The Book of Psalms

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- Chapter 74 -

Why have you rejected us forever?

(Psalm 79:1-13; Jeremiah 52:1-11)

The understanding of Asaph. O God, why have you rejected us to the end. Why has your fury become enraged over the sheep of your pasture?

Be mindful of your congregation, which you have possessed from the beginning. You redeemed the scepter of your inheritance, mount Zion, in which you have dwelt.

Lift up your hands against their arrogance in the end. How great the malice of the enemy has been in the sanctuary!(a)

And those who hate you have been glorified, in the midst of your solemnity. They have set up their own signs as a proof,(b)

as if it had been issued from on high; yet they did not understand. As in a forest of chopped wood,(c)

they have cut down the entrances themselves. With axe and hatchet, they have brought it down.

They have set fire to your Sanctuary. They have polluted the tabernacle of your name on earth.

They have said in their heart, the whole group of them together: “Let us cause all the feast days of God to cease from the land.

We have not seen our proof; there is now no prophet. And he will no longer know us.”

How long, O God, will the enemy place blame? Is the adversary to provoke your name until the end?

Why do you turn your hand away, even your right hand, from the midst of your sinews, until the end?

But God is our king before all ages. He has wrought salvation in the midst of the earth.

In your virtue, you confirmed the sea. You crushed the heads of the serpents in the waters.(d)

You have broken the heads of the serpent. You have given him as food for the people of the Ethiopians.

You have disrupted the fountains and the torrents. You have dried up the rivers of Ethan.(e)

Yours is the day, and yours is the night. You have made the morning light and the sun.

You have made all the limits of the earth. The summer and the spring were formed by you.

Be mindful of this: the enemy placed blame against the Lord, and a foolish people has incited against your name.

Do not hand over to beasts the souls that confess to you; and do not forget the souls of your poor until the end.

Consider your covenant. For those who have been darkened upon the earth have been filled by the iniquity of the houses.(f)

Do not allow the humble to be turned away in confusion. The poor and the needy will praise your name.

Rise up, O God, judge your own case. Call to mind the accusations against you, which are made by the foolish all day long.

Do not forget the voices of your adversaries. The arrogance of those who hate you rises up continually.

Footnotes

(a)73:3 This last part is literally: “How much the enemy has been malicious in the sanctuary!”(Conte)

(b)73:4 Their ensigns, etc:They have fixed their colours for signs and trophies, both on the gates, and on the highest top of the temple: and they knew not, that is, they regarded not the sanctity of the place. This psalm manifestly foretells the time of the Machabees, and the profanation of the temple by Antiochus.(Challoner)

(c)73:5 They set up their own signs and then they use those signs as their proof. And they do not even understand that such signs are not valid because they come from themselves, but they consider such signs as if they had the validity of signs issued from on high (from God).(Conte)

(d)73:13 The sea firm:By making the waters of the Red Sea stand like firm walls, whilst Israel passed through: and destroying the Egyptians called here dragons from their cruelty, in the same waters, with their king: casting up their bodies on the shore to be stripped by the Ethiopians inhabiting in those days the coast of Arabia.(Challoner)

(e)73:15 Ethan rivers:That is, rivers which run with strong streams. This was verified in Jordan, Jos. 3, and in Arnon, Num. 21:14.(Challoner)

(f)73:20 The obscure of the earth:Mean and ignoble wretches have been filled, that is, enriched, with houses of iniquity, that is, with our estates and possessions, which they have unjustly acquired.(Challoner)

Why have you rejected us forever?

(Psalm 79:1-13; Jeremiah 52:1-11)

God, why have you rejected us forever? Why does your anger smolder against the sheep of your pasture?

Remember your congregation, which you purchased of old, which you have redeemed to be the tribe of your inheritance: Mount Zion, in which you have lived.

Lift up your feet to the perpetual ruins, all the evil that the enemy has done in the sanctuary.

Your adversaries have roared in the middle of your assembly. They have set up their standards as signs.

They behaved like men wielding axes, cutting through a thicket of trees.

Now they break all its carved work down with hatchet and hammers.

They have burned your sanctuary to the ground. They have profaned the dwelling place of your Name.

They said in their heart, “We will crush them completely.” They have burned up all the places in the land where God was worshiped.

We see no miraculous signs. There is no longer any prophet, neither is there among us anyone who knows how long.

How long, God, shall the adversary reproach? Shall the enemy blaspheme your name forever?

Why do you draw back your hand, even your right hand? Take it from your chest and consume them!

Yet God is my King of old, working salvation throughout the earth.

You divided the sea by your strength. You broke the heads of the sea monsters in the waters.

You broke the heads of Leviathan in pieces. You gave him as food to people and desert creatures.

You opened up spring and stream. You dried up mighty rivers.

The day is yours, the night is also yours. You have prepared the light and the sun.

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

Remember this, that the enemy has mocked you, LORD. Foolish people have blasphemed your name.

Don’t deliver the soul of your dove to wild beasts. Don’t forget the life of your poor forever.

Honor your covenant, for haunts of violence fill the dark places of the earth.

Don’t let the oppressed return ashamed. Let the poor and needy praise your name.

Arise, God! Plead your own cause. Remember how the foolish man mocks you all day.

Don’t forget the voice of your adversaries. The tumult of those who rise up against you ascends continually.