Psalms
Chapter 74
This is a prayer written after enemies broke into and burned God's temple in Jerusalem. The writer describes the wreckage, says there is no prophet left to tell them how long the trouble will last, and asks God why He seems to have walked away. In the middle he remembers God's power over the sea and over day and night, then asks God to stand up and act for His own people.
Plain reading written for preteens. Clear and complete, at about a fifth grade reading level.
O God, why hast thou cast us off for ever? why doth thine anger smoke against the sheep of thy pasture?
1God, why have you pushed us away for good? Why does your anger burn against the sheep you look after?
2Remember thy congregation, which thou hast purchased of old; the rod of thine inheritance, which thou hast redeemed; this mount Zion, wherein thou hast dwelt.
2Remember the people you gathered long ago. You bought them and set them free to be your own. Remember Mount Zion, where you lived.
3Lift up thy feet unto the perpetual desolations; even all that the enemy hath done wickedly in the sanctuary.
3Come and walk through these ruins that stay ruined. Look at all the harm the enemy has done inside your holy house.
4Thine enemies roar in the midst of thy congregations; they set up their ensigns for signs.
4Your enemies roared inside the place where your people met with you. They raised their own battle flags there as signs.
5A man was famous according as he had lifted up axes upon the thick trees.
5They acted like men swinging axes into a thick stand of trees.
Verses 5 and 6 compare the attackers to woodcutters. They hacked at the temple's carved wood the way men chop into a thick forest.
6But now they break down the carved work thereof at once with axes and hammers.
6Now they smash all the carved woodwork to bits with axes and hammers.
7They have cast fire into thy sanctuary, they have defiled by casting down the dwelling place of thy name to the ground.
7They set your holy house on fire. They knocked the home of your name to the ground and ruined it.
8They said in their hearts, Let us destroy them together: they have burned up all the synagogues of God in the land.
8They said to themselves, "Let's wipe them all out." They burned every place in the land where people met with God.
"Synagogues" here means any place where people gathered to worship God, not the synagogue buildings of later times.
9We see not our signs: there is no more any prophet: neither is there among us any that knoweth how long.
9We see no signs from you. There is no prophet left. No one among us knows how long this will go on.
10O God, how long shall the adversary reproach? shall the enemy blaspheme thy name for ever?
10God, how long will the enemy keep insulting you? Will he speak against your name forever?
11Why withdrawest thou thy hand, even thy right hand? pluck it out of thy bosom.
11Why do you hold back your hand, your strong right hand? Pull it out and do something.
12For God is my King of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth.
12But God has been my King from long ago. He brings rescue right here on the earth.
13Thou didst divide the sea by thy strength: thou brakest the heads of the dragons in the waters.
13You split the sea open by your strength. You crushed the heads of the sea monsters in the water.
14Thou brakest the heads of leviathan in pieces, and gavest him to be meat to the people inhabiting the wilderness.
14You smashed the heads of Leviathan to pieces. You gave him as food to the creatures that live in the desert.
"Meat" in the King James Bible means food of any kind, not just animal flesh. Leviathan is a huge sea creature.
15Thou didst cleave the fountain and the flood: thou driedst up mighty rivers.
15You opened up springs and streams. You dried up rivers that never ran dry before.
16The day is thine, the night also is thine: thou hast prepared the light and the sun.
16The day belongs to you, and the night belongs to you too. You made the light and the sun.
17Thou hast set all the borders of the earth: thou hast made summer and winter.
17You set every border of the earth in place. You made summer and winter.
18Remember this, that the enemy hath reproached, O LORD, and that the foolish people have blasphemed thy name.
18Remember this, LORD: the enemy has mocked you, and foolish people have insulted your name.
19O deliver not the soul of thy turtledove unto the multitude of the wicked: forget not the congregation of thy poor for ever.
19Do not hand your dove over to a crowd of cruel people. Do not forget your poor people forever.
A "turtledove" is a small kind of dove, not a turtle. Here it stands for God's people, small and easy to hurt.
20Have respect unto the covenant: for the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty.
20Keep the promise you made to us. The dark corners of the land are full of places where cruel things happen.
21O let not the oppressed return ashamed: let the poor and needy praise thy name.
21Do not let the beaten-down go away ashamed. Let the poor and needy praise your name.
22Arise, O God, plead thine own cause: remember how the foolish man reproacheth thee daily.
22Stand up, God, and defend your own case. Remember how foolish people mock you all day long.
23Forget not the voice of thine enemies: the tumult of those that rise up against thee increaseth continually.
23Do not ignore the shouting of your enemies. The uproar of those who fight you keeps getting louder.
← → to turn the page · P for plain English · click a verse to sit with it