Old/New Testament
74 (0) A maskil of Asaf:
(1) Why have you rejected us forever, God,
with your anger smoking against the sheep you once pastured?
2 Remember your community, which you acquired long ago,
the tribe you redeemed to be your very own.
Remember Mount Tziyon, where you came to live.
3 Hurry your steps to these endless ruins,
to the sanctuary devastated by the enemy.
4 The roar of your foes filled your meeting-place;
they raised their own banners as a sign of their conquest.
5 The place seemed like a thicket of trees
when lumbermen hack away with their axes.
6 With hatchet and hammer they banged away,
smashing all the carved woodwork.
7 They set your sanctuary on fire,
tore down and profaned the abode of your name.
8 They said to themselves, “We will oppress them completely.”
They have burned down all God’s meeting-places in the land.
9 We see no signs, there is no prophet any more;
none of us knows how long it will last.
10 How much longer, God, will the foe jeer at us?
Will the enemy insult your name forever?
11 Why do you hold back your hand?
Draw your right hand from your coat, and finish them off!
12 God has been my king from earliest times,
acting to save throughout all the earth.
13 By your strength you split the sea in two,
in the water you smashed sea monsters’ heads,
14 you crushed the heads of Livyatan
and gave it as food to the creatures of the desert.
15 You cut channels for springs and streams,
you dried up rivers that had never failed.
16 The day is yours, and the night is yours;
it was you who established light and sun.
17 It was you who fixed all the limits of the earth,
you made summer and winter.
18 Remember how the enemy scoffs at Adonai,
how a brutish people insults your name.
19 Don’t hand over the soul of your dove to wild beasts,
don’t forget forever the life of your poor.
20 Look to the covenant, for the land’s dark places
are full of the haunts of violence.
21 Don’t let the oppressed retreat in confusion;
let the poor and needy praise your name.
22 Arise, God, and defend your cause;
remember how brutish men insult you all day.
23 Don’t forget what your foes are saying,
the ever-rising uproar of your adversaries.
75 (0) For the leader. Set to “Do Not Destroy!” A psalm of Asaf. A song:
2 (1) We give thanks to you, God, we give thanks;
your name is near, people tell of your wonders.
3 (2) “At the time of my own choice,
I will dispense justice fairly.
4 (3) When the earth quakes, with all living on it,
it is I who hold its support-pillars firm.” (Selah)
5 (4) To the boastful I say, “Do not boast!”
and to the wicked, “Don’t flaunt your strength!
6 (5) Don’t flaunt your strength so proudly;
don’t speak arrogantly, with your nose in the air!
7 (6) For you will not be raised to power
by those in the east, the west or the desert;
8 (7) since God is the judge; and it is he
who puts down one and lifts up another.
9 (8) In Adonai’s hand there is a cup of wine,
foaming, richly spiced;
when he pours it out, all the wicked of the earth
will drain it, drinking it to the dregs.”
10 (9) But I will always speak out,
singing praises to the God of Ya‘akov.
11 (10) I will break down the strength of the wicked,
but the strength of the righteous will be raised up.
76 (0) For the leader. With string music. A psalm of Asaf. A song:
2 (1) In Y’hudah God is known;
his name is great in Isra’el.
3 (2) His tent is in Shalem,
his place is in Tziyon.
4 (3) There he broke the flashing arrows,
the shield, the sword, and the weapons of war. (Selah)
5 (4) You are glorious, majestic,
more so than mountains of prey.
6 (5) The bravest have been stripped of their spoil
and now are sleeping their final sleep;
not one of these courageous men
finds strength to raise his hands.
7 (6) At your rebuke, God of Ya‘akov,
riders and horses lie stunned.
8 (7) You are fearsome! When once you are angry,
who can stand in your presence?
9 (8) You pronounce sentence from heaven;
the earth grows silent with fear
10 (9) when God arises to judge,
to save all the humble of the earth. (Selah)
11 (10) Human wrath serves only to praise you;
what remains of this wrath you wear as an ornament.
12 (11) Make vows to Adonai your God, and keep them;
all who are around him must bring presents to the one who should be feared.
13 (12) He curbs the spirit of princes;
he is fearsome to the kings of the earth.
16 Thus it doesn’t depend on human desires or efforts, but on God, who has mercy. 17 For the Tanakh says to Pharaoh, “It is for this very reason that I raised you up, so that in connection with you I might demonstrate my power, so that my name might be known throughout the world.”[a] 18 So then, he has mercy on whom he wants, and he hardens whom he wants.
19 But you will say to me, “Then why does he still find fault with us? After all, who resists his will?” 20 Who are you, a mere human being, to talk back to God? Will what is formed say to him who formed it, “Why did you make me this way?”[b] 21 Or has the potter no right to make from a given lump of clay this pot for honorable use and that one for dishonorable? 22 Now what if God, even though he was quite willing to demonstrate his anger and make known his power, patiently put up with people who deserved punishment and were ripe for destruction? 23 What if he did this in order to make known the riches of his glory to those who are the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory — 24 that is, to us, whom he called not only from among the Jews but also from among the Gentiles? 25 As indeed he says in Hoshea,
“Those who were not my people I will call my people;
her who was not loved I will call loved;
26 and in the very place where they were told,
‘You are not my people,’
there they will be called sons of the living God!”[c]
27 But Yesha‘yahu, referring to Isra’el, cries out,
“Even if the number of people in Isra’el is as large
as the number of grains of sand by the sea,
only a remnant will be saved.
28 For Adonai will fulfill his word on the earth
with certainty and without delay.”[d]
29 Also, as Yesha‘yahu said earlier,
“If Adonai-Tzva’ot had not left us a seed,
we would have become like S’dom,
we would have resembled ‘Amora.”[e]
30 So, what are we to say? This: that Gentiles, even though they were not striving for righteousness, have obtained righteousness; but it is a righteousness grounded in trusting! 31 However, Isra’el, even though they kept pursuing a Torah that offers righteousness, did not reach what the Torah offers. 32 Why? Because they did not pursue righteousness as being grounded in trusting but as if it were grounded in doing legalistic works. They stumbled over the stone that makes people stumble.[f] 33 As the Tanakh puts it,
“Look, I am laying in Tziyon
a stone that will make people stumble,
a rock that will trip them up.
But he who rests his trust on it
will not be humiliated.”[g]
Copyright © 1998 by David H. Stern. All rights reserved.