Old/New Testament
A maskil of Asaph.
74 God, why have you turned away from us for so long?
Why are you still angry with us, your own flock?
2 Remember the people you bought so long ago.
You saved us, and we belong to you.
And remember Mount Zion, the place where you lived.
3 God, come walk through these ancient ruins.
Come back to the Holy Place that the enemy destroyed.
4 The enemy shouted their war cries in the Temple.
They put up their flags there to show they had won the war.
5 Their soldiers attacked the doors,
like workmen chopping down trees.
6 Using axes and hatchets,
they smashed the carved panels inside.
7 They burned down your Holy Place.
It was built to honor your name,
but they pulled it down to the ground.
8 The enemy decided to crush us completely.
They burned every holy place[a] in the country.
9 We do not see any of our signs.[b]
There are no more prophets.
And no one knows how long this will last.
10 God, how much longer will the enemy make fun of us?
Will you let them insult your name forever?
11 Why won’t you help us?
Use your power to defeat our enemies!
12 God, you have been our King for a long time.
You have saved us many times on this earth.
13 With your great power you split open the sea
and broke the heads of the sea monster.
14 Yes, you smashed the heads of Leviathan[c]
and left his body for animals to eat.
15 You make the springs and rivers flow,
and you make the rivers dry up.
16 You control the day and the night.
You made the sun and the moon.
17 You set the limits for everything on earth.
And you created summer and winter.
18 Lord, remember, the enemy insulted you!
Those foolish people hate your name!
19 Don’t give us like a helpless dove to those wild animals.
Never forget your poor, suffering people.
20 Remember the agreement you gave us,
because violence fills every dark place in this land.
21 Your people were treated badly.
Don’t let them be hurt anymore.
Let your poor, helpless people praise you.
22 God, get up and defend yourself!
Remember, those fools challenged you.
23 Don’t forget the shouts of your enemies.
They insulted you again and again.
To the director: To the tune “Don’t Destroy.” One of Asaph’s songs of praise.
75 We praise you, God!
We praise you because you[d] are near to us.
We tell about the amazing things you have done.
2 God says, “I have chosen a time for judgment,
and I will judge fairly.
3 The earth and all its people may shake,
but I am the one who keeps it steady. Selah
4 “To those who are proud I say, ‘Stop your boasting.’
I warn the wicked, ‘Don’t brag about how strong you are.
5 Don’t be so sure that you will win.
Don’t boast that victory is yours!’”
6 There is no power on earth
that can make a person important.[e]
7 God is the judge.
He decides who will be important.
He lifts one person up and brings another down.
8 The Lord has a cup in his hand.
It is filled with the poisoned wine of his anger.
He will pour out this wine,
and the wicked will drink it to the last drop.
9 I will always tell people how great God is.
I will sing praise to the God of Jacob.
10 God says, “I will take away any power the wicked have
and give it to those who are good.”
To the director: With instruments. One of Asaph’s songs of praise.
76 People in Judah know God.
People in Israel respect his name.
2 His Temple is in Salem.[f]
His house is on Mount Zion.
3 There he shattered the arrows,
shields, swords, and other weapons of war. Selah
4 God, you are glorious coming back
from the hills where you defeated your enemies.
5 They thought they were strong, but now they lie dead in the fields.
Their bodies are stripped of all they owned.
They could not defend themselves.[g]
6 The God of Jacob shouted at them,
and their army of chariots and horses fell dead.
7 God, you are awesome!
No one can stand against you when you are angry.
8-9 You stood as judge and announced your decision.
You saved the humble people of the land.
From heaven you gave the decision,
and the whole earth was silent and afraid.
10 Even human anger can bring you honor
when you use it to punish your enemies.[h]
11 People, you made promises to the Lord your God.
Now give him what you promised.
People everywhere fear and respect God,
and they will bring gifts to him.
12 God defeats great leaders;
all the kings on earth fear him.
16 So God will choose anyone he decides to show mercy to, and his choice does not depend on what people want or try to do. 17 In the Scriptures God says to Pharaoh: “I made you king so that you could do this for me. I wanted to show my power through you. I wanted my name to be announced throughout the world.”[a] 18 So God shows mercy to those he wants to show mercy to and makes stubborn those he wants to make stubborn.
19 So one of you will ask me, “If God controls what we do, why does he blame us for our sins?” 20 Don’t ask that. You are only human and have no right to question God. A clay jar does not question the one who made it. It does not say, “Why did you make me like this?” 21 The one who makes the jar can make anything he wants. He uses the same clay to make different things. He might make one thing for special purposes and another for daily use.
22 It is the same way with what God has done. He wanted to show his anger and to let people see his power. But he patiently endured those he was angry with—people who were ready to be destroyed. 23 He waited with patience so that he could make known the riches of his glory to the people he has chosen to receive his mercy. God has already prepared them to share his glory. 24 We are those people, the ones God chose not only from the Jews but also from those who are not Jews. 25 As the Scriptures say in the book of Hosea,
“The people who are not mine—
I will say they are my people.
And the people I did not love—
I will say they are the people I love.” (A)
26 And,
“Where God said in the past,
‘You are not my people’—
there they will be called children of the living God.” (B)
27 And Isaiah cries out about Israel:
“There are so many people of Israel,
they are like the grains of sand by the sea.
But only a few of them will be saved.
28 Yes, the Lord will quickly finish judging the people on the earth.” (C)
29 It is just as Isaiah said:
“The Lord All-Powerful
allowed some of our people to live.
If he had not done that,
we would now be like Sodom,
and we would be like Gomorrah.” (D)
30 So what does all this mean? It means that people who are not Jews were made right with God because of their faith, even though they were not trying to make themselves right. 31 And the people of Israel, who tried to make themselves right with God by following the law, did not succeed. 32 They failed because they tried to make themselves right by the things they did. They did not trust in God to make them right. They fell over the stone that makes people fall. 33 The Scriptures talk about that stone:
“Look, I put in Zion a stone that will make people stumble.
It is a rock that will make people fall.
But anyone who trusts in him
will never be disappointed.” (E)
Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International