Salmos 74

¹ «Maschil of Asaph.» O God,The Church of God is oppressed by the tyranny, either of the Babylonians or of Antiochus, and prays to God by whose hand the yoke was laid on them for their sins.why hast thou cast [us] off for ever? [why] doth thine anger smoke against the sheep of thy pasture?

² Remember thy congregation, [which] thou hast purchased of old; theWhich inheritance you have measured out for yourself as with a line or rod.rod of thine inheritance, [which] thou hast redeemed; this mount Zion, wherein thou hast dwelt.

³ Lift vp thy strokes, that thou mayest for euer destroy euery enemie that doeth euill to the Sanctuarie.

⁴ Thine enemies roar in the midst of thy congregations; theyThey have destroyed your true religion, and spread their banners in sign of defiance.set up their ensigns [for] signs.

⁵ [A man] was famous according as he hadHe commends the temple for the costly matter, the excellent workmanship and beauty of it, which nonetheless the enemies destroyed.lifted up axes upon the thick trees.

⁶ But nowe they breake downe the carued worke thereof with axes and hammers.

⁷ They haue cast thy Sanctuarie into the fire, and rased it to the grounde, and haue defiled the dwelling place of thy Name.

⁸ They said in theirThey encouraged one another to cruelty, that not only God's people might be destroyed, but also his religion utterly in all places suppressed.hearts, Let us destroy them together: they have burned up all the synagogues of God in the land.

⁹ We see not our signs: [there is] no more any prophet: neither [is there] among us any that knowethThey lamented that they had no prophet among them to show them how long their misery would last.how long.

¹⁰ O God, howe long shall the aduersarie reproche thee? shall the enemie blaspheme thy Name for euer?

¹¹ Why withdrawest thou thy hand, even thy right hand?They join their deliverance with God's glory and power, knowing that the punishment of the enemy would be their deliverance.pluck [it] out of thy bosom.

¹² For God [is] my King of old, working salvationMeaning in the sight of all the world.in the midst of the earth.

¹³ Thou didst divide the sea by thy strength: thou brakest the heads of theThat is, Pharaoh's army.dragons in the waters.

¹⁴ Thou brakest the heads ofWhich was a great monster of the sea, or whale, meaning Pharaoh.leviathan in pieces, [and] gavest him [to be]His destruction rejoiced them as meat refreshes the body.meat to the people inhabiting the wilderness.

¹⁵ Thou brakest vp the fountaine and riuer: thou dryedst vp mightie riuers.

¹⁶ TheSeeing that God by his providence governs and disposes all things, he gathers that he will take care chiefly for his children.day [is] thine, the night also [is] thine: thou hast prepared the light and the sun.

¹⁷ Thou hast set all the borders of the earth: thou hast made summer and winter.

¹⁸ Remember this, that the enemie hath reproched the Lorde, and the foolish people hath blasphemed thy Name.

¹⁹ O deliver not the soul of thyHe means the Church of God, which is exposed as a prey to the wicked.turtledove unto the multitude [of the wicked]: forget not the congregation of thy poor for ever.

²⁰ Have respect unto the covenant: forThat is, all places where your word does not shine, there reigns tyranny and ambition.the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty.

²¹ Oh let not the oppressed returne ashamed, but let the poore and needie prayse thy Name.

²² Arise, O God, plead thineHe shows that God cannot permit his Church to be oppressed unless he looses his own right.own cause: remember how the foolish man reproacheth thee daily.

²³ Forget not the voyce of thine enemies: for the tumult of them, that rise against thee, ascendeth continually.