诗篇 74
Chinese New Version (Traditional)
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)
2 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。
3 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。
4 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。
5 他們好像那些舉起斧子,
在樹林中砍伐樹木的人。
6 聖殿中的一切雕刻,
他們都用斧子和銃子打碎了。
7 他們用火把你的聖所燒成焦土,
他們褻瀆你名的居所。
8 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。
9 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。
Psalm 74
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
Psalm 74[a]
Prayer at the Destruction of the Temple
1 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)
2 Remember your people, whom you acquired of old,
the tribe you redeemed as your own heritage,
Mount Zion where you dwell.(C)
3 Direct your steps toward the utter destruction,
everything the enemy laid waste in the sanctuary.
4 Your foes roared triumphantly in the place of your assembly;
they set up their own tokens of victory.
5 They hacked away like a forester gathering boughs,
swinging his ax in a thicket of trees.
6 They smashed all its engraved work,
struck it with ax and pick.
7 They set your sanctuary on fire,
profaned your name’s abode by razing it to the ground.(D)
8 They said in their hearts, “We will destroy them all!
Burn all the assembly-places of God in the land!”
9 [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
- 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)?
- 74:1 Forever: the word implies that the disaster is already of long duration, cf. Ps 74:9 and note.
- 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.
- 74:11 Why hold back…within your bosom: i.e., idle beneath your cloak.
- 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?
- 74:15 Waters: lit., “rivers” (cf. Ps 24:7; Isa 50:2) upon which, or from which, in primordial times the earth is created.
Chinese New Version (CNV). Copyright © 1976, 1992, 1999, 2001, 2005 by Worldwide Bible Society.
Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.
