Psalms · Bible in Basic English
Psalm 74 Bible in Basic English
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
Notes on this text (1)
- Greek and Latin Bibles number most Psalms one lower than Hebrew and English Bibles.
1 Maschil. Of Asaph. Of God, why have you put us away from you for ever? why is the fire of your wrath smoking against the sheep who are your care?
1 A contemplation by Asaph. God, why have you rejected us forever? Why does your anger smolder against the sheep of your pasture?
2 Keep in mind your band of worshippers, for whom you gave payment in the days which are past, whom you took for yourself as the people of your heritage; even this mountain of Zion, which has been your resting-place.
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 Go up and see the unending destruction; all the evil which your haters have done in the holy place;
3 Lift up your feet to the perpetual ruins, all the evil that the enemy has done in the sanctuary.
4 Sending out their voices like lions among your worshippers; they have put up their signs to be seen.
4 Your adversaries have roared in the middle of your assembly. They have set up their standards as signs.
5 They are cutting down, like a man whose blade is lifted up against the thick trees.
5 They behaved like men wielding axes, cutting through a thicket of trees.
6 Your doors are broken down with hammers and iron blades.
6 Now they break all its carved work down with hatchet and hammers.
7 They have put on fire your holy place; they have made the place of your name unclean, pulling it down to the earth.
7 They have burned your sanctuary to the ground. They have profaned the dwelling place of your Name.
8 They have said in their hearts, Let us put an end to them all together; they have given over to the fire all God's places of worship in the land.
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 do not see our signs: there is no longer any prophet, or anyone among us to say how long.
9 We see no miraculous signs. There is no longer any prophet, neither is there among us anyone who knows how long.
10 O God, how long will those who are against us say cruel things? will the hater go on looking down on your name for ever?
10 How long, God, shall the adversary reproach? Shall the enemy blaspheme your name forever?
11 Why are you keeping back your hand, and covering your right hand in your robe?
11 Why do you draw back your hand, even your right hand? Take it from your chest and consume them!
12 For from the past God is my King, working salvation in the earth.
12 Yet God is my King of old, working salvation throughout the earth.
13 The sea was parted in two by your strength; the heads of the great sea-beasts were broken.
13 You divided the sea by your strength. You broke the heads of the sea monsters in the waters.
14 The heads of the great snake were crushed by you; you gave them as food to the fishes of the sea.
14 You broke the heads of Leviathan in pieces. You gave him as food to people and desert creatures.
15 You made valleys for fountains and springs; you made the ever-flowing rivers dry.
15 You opened up spring and stream. You dried up mighty rivers.
16 The day is yours and the night is yours: you made the light and the sun.
16 The day is yours, the night is also yours. You have prepared the light and the sun.
17 By you all the limits of the earth were fixed; you have made summer and winter.
17 You have set all the boundaries of the earth. You have made summer and winter.
18 Keep this in mind, O Lord, that your haters have said cruel things, and that your name has been looked down on by a people of evil behaviour.
18 Remember this, that the enemy has mocked you, Yahweh. Foolish people have blasphemed your name.
19 O give not the soul of your dove to the hawk; let not the life of the poor go out of your memory for ever.
19 Don’t deliver the soul of your dove to wild beasts. Don’t forget the life of your poor forever.
20 Keep in mind your undertaking; for the dark places of the earth are full of pride and cruel acts.
20 Honor your covenant, for haunts of violence fill the dark places of the earth.
21 O let not the crushed be turned back in shame; let the low man and the poor give praise to your name.
21 Don’t let the oppressed return ashamed. Let the poor and needy praise your name.
22 Up! O God, be the judge of your cause; keep in mind the bitter things which the man of evil behaviour says against you every day.
22 Arise, God! Plead your own cause. Remember how the foolish man mocks you all day.
23 Keep in mind the voice of your haters; the outcry of those who come against you goes up every day.
23 Don’t forget the voice of your adversaries. The tumult of those who rise up against you ascends continually.
Cross references (23)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 Deuteronomy 29:20; Psalm 79:13; Psalm 100:3; John 10:26–30; Psalm 44:9
- 2 Jeremiah 10:16; Exodus 15:13; Deuteronomy 32:9; Exodus 15:16; Psalm 135:4
- 3 Lamentations 1:10; Psalm 79:1; Daniel 9:17; Luke 21:24; Mark 11:17
- 4 Lamentations 2:7; Matthew 24:15; Numbers 2:2; Daniel 6:27; 2 Chronicles 36:17
- 5 Jeremiah 46:22–23; 2 Chronicles 2:14; 1 Kings 5:6
- 6 1 Kings 6:18; 1 Kings 6:35; 1 Kings 6:29; 1 Kings 6:32
- 7 2 Kings 25:9; Psalm 89:39; Isaiah 64:11; Deuteronomy 12:5; Ezekiel 24:21
- 8 Psalm 83:4; Esther 3:8–9; 2 Kings 2:5; 2 Kings 4:23; Matthew 4:23
- 9 Amos 8:11; Ezekiel 7:26; 1 Samuel 3:1; Lamentations 2:9; Exodus 12:13
- 10 Revelation 6:10; Psalm 89:50–51; Psalm 79:4–5; Psalm 89:46; Daniel 12:6
- 11 Lamentations 2:3; Psalm 78:65–66; Isaiah 64:12; Psalm 44:23
- 12 Isaiah 33:22; Psalm 44:4; Exodus 19:5–6; Exodus 15:2–15; Isaiah 63:8
- 13 Exodus 14:21; Psalm 78:13; Isaiah 51:9–10; Ezekiel 29:3; Ezekiel 32:2
- 14 Isaiah 27:1; Job 41:1–34; Psalm 72:9; Psalm 104:25–26; Job 3:8
- 15 Numbers 20:11; Exodus 17:5–6; Joshua 3:13–17; Psalm 105:41; Isaiah 48:21
- 16 Genesis 1:3–5; Matthew 5:45; Psalm 136:7–9; Psalm 104:19; Genesis 1:14–18
- 17 Deuteronomy 32:8; Acts 17:26; Genesis 8:22; Acts 14:17; Psalm 24:1–2
- 18 Psalm 39:8; Revelation 16:19; Deuteronomy 32:6; Psalm 74:22; Deuteronomy 32:27
- 19 Song of Songs 2:14; James 2:5–6; Psalm 9:18; Matthew 10:16; Psalm 68:13
- 20 Psalm 106:45; Genesis 17:7–8; Hebrews 8:10; Psalm 89:34–36; Psalm 89:28
- 21 Psalm 12:5; Ezra 3:11; Psalm 35:10; Psalm 9:18; Psalm 103:6
- 22 Psalm 74:18; Psalm 53:1; Isaiah 52:5; Psalm 9:19–20; Psalm 79:9–10
- 23 Psalm 65:7; Isaiah 37:29; Revelation 17:14; Psalm 74:4; Psalm 13:1
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
This Psalm hath an inscription, that is, a title, "There have failed the hymns of David, the son of Jesse. A Psalm of Asaph himself." So many Psalms we have on the titles whereof is written the name David, nowhere there is added, "son of Jesse," except in this alone.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 8 (1888)
In the same way we may suitably understand what we read in the psalm, "But God, our King before the worlds, hath wrought salvation in the midst of the earth;" so that the Lord Jesus may be understood to be our God who is before the worlds, because by Him the worlds were made, working our salvation in the midst …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 2 (1887)
It is not my word, but it is a prophet who hath said, Thou hast wrought salvation in the midst of the earth.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 7 (1894)