trees; they have broken it down with hatchet and stone cutter.
7 They have burnt your sanctuary with fire to the ground; they have profaned the † habitation of your name.
8 They have said in their heart, even all their kindred together, Come, let us abolish the feasts of the Lord from the earth.
9 We have not seen our signs; there is no longer a prophet; and God will not know us any more.
10 How long, O God, shall the enemy reproach? shall the enemy provoke your name forever?
11 Therefore turn you away your hand, and your right hand from the midst of your bosom for ever?
12 But God is our King ‡ of old; he has wrought salvation in the midst of the earth.
13 You did establish the sea, in your might, you did break to pieces the heads of the § dragons in the water.
14 You did break to pieces the heads of the dragon; you did give him for meat to the Ethiopian nations.
15 You did cleave fountains and torrents; you dried up ** mighty rivers.
16 The day is yours, and the night is yours; you have prepared the sun and the moon.
17 You have made all the borders of the earth; you have made summer and spring.
18 Remember this your creation: an enemy has reproached the Lord, and a foolish people has provoked your name.
19 Deliver not to the wild beasts a soul that gives praise to you: forget not for ever the souls of your poor.
20 Look upon your covenant: for the dark places of the earth are filled with the habitations of iniquity.
21 let not the afflicted and shamed one be rejected: the poor and needy shall praise your name.
22 Arise, O God, plead your cause: remember your reproaches that come from the foolish one all the day.
23 Forget not the voice of your suppliants: let the pride of them that hate you continually ascend before you.
* 73: Gr. understanding. † 73:7 Gr. tabernacle. ‡ 73:12 Gr. before the age. § 73:13 Or, serpents. ** 73:15 Heb. rivers of Etham.