祈求上帝眷顾祂的子民

亚萨的训诲诗。

74 上帝啊,
你为何永远丢弃了我们?
你为何对自己草场上的羊大发雷霆?
求你眷顾你在古时所救赎的子民,
你拣选为产业的族类,
求你眷顾你所居住的锡安山。
求你前去观看那久已荒凉之地,
看看敌人对圣所的破坏。
他们在你圣所中高声叫嚷,
竖立起自己的旗帜。
他们大肆毁坏,
好像人抡起斧头砍伐树林。
他们用斧头、锤子把雕刻的墙板都捣毁了。
他们纵火焚烧你的圣所,
把它夷为平地,
亵渎了你的居所。
他们心里说:“我们要彻底毁灭一切。”
于是他们烧毁了境内所有敬拜上帝的地方。
我们再也看不到你的征兆,
先知也没有了。
无人知道这一切何时才会结束。
10 上帝啊,
仇敌嘲笑你的名要到何时呢?
他们要永无休止地辱骂你吗?
11 你为何不伸出大能的右手?
求你出手给他们致命的一击。
12 上帝啊,
你自古以来就是我的王,
你给世上带来拯救。
13 你曾用大能分开海水,
打碎水中巨兽的头。
14 你曾打碎海怪的头,
把它丢给旷野的禽兽吃。
15 你曾开辟泉源和溪流,
也曾使滔滔河水枯干。
16 白昼和黑夜都属于你,
你设立了日月。
17 你划定大地的疆界,
又创造了盛夏和寒冬。
18 耶和华啊,
求你记住敌人对你的嘲笑和愚妄人对你的亵渎。
19 求你不要把你的子民交给仇敌[a]
不要永远对你受苦的子民弃置不顾。
20 求你顾念你的应许,
因地上黑暗之处充满了暴力。
21 求你不要让受压迫的人羞愧而去。
愿贫穷困苦的人赞美你的名。
22 上帝啊,求你起来维护自己,
别忘记愚妄人怎样整天嘲笑你。
23 不要对你仇敌的喧嚷置之不理,
与你为敌的人不停地叫嚣。

Footnotes

  1. 74:18-19 子民”希伯来文是“鸽子”;“仇敌”希伯来文是“野兽”。

祈求 神記念他的子民

亞薩的訓誨詩。

74  神啊!你為甚麼永遠丟棄我們呢?

為甚麼你的怒氣向你草場上的羊群好像煙冒出呢?(本節在《馬索拉文本》包括細字標題)

求你記念你在古時買贖的會眾,

就是你贖回作你產業的民族;

求你記念你所居住的錫安山。

求你舉步去看那些長久荒涼的地方,

去看仇敵在聖所裡所行的一切惡事。

你的敵人在敬拜你的聚會中吼叫,

他們豎起了自己的旗幟為記號。

他們好像那些舉起斧子,

在樹林中砍伐樹木的人。

聖殿中的一切雕刻,

他們都用斧子和銃子打碎了。

他們用火把你的聖所燒成焦土,

他們褻瀆你名的居所。

他們心裡說:“我們要把它們完全毀滅!”

他們燒毀了地上一切敬拜 神的聚會地方。

我們看不見我們的記號,

也不再有先知;

我們中間也沒有人知道這災禍要到幾時。

10  神啊!敵人辱罵你要到幾時呢?

仇敵褻慢你的名要到永遠嗎?

11 你為甚麼把你的手,就是你的右手收回呢?

求你從懷中抽出來毀滅他們。

12  神自古以來就是我的君王,

在地上施行拯救。

13 你曾用你的大能分開大海,

把海中怪獸的頭都打碎了。

14 你砸碎了利未亞坦(“利未亞坦”為原文音譯詞,或譯:“海怪”〔伯3:8〕或“鱷魚”〔伯41:1〕)的頭,

把牠給住在曠野的人作食物。

15 你曾開闢泉源和溪流,

又使長流不息的江河乾涸。

16 白晝是你的,黑夜也是你的,

月亮和太陽,都是你設立的。

17 地上的一切疆界都是你立定的,

夏天和冬天都是你制定的。

18 耶和華啊!仇敵辱罵你,

愚頑人褻瀆你的名,

求你記念這事。

19 求你不要把你斑鳩的性命交給野獸,

不要永遠忘記你困苦人的性命。

20 求你顧念所立的約,

因為地上黑暗的地方充滿了強暴的居所。

21 不要使受欺壓的人蒙羞回去,

要使困苦、貧窮的人讚美你的名。

22  神啊!求你起來,為你的案件辯護,

要記得愚頑人終日對你的辱罵。

23 求你不要忘記你敵人的聲音,

不要忘記那些起來與你為敵的人不住加劇地喧鬧。

'詩 篇 74 ' not found for the version: Chinese New Testament: Easy-to-Read Version.

Psalm 74[a]

Prayer at the Destruction of the Temple

A maskil of Asaph.

I

Why, God, have you cast us off forever?[b](A)
    Why does your anger burn against the sheep of your pasture?(B)
Remember your people, whom you acquired of old,
    the tribe you redeemed as your own heritage,
    Mount Zion where you dwell.(C)
Direct your steps toward the utter destruction,
    everything the enemy laid waste in the sanctuary.
Your foes roared triumphantly in the place of your assembly;
    they set up their own tokens of victory.
They hacked away like a forester gathering boughs,
    swinging his ax in a thicket of trees.
They smashed all its engraved work,
    struck it with ax and pick.
They set your sanctuary on fire,
    profaned your name’s abode by razing it to the ground.(D)
They said in their hearts, “We will destroy them all!
    Burn all the assembly-places of God in the land!”
[c]Even so we have seen no signs for us,
    there is no prophet any more,(E)
    no one among us who knows for how long.
10 How long, O God, will the enemy jeer?(F)
    Will the enemy revile your name forever?
11 Why draw back your hand,
    why hold back your right hand within your bosom?[d]

II

12 [e]Yet you, God, are my king from of old,
    winning victories throughout the earth.
13 You stirred up the sea by your might;(G)
    you smashed the heads of the dragons on the waters.(H)
14 You crushed the heads of Leviathan,(I)
    gave him as food to the sharks.
15 You opened up springs and torrents,
    brought dry land out of the primeval waters.[f]
16 Yours the day and yours the night too;
    you set the moon and sun in place.
17 You fixed all the limits of the earth;
    summer and winter you made.(J)
18 Remember how the enemy has jeered, Lord,
    how a foolish people has reviled your name.
19 Do not surrender to wild animals those who praise you;
    do not forget forever the life of your afflicted.
20 Look to your covenant,
    for the recesses of the land
    are full of the haunts of violence.
21 Let not the oppressed turn back in shame;
    may the poor and needy praise your name.
22 Arise, God, defend your cause;
    remember the constant jeering of the fools.
23 Do not forget the clamor of your foes,
    the unceasing uproar of your enemies.

Footnotes

  1. Psalm 74 A communal lament sung when the enemy invaded the Temple; it would be especially appropriate at the destruction of Jerusalem in 587 B.C. Israel’s God is urged to look upon the ruined sanctuary and remember the congregation who worshiped there (Ps 74:1–11). People and sanctuary are bound together; an attack on Zion is an attack on Israel. In the second half of the poem, the community brings before God the story of their origins—their creation (Ps 74:12–17)—in order to move God to reenact that deed of creation now. Will God allow a lesser power to destroy the divine project (Ps 74:18–23)?
  2. 74:1 Forever: the word implies that the disaster is already of long duration, cf. Ps 74:9 and note.
  3. 74:9 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.
  4. 74:11 Why hold back…within your bosom: i.e., idle beneath your cloak.
  5. 74:12–17 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?
  6. 74:15 Waters: lit., “rivers” (cf. Ps 24:7; Isa 50:2) upon which, or from which, in primordial times the earth is created.