Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

74 (A Maskil of Asaph) O Elohim, why hast Thou cast us off lanetzach? Why doth Thine anger smoke against the tzon (sheep) of Thy mireh (pasture)?

² Remember Thy Edah (congregation), which Thou hast purchased of old; the shevet (tribe) of Thine nachalah, which Thou hast redeemed: this Har Tziyon, wherein Thou hast dwelt.

³ Lift up Thy footsteps unto the mashu’ot netzach (perpetual ruins); even all that the oyev hath done wickedly in the Kodesh [the Beis HaMikdash].

⁴ Thine enemies roar in the midst of Thy Mo’ed (place of meeting); they set up their banners for otot (signs, i.e., their heathen insignia).

⁵ It had been as though one lifted up kardumim (axes) upon the thicket of etz.

⁶ But now they break down the carved panels [of the Beis HaMikdash] at once with hammers and chisels.

⁷ They have set ablaze Thy Mikdash, burning it to the ground; they have brought chillul to the Mishkan Shemecha (the dwelling place of Thy Name).

⁸ They said in their hearts, Let us crush them altogether; they have burned up all the Mo’adei El in HaAretz.

⁹ We see not our otot (signs); there is no longer any navi; neither is there among us any that knoweth ad mah (until when).

¹⁰ O Elohim ad mosai, (how long) shall the adversary revile? Shall the oyev (enemy) blaspheme Thy Shem lanetzach (forever)?

¹¹ Why withdrawest Thou Thy Yad, even Thy Yamin (Right Hand)? Take it out of Thy Kheyk (bosom) and destroy [them].

¹² For Elohim is my Melech mikedem (from of old), working Yeshuah (salvation) in the midst of Ha’Aretz.

¹³ Thou didst divide the yam by Thy oz (power); Thou didst break the heads of the sea serpents in the waters.

¹⁴ Thou didst break the head of Leviathan in pieces, and gavest him to be ma’akhal (food) to the people inhabiting the wilderness.

¹⁵ Thou didst break open the fountain and the flood; Thou driedst up mighty naharot (rivers).

¹⁶ The yom is Thine, the lailah also is Thine; Thou hast prepared the ma’ohr (luminary, moon) and the shemesh.

¹⁷ Thou hast set all the boundaries of Eretz; Thou hast made kayitz (summer) and choref (winter).

¹⁸ Remember this, that the oyev (enemy) hath reproached Hashem, and that the am naval (foolish people) have blasphemed Shimcha.

¹⁹ O deliver not the nefesh of Thy turtledove unto the wild beast; forget not the life of Thy aniyim (poor) lanetzach (forever).

²⁰ Have regard unto the Brit (covenant); for the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of chamas.

²¹ O let not the oppressed return in shame; let the oni and evyon praise Thy Shem.

²² Arise, O Elohim, fight for Thine Own cause; remember how the naval (foolish man) revileth Thee kol hayom.

²³ Forget not the kol (voice) of Thine enemies, the tumult of those against Thee that rises up tamid (continually). [T.N. Cf Lk 2:23-24 and Ps 74:19 remembering that the turtledove was the sacrifice of the poor, which Moshiach would be, not a rich man but ani, according to Zech 9:9.]

²⁴ Therefore as the eish licketh up the stubble, and the flame consumeth the dry grass, so their shoresh shall be as rottenness, and their blossom shall go up as dust; because they have cast away the Torat Hashem Tzva’os, and spurned the word of the Kadosh Yisroel.

²⁵ Therefore is the Af Hashem kindled against His people, and He hath stretched forth His yad against them, and hath struck them down; and the mountains did tremble, and their nevilah were like refuse in the streets. For all this His anger is not turned away, but His yad is stretched out still.

²⁶ And He will lift up a banner to the distant Goyim, and will whistle for him at the ketzeh ha’aretz; hinei, they shall come with speed swiftly;

²⁷ None shall be weary nor stumble among them; none shall slumber nor sleep; neither shall the ezor of their loins be loosed, nor the thong of their sandals be broken;

²⁸ Whose khitzim (arrows) are sharp, and all their bows bent, the hoofs of their susim shall seem like flint, and their wheels like a whirlwind:

²⁹ Their roaring shall be like a lion, they shall roar like young lions; yea, they shall roar, and lay hold of the teref, and shall carry it away safe, and none shall deliver it.

³⁰ And in Yom Hahu they shall roar against them like the roaring of the sea; and if one look unto ha’aretz, hinei, choshech and tzar (distress), and the ohr groweth dark with clouds.

⁴⁴ "Avoteinu had the Mishkan HaEdut in the midbar just as the One who spoke to Moshe [Rabbeinu] directed him to make it according to the TAVNIT (pattern) which he had seen. [Ex 27:21; 38:21; Num 1:50; 17:7; Ex 25:8,9,40; Josh 3:14; 18:1]

⁴⁵ "And having received it in their turn, Avoteinu brought it in with Yehoshua (Joshua) upon the dispossessing of the land of the Goyim, which Hashem drove out from the presence of Avoteinu until the yamim of Dovid. [Josh 3:14-17; 18:1; 23:9; 24:18; Ps 44:2; 2Sm 7:2,6; Gn 17:8; 48:4; Dt 32:49]

⁴⁶ "And Dovid found Chen v’Chesed Hashem before G-d, and asked that he might find a mishkan for Elohei Ya’akov. [SHMUEL BAIS 7:2, 8-16;MELACHIM ALEF 8:17; TEHILLIM 132:1-5]

⁴⁷ "And Sh’lomo (Solomon) built for him a Beis. [MELACHIM ALEF 6:1-38]

⁴⁸ "But HaElyon does not dwell in battim made by human hands, just as the Navi (prophet) says, [MELACHIM ALEF 8:27; MELACHIM BAIS 2:6]

⁴⁹ "HASHOMAYIM KISSI V’HAARETZ HADOM RAGLAI ("Heaven is my throne and earth is the footstool for my feet"). EI-ZEH BAYIT ASHER TIVNU LI ("What kind of House will you build for me?") says Hashem, V’EI ZEH MAKOM MENUCHATI ("Or where will my resting place be?")

⁵⁰ "Did not my hand ASATAH (make) all these things?" [YESHAYAH 66:1,2]

⁵¹ "You AM KESHEH OREF ("stiff-necked people" SHEMOT 33:5), you who are without the “bris milah” of the lev (heart) and of the oznayim (ears), you always resist the Ruach Hakodesh; you are doing like your Avot. [Ex 32:9; 33:3,5; Lv 26:41; Dt 10:16; Jer 4:4; 9:26; Isa 63:10]

⁵² "Which of the Nevi’im (prophets) did your Avot not persecute? And they killed the ones having announced beforehand about the Bias HaMoshiach, the coming of the Tzaddik of whom now you became bogedim and rotzechim (murderers);

⁵³ "You who received the Torah at the directions of malachim and were not shomer of it."