Psalms 74

Arise, O God, Defend Your Cause A Maskil of Asaph. [1] O God, why do you cast us off forever? Why does your anger smoke against the sheep of your pasture? [2] Remember your congregation, which you have purchased of old, which you have redeemed to be the tribe of your heritage! Remember Mount Zion, where you have dwelt. [3] Direct your steps to the perpetual ruins; the enemy has destroyed everything in the sanctuary! [4] Your foes have roared in the midst of your meeting place; they set up their own signs for signs. [5] They were like those who swing axes in a forest of trees. [6] And all its carved wood they broke down with hatchets and hammers. [7] They set your sanctuary on fire; they profaned the dwelling place of your name, bringing it down to the ground. [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 your name forever? [11] Why do you hold back your hand, your right hand? Take it from the fold of your garment and destroy them! [12] Yet God my King is from of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth. [13] You divided the sea by your might; you broke the heads of the sea monsters on the waters. [14] You crushed the heads of Leviathan; you gave him as food for the creatures of the wilderness. [15] You split open springs and brooks; you dried up ever-flowing streams. [16] Yours is the day, yours also the night; you have established the heavenly lights and the sun. [17] You have fixed all the boundaries of the earth; you have made summer and winter. [18] Remember this, O LORD, how the enemy scoffs, and a foolish people reviles your name. [19] Do not deliver the soul of your dove to the wild beasts; do not forget the life of your poor forever. [20] Have regard for the covenant, for the dark places of the land are full of the habitations of violence. [21] Let not the downtrodden turn back in shame; let the poor and needy praise your name. [22] Arise, O God, defend your cause; remember how the foolish scoff at you all the day! [23] Do not forget the clamor of your foes, the uproar of those who rise against you, which goes up continually! (ESV)