Psalms 73

¹The understanding of Asaph. O God, why have you rejected us to the end. Why has your fury become enraged over the sheep of your pasture?

²Be mindful of your congregation, which you have possessed from the beginning. You redeemed the scepter of your inheritance, mount Zion, in which you have dwelt.

³Lift up your hands against their arrogance in the end. How great the malice of the enemy has been in the sanctuary!

⁴And those who hate you have been glorified, in the midst of your solemnity. They have set up their own signs as a proof,

⁵as if it had been issued from on high; yet they did not understand. As in a forest of chopped wood,

⁶they have cut down the entrances themselves. With axe and hatchet, they have brought it down.

⁷They have set fire to your Sanctuary. They have polluted the tabernacle of your name on earth.

⁸They have said in their heart, the whole group of them together: “Let us cause all the feast days of God to cease from the land.

⁹We have not seen our proof; there is now no prophet. And he will no longer know us.”

¹⁰How long, O God, will the enemy place blame? Is the adversary to provoke your name until the end?

¹¹Why do you turn your hand away, even your right hand, from the midst of your sinews, until the end?

¹²But God is our king before all ages. He has wrought salvation in the midst of the earth.

¹³In your virtue, you confirmed the sea. You crushed the heads of the serpents in the waters.

¹⁴You have broken the heads of the serpent. You have given him as food for the people of the Ethiopians.

¹⁵You have disrupted the fountains and the torrents. You have dried up the rivers of Ethan.

¹⁶Yours is the day, and yours is the night. You have made the morning light and the sun.

¹⁷You have made all the limits of the earth. The summer and the spring were formed by you.

¹⁸Be mindful of this: the enemy placed blame against the Lord, and a foolish people has incited against your name.

¹⁹Do not hand over to beasts the souls that confess to you; and do not forget the souls of your poor until the end.

²⁰Consider your covenant. For those who have been darkened upon the earth have been filled by the iniquity of the houses.

²¹Do not allow the humble to be turned away in confusion. The poor and the needy will praise your name.

²²Rise up, O God, judge your own case. Call to mind the accusations against you, which are made by the foolish all day long.

²³Do not forget the voices of your adversaries. The arrogance of those who hate you rises up continually.

Psalms 73

¹Understanding for Asaph. O God, why hast thou cast us off unto the end: why is thy wrath enkindled against the sheep of thy pasture?

²Remember thy congregation, which thou hast possessed from the beginning. The sceptre of thy inheritance which thou hast redeemed: mount Sion in which thou hast dwelt.

³Lift up thy hands against their pride unto the end; see what things the enemy hath done wickedly in the sanctuary.

⁴And they that hate thee have made their boasts, in the midst of thy solemnity. They have set up their ensigns for signs,

⁵And they knew not both in the going out and on the highest top. As with axes in a wood of trees,

⁶They have cut down at once the gates thereof, with axe and hatchet they have brought it down.

⁷They have set fire to thy sanctuary: they have defiled the dwelling place of thy name on the earth.

⁸They said in their heart, the whole kindred of them together: Let us abolish all the festival days of God from the land.

⁹Our signs we have not seen, there is now no prophet: and he will know us no more.

¹⁰How long, O God, shall the enemy reproach: is the adversary to provoke thy name for ever?

¹¹Why dost thou turn away thy hand: and thy right hand out of the midst of thy bosom for ever?

¹²But God is our king before ages: he hath wrought salvation in the midst of the earth.

¹³Thou by thy strength didst make the sea firm: thou didst crush the heads of the dragons in the waters.

¹⁴Thou hast broken the heads of the dragon: thou hast given him to be meat for the people of the Ethiopians.

¹⁵Thou hast broken up the fountains and the torrents: thou hast dried up the Ethan rivers.

¹⁶Thine is the day, and thine is the night: thou hast made the morning light and the sun.

¹⁷Thou hast made all the borders of the earth: the summer and the spring were formed by thee.

¹⁸Remember this, the enemy hath reproached the Lord: and a foolish people hath provoked thy name.

¹⁹Deliver not up to beasts the souls that confess to thee: and forget not to the end the souls of thy poor.

²⁰Have regard to thy covenant: for they that are the obscure of the earth have been filled with dwellings of iniquity.

²¹Let not the humble be turned away with confusion: the poor and needy shall praise thy name.

²²Arise, O God, judge thy own cause: remember thy reproaches with which the foolish man hath reproached thee all the day.

²³Forget not the voices of thy enemies: the pride of them that hate thee ascendeth continually.