Psalm 76

red bookmark icon blue bookmark icon gold bookmark icon

Arise, O God, Defend Your Cause

A Maskil1 of rAsaph.

74  O God, why do you scast us off forever?

Why does your anger tsmoke against uthe sheep of your pasture?

vRemember your congregation, which you have wpurchased of old,

which you have xredeemed to be ythe tribe of your heritage!

Remember Mount Zion, zwhere you have dwelt.

Direct your steps to athe perpetual ruins;

the enemy has destroyed everything in the sanctuary!

Your foes have broared in the midst of your meeting place;

cthey set up their down signs for esigns.

They were like those who swing faxes

in a forest of trees.2

And all its gcarved wood

they broke down with hatchets and hammers.

They hset your sanctuary on fire;

they iprofaned jthe dwelling place of your name,

bringing it down to the ground.

They ksaid to themselves, We will utterly subdue them;

they burned all the meeting places of God in the land.

We do not see our lsigns;

mthere is no longer any prophet,

and there is none among us who knows how long.

10  How long, O God, nis the foe to scoff?

Is the enemy to revile your name forever?

11  Why odo you hold back your hand, your right hand?

Take it from the fold of your garment3 and destroy them!

12  Yet pGod my King is from of old,

working salvation in the midst of the earth.

13  You qdivided the sea by your might;

you rbroke the heads of sthe sea monsters4 on the waters.

14  You crushed the heads of tLeviathan;

you gave him as food for the creatures of the wilderness.

15  You usplit open springs and brooks;

you vdried up ever-flowing streams.

16  Yours is the day, yours also the night;

you have established wthe heavenly lights and the sun.

17  You have xfixed all the boundaries of the earth;

you have made ysummer and winter.

18  zRemember this, O Lord, how the enemy scoffs,

and aa foolish people reviles your name.

19  Do not deliver the soul of your bdove to the wild beasts;

cdo not forget the life of your poor forever.

20  Have regard for dthe covenant,

for ethe dark places of the land are full of the habitations of violence.

21  Let not fthe downtrodden gturn back in shame;

let hthe poor and needy praise your name.

22  Arise, O God, idefend your cause;

jremember how the foolish scoff at you all the day!

23  Do not forget the clamor of your foes,

kthe uproar of those who rise against you, which goes up continually!

God Will Judge with Equity

To the choirmaster: according to lDo Not Destroy. mA Psalm of Asaph. A Song.

75  We give thanks to you, O God;

we give thanks, for your name is nnear.

We1 recount your wondrous deeds.

At othe set time that I appoint

I will judge pwith equity.

When the earth qtotters, and all its inhabitants,

it is I who keep steady its rpillars. Selah

I say to the boastful, Do not boast,

and to the wicked, sDo not lift up your horn;

do not lift up your horn on high,

or speak with haughty neck.

For not from the east or from the west

and not from the wilderness comes tlifting up,

but it is uGod who executes judgment,

vputting down one and lifting up another.

wFor in the hand of the Lord there is xa cup

with foaming wine, ywell mixed,

and he pours out from it,

and all the wicked of the earth

shall zdrain it down to the dregs.

But I will declare it forever;

I will sing praises to the God of Jacob.

10  aAll the horns of the wicked I will cut off,

bbut the horns of the righteous shall be lifted up.

Who Can Stand Before You?

To the choirmaster: with cstringed instruments. A Psalm of dAsaph. A Song.

76  In Judah God is eknown;

his name is great in Israel.

His fabode has been established in gSalem,

his hdwelling place in Zion.

There he ibroke the flashing arrows,

the shield, the sword, and the weapons of war. Selah

Glorious are you, more majestic

jthan the mountains full of kprey.

lThe stouthearted were stripped of their spoil;

mthey sank into sleep;

all the men of war

were unable to use their hands.

At your rebuke, O God of Jacob,

both nrider and horse lay stunned.

oBut you, you are to be feared!

Who can pstand before you

when once your anger is roused?

From the heavens you uttered judgment;

qthe earth feared and was still,

when God rarose to establish judgment,

to save all the humble of the earth. Selah

10  Surely sthe wrath of man shall praise you;

the remnant1 of wrath you will put on like a belt.

11  tMake your vows to the Lord your God and perform them;

let all around him ubring gifts

to him who vis to be feared,

12  who wcuts off the spirit of princes,

who xis to be feared by the kings of the earth.

In the Day of Trouble I Seek the Lord

To the choirmaster: according to yJeduthun. A Psalm of zAsaph.

77  I acry aloud to God,

aloud to God, and he will hear me.

bIn the day of my trouble I seek the Lord;

in cthe night my dhand is stretched out without wearying;

my soul erefuses to be comforted.

When I remember God, I fmoan;

when I meditate, my spirit faints. Selah

You hold my eyelids open;

I am so gtroubled that I cannot speak.

I consider hthe days of old,

the years long ago.

I said,1 Let me remember my isong in the night;

let me jmeditate in my heart.

Then my spirit made a diligent search:

Will the Lord kspurn forever,

and never again lbe favorable?

Has his steadfast love forever ceased?

Are his mpromises at an end for all time?

nHas God forgotten to be gracious?

oHas he in anger shut up his compassion? Selah

10  Then I said, I will appeal to this,

to the years of the pright hand of the Most High.2

11  I will remember the deeds of the Lord;

yes, I will qremember your wonders of old.

12  I will ponder all your rwork,

and meditate on your smighty deeds.

13  Your way, O God, is tholy.

uWhat god is great like our God?

14  You are the God who vworks wonders;

you have wmade known your might among the peoples.

15  You xwith your arm redeemed your people,

the children of Jacob and Joseph. Selah

16  When ythe waters saw you, O God,

when the waters saw you, they were afraid;

indeed, the deep trembled.

17  The clouds poured out water;

the skies zgave forth thunder;

your aarrows flashed on every side.

18  bThe crash of your thunder was in the whirlwind;

cyour lightnings lighted up the world;

the earth dtrembled and shook.

19  Your eway was through the sea,

your path through the great waters;

yet your footprints fwere unseen.3

20  You gled your people like a flock

by the hand of Moses and Aaron.

Tell the Coming Generation

A Maskil1 of hAsaph.

78  iGive ear, O my people, to my teaching;

incline your ears to the words of my mouth!

jI will open my mouth kin a parable;

I will utter dark sayings from of old,

things that we have heard and known,

that our lfathers have told us.

We will not mhide them from their children,

but ntell to the coming generation

the glorious deeds of the Lord, and his might,

and othe wonders that he has done.

He established pa testimony in qJacob

and appointed a law in qIsrael,

which he commanded our fathers

to teach to their children,

that rthe next generation might know them,

the children yet unborn,

and arise and tell them to their children,

so that they should set their hope in God

and not forget sthe works of God,

but tkeep his commandments;

and that they should not be ulike their fathers,

va stubborn and rebellious generation,

a generation wwhose heart was not steadfast,

whose spirit was not faithful to God.

The Ephraimites, armed with2 the bow,

xturned back on the day of battle.

10  They ydid not keep God’s covenant,

but refused to walk according to his law.

11  They zforgot his works

and athe wonders that he had shown them.

12  In the sight of their fathers bhe performed wonders

in the land of Egypt, in cthe fields of Zoan.

13  He ddivided the sea and let them pass through it,

and made the waters estand like a heap.

14  fIn the daytime he led them with a cloud,

and all the night with a fiery light.

15  He gsplit rocks in the wilderness

and gave them drink abundantly as from the deep.

16  He made streams come out of hthe rock

and caused waters to flow down like rivers.

17  Yet they sinned still more against him,

irebelling against the Most High in the desert.

18  They jtested God in their heart

by demanding the food they craved.

19  They spoke against God, saying,

kCan God lspread a table in the wilderness?

20  mHe struck the rock so that water gushed out

and streams overflowed.

Can he also give bread

or provide meat for his people?

21  Therefore, when the Lord heard, he was full of wrath;

na fire was kindled against Jacob;

his anger rose against Israel,

22  because they odid not believe in God

and did not trust his saving power.

23  Yet he commanded the skies above

and popened the doors of heaven,

24  and he qrained down on them manna to eat

and gave them rthe grain of heaven.

25  Man ate of the bread of sthe angels;

he sent them food tin abundance.

26  He ucaused the east wind to blow in the heavens,

and by his power he led out the south wind;

27  he rained meat on them like vdust,

winged birds like wthe sand of the seas;

28  he xlet them fall in the midst of their camp,

all around their dwellings.

29  And they yate and were well filled,

for he gave them what they zcraved.

30  But before they had satisfied their craving,

awhile the food was still in their mouths,

31  the anger of God rose against them,

and he killed bthe strongest of them

and laid low cthe young men of Israel.

32  In spite of all this, they dstill sinned;

edespite his wonders, they did not believe.

33  So he made ftheir days gvanish like3 a breath,4

and their years in terror.

34  When he killed them, they hsought him;

they repented and sought God earnestly.

35  They remembered that God was their irock,

the Most High God their jredeemer.

36  But they kflattered him with their mouths;

they llied to him with their tongues.

37  Their mheart was not nsteadfast toward him;

they were not faithful to his covenant.

38  Yet he, being ocompassionate,

patoned for their iniquity

and did not destroy them;

he restrained his anger often

and did not stir up all his wrath.

39  He qremembered that they were but rflesh,

sa wind that passes and comes not again.

40  How often they trebelled against him in the wilderness

and ugrieved him in vthe desert!

41  They wtested God again and again

and provoked xthe Holy One of Israel.

42  They ydid not remember his power5

or the day when he redeemed them from the foe,

43  zwhen he performed his asigns in Egypt

and his bmarvels in cthe fields of Zoan.

44  He dturned their rivers to blood,

so that they could not drink of their streams.

45  He sent among them swarms of eflies, which devoured them,

and ffrogs, which destroyed them.

46  He gave their crops to gthe destroying locust

and the fruit of their labor to the locust.

47  He destroyed their vines with hhail

and their sycamores with frost.

48  He gave over their icattle to the hail

and their flocks to thunderbolts.

49  He let loose on them his burning anger,

wrath, indignation, and distress,

a company of jdestroying angels.

50  He made a path for his anger;

he did not spare them from death,

but gave their lives over to the plague.

51  He struck down every kfirstborn in Egypt,

the firstfruits of their strength in the tents of lHam.

52  Then he led out his people mlike sheep

and guided them in the wilderness like a flock.

53  nHe led them in safety, so that they owere not afraid,

but pthe sea overwhelmed their enemies.

54  And he brought them to his qholy land,

rto the mountain which his right hand had swon.

55  He tdrove out nations before them;

he uapportioned them for a possession

and settled the tribes of Israel in their tents.

56  Yet they vtested and wrebelled against the Most High God

and did not keep his testimonies,

57  but turned away and acted treacherously like their fathers;

they twisted like xa deceitful bow.

58  For they yprovoked him to anger with their zhigh places;

they amoved him to jealousy with their bidols.

59  When God heard, he was full of cwrath,

and he utterly rejected Israel.

60  He dforsook his dwelling at eShiloh,

the tent where he dwelt among mankind,

61  and delivered his fpower to captivity,

his gglory to the hand of the foe.

62  He hgave his people over to the sword

and ivented his wrath on his heritage.

63  jFire devoured their young men,

and their young women had no kmarriage song.

64  Their lpriests fell by the sword,

and their mwidows made no lamentation.

65  Then the Lord nawoke as from sleep,

like a strong man shouting because of wine.

66  And he oput his adversaries to rout;

he put them to everlasting shame.

67  He rejected the tent of pJoseph;

he did not choose the tribe of Ephraim,

68  but he chose the tribe of Judah,

Mount Zion, which he qloves.

69  He rbuilt his sanctuary like the high heavens,

like the earth, which he has founded forever.

70  He schose David his servant

and took him from the sheepfolds;

71  from tfollowing the nursing ewes he brought him

to ushepherd Jacob his people,

Israel his vinheritance.

72  With wupright heart he shepherded them

and xguided them with his skillful hand.