Psalm 74

¹ God, why have you rejected us forever? Why does your anger smolder against the sheep of your pasture?

² Remember your congregation, which you purchased of old, which you have redeemed to be the tribe of your inheritance: Mount Zion, in which you have lived.

³ Lift up your feet to the perpetual ruins, all the evil that the enemy has done in the sanctuary.

⁴ Your adversaries have roared in the middle of your assembly. They have set up their standards as signs.

⁵ They behaved like men wielding axes, cutting through a thicket of trees.

⁶ Now they break all its carved work down with hatchet and hammers.

⁷ They have burned your sanctuary to the ground. They have profaned the dwelling place of your Name.

⁸ They said in their heart, “We will crush them completely.” They have burned up all the places in the land where God was worshiped.

⁹ We see no miraculous signs. There is no longer any prophet, neither is there among us anyone who knows how long.

¹⁰ How long, God, shall the adversary reproach? Shall the enemy blaspheme your name forever?

¹¹ Why do you draw back your hand, even your right hand? Take it from your chest and consume them!

¹² Yet God is my King of old, working salvation throughout the earth.

¹³ You divided the sea by your strength. You broke the heads of the sea monsters in the waters.

¹⁴ You broke the heads of Leviathan in pieces. You gave him as food to people and desert creatures.

¹⁵ You opened up spring and stream. You dried up mighty rivers.

¹⁶ The day is yours, the night is also yours. You have prepared the light and the sun.

¹⁷ You have set all the boundaries of the earth. You have made summer and winter.

¹⁸ Remember this, that the enemy has mocked you, LORD. Foolish people have blasphemed your name.

¹⁹ Don’t deliver the soul of your dove to wild beasts. Don’t forget the life of your poor forever.

²⁰ Honor your covenant, for haunts of violence fill the dark places of the earth.

²¹ Don’t let the oppressed return ashamed. Let the poor and needy praise your name.

²² Arise, God! Plead your own cause. Remember how the foolish man mocks you all day.

²³ Don’t forget the voice of your adversaries. The tumult of those who rise up against you ascends continually.

Around Psalm 74

Book context

PsalmsEditorial draft

Psalms is a collection of 150 songs and prayers used in Israel’s worship, written by several people over a long period. Headings name David most often, along with Asaph, the sons of Korah and others. The collection falls into five books, each ending with a short blessing of the LORD (41:13, 72:19, 89:52, 106:48), and it closes with a call for everything that has breath to praise the LORD (150:6). The psalms hold praise, lament, thanksgiving, confession and trust, so readers find words for nearly every season of life.

Why we say this

HisFullGlory editorial · broad consensus · not yet reviewed by a theological reader

From the text itself

Sources

Notes summarise their sources in our own words. Where Christians or scholars disagree, the note says so. Notes are not original-language evidence and do not replace the text.

AI explanation

About Psalms as a whole · Written by an AI model · Not reviewed by a theological reader

This explanation was written by an AI model to help you get started. It names no sources and can contain mistakes. Scripture comes first, and context with sources is shown separately on this page.

What this book is about

“How long, LORD? Will you forget me forever?” A prayer can begin like that, and in the Psalms it does. Four times the poet asks how long, and then, in the same short song, comes the turn: “But I trust in your loving kindness.”

That honesty runs through the whole book. Psalms is a collection of 150 songs and prayers, and it holds praise, thanksgiving, lament, confession, songs for the king, and reflections on wisdom and on God's law. It is arranged in five books and moves, on the whole, from many laments at the start to pure praise at the end.

Joy, fear, anger, guilt and doubt are all spoken to God directly.

Background

The psalms were written and gathered over several centuries. Their headings link about half of them with David and others with Asaph, the sons of Korah, Solomon and Moses. They were sung in the worship of the temple and later in synagogues and churches.

How Christians read it

Jews and Christians have prayed the Psalms daily for well over two thousand years. The New Testament quotes them more than any other book and reads many as speaking of Christ, among them Psalms 2, 22 and 110. The psalms that call for judgment on enemies are hard to read. Many understand them as handing vengeance over to God instead of taking it oneself.

About this explanation

Written by Claude Sonnet 5.5, an AI model, on 19 October 2026. It draws on the WEB text and general knowledge and was not checked against sources by a person. Every quotation from Scripture is checked automatically against the WEB text.

Report a mistake