Psalms 74

NEW AMERICAN BIBLE	CATHOLIC PUBLIC DOMAIN
1 A maskil of Asaph. I Why, God, have you cast us off forever? Why does your anger burn against the sheep of your pasture?	1 Unto the end. May you not be corrupted. A Canticle Psalm of Asaph.
2 Remember your flock that you gathered of old, the tribe you redeemed as your very own. Remember Mount Zion where you dwell.	2 We will confess to you, O God. We will confess, and we will call upon your name. We will describe your wonders.
3 Turn your steps toward the utter ruins, toward the sanctuary devastated by the enemy.	3 While I have time, I will judge justices.
4 Your foes roared triumphantly in your shrine; they set up their own tokens of victory.	4 The earth has been dissolved, with all who dwell in it. I have confirmed its pillars.
5 They hacked away like foresters gathering boughs, swinging their axes in a thicket of trees.	5 I said to the iniquitous: “Do not act unjustly,” and to the offenders: “Do not exalt the horn.”
6 They smashed all your engraved work, pounded it with hammer and pick.	6 Do not exalt your horn on high. Do not speak iniquity against God.
7 They set your sanctuary on fire; the abode of your name they razed and profaned.	7 For it is neither from the east, nor from the west, nor before the desert mountains.
8 They said in their hearts, "Destroy them all! Burn all the shrines of God in the land!"	8 For God is judge. This one he humbles and that one he exalts.
9 Now we see no signs, we have no prophets, no one who knows how long.	9 For, in the hand of the Lord, there is a cup of undiluted wine, full of consternation. And he has tipped it from here to there. So, truly, its dregs have not been emptied. All the sinners of the earth will drink.
10 How long, O God, shall the enemy jeer? Shall the foe revile your name forever?	10 But I will announce it in every age. I will sing to the God of Jacob.
11 Why draw back your right hand, why keep it idle beneath your cloak?	11 And I will break all the horns of sinners. And the horns of the just will be exalted.
12 Yet you, God, are my king from of old, winning victories throughout the earth.
13 You stirred up the sea in your might; you smashed the heads of the dragons on the waters.
14 You crushed the heads of Leviathan, tossed him for food to the sharks.
15 You opened up springs and torrents, brought dry land out of the primeval waters.
16 Yours the day and yours the night; you set the moon and sun in place.
17 You fixed all the limits of the earth; summer and winter you made.
18 Remember how the enemy has jeered, O LORD, how a foolish people has reviled your name.
19 Do not surrender to beasts those who praise you; do not forget forever the life of your afflicted.
20 Look to your covenant, for the land is filled with gloom; the pastures, with violence.
21 Let not the oppressed turn back in shame; may the poor and needy praise your name.
22 Arise, God, defend your cause; remember the constant jeers of the fools.
23 Do not ignore the clamor of your foes, the unceasing uproar of your enemies.