Psalm 74

Revised Standard Version

⁴ Thy foes have roared in the midst of thy holy place;
    they set up their own signs for signs.
⁵ At the upper entrance they hacked
    the wooden trellis with axes.^[a]
6 And then all its carved wood
    they broke down with hatchets and hammers.
⁷ They set thy sanctuary on fire;
    to the ground they desecrated the dwelling place of thy name.
⁸ They said to themselves, “We will utterly subdue them”;
    they burned all the meeting places of God in the land.

⁹ We do not see our signs;
    there is no longer any prophet,
    and there is none among us who knows how long.
¹⁰ How long, O God, is the foe to scoff?
    Is the enemy to revile thy name for ever?
¹¹ Why dost thou hold back thy hand,
    why dost thou keep thy right hand in^[b] thy bosom?

¹² Yet God my King is from of old,
    working salvation in the midst of the earth.
¹³ Thou didst divide the sea by thy might;
    thou didst break the heads of the dragons on the waters.
¹⁴ Thou didst crush the heads of Leviathan,
    thou didst give him as food^[c] for the creatures of the wilderness.
¹⁵ Thou didst cleave open springs and brooks;
    thou didst dry up ever-flowing streams.
¹⁶ Thine is the day, thine also the night;
    thou hast established the luminaries and the sun.
¹⁷ Thou hast fixed all the bounds of the earth;
    thou hast made summer and winter.

¹⁸ Remember this, O Lord, how the enemy scoffs,
    and an impious people reviles thy name.
¹⁹ Do not deliver the soul of thy dove to the wild beasts;
    do not forget the life of thy poor for ever.

²⁰ Have regard for thy^[d] covenant;
    for the dark places of the land are full of the habitations of violence.
²¹ Let not the downtrodden be put to shame;
    let the poor and needy praise thy name.

²² Arise, O God, plead thy cause;
    remember how the impious scoff at thee all the day!
²³ Do not forget the clamor of thy foes,
    the uproar of thy adversaries which goes up continually!