Psalms 74 KJV
A Lament Over the Temple
About This Psalm
The temple is destroyed. How long, O God? When the place you met God is in ruins and He seems absent.
1 God, 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; the rod of thine inheritance, which thou hast redeemed; this mount Zion, wherein thou hast dwelt.
3 Lift up thy feet unto the perpetual desolations; even all that the enemy hath done wickedly in the sanctuary.
4 Thine enemies roar in the midst of thy congregations; they set up their ensigns for signs.
5 A man was famous according as he had lifted up axes upon the thick trees.
6 But now they break down the carved work thereof at once with axes and hammers.
7 They have cast fire into thy sanctuary, they have defiled by casting down the dwelling place of thy name to the ground.
8 They said in their 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 knoweth how long.
10 O God, how long shall the adversary reproach? shall the enemy blaspheme thy name for ever?
11 Why withdrawest thou thy hand, even thy right hand? pluck it out of thy bosom.
12 For God is my King of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth.
13 Thou didst divide the sea by thy strength: thou brakest the heads of the dragons in the waters.
14 Thou brakest the heads of leviathan in pieces, and gavest him to be meat to the people inhabiting the wilderness.
15 Thou didst cleave the fountain and the flood: thou driedst up mighty rivers.
16 The 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 enemy hath reproached, O LORD, and that the foolish people have blasphemed thy name.
19 O deliver not the soul of thy turtledove unto the multitude of the wicked: forget not the congregation of thy poor for ever.
20 Have respect unto the covenant: for the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty.
21 O let not the oppressed return ashamed: let the poor and needy praise thy name.
22 Arise, O God, plead thine own cause: remember how the foolish man reproacheth thee daily.
23 Forget not the voice of thine enemies: the tumult of those that rise up against thee increaseth continually.
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Did You Know?
The psalm repurposes Canaanite combat myths by depicting Yahweh shattering the heads of Leviathan and distributing its carcass as food, transforming polytheistic chaos-battle imagery into a monotheistic assertion of sole sovereignty amid temple ruin.
Verse 9's lament over the total absence of prophets marks a rare biblical acknowledgment of prophetic silence during national catastrophe, foreshadowing the post-exilic shift toward Torah-centered authority rather than ongoing oracular revelation.
Its invocation of the Abrahamic covenant in verse 20 specifically ties divine promises to the eradication of 'dark places' filled with cruelty, framing the temple's loss as a cosmic disorder that threatens the patriarchal land grant itself.
The repeated plea for God to 'arise' echoes the Numbers wilderness traditions of the ark's movement, recasting a mobile sanctuary motif into a desperate call for divine intervention when the fixed Jerusalem temple lies in ashes.
By juxtaposing the enemy's axes hacking the carved woodwork with God's ancient dividing of the sea, the psalm creates a literary reversal where instruments of destruction mirror yet fail to match the creator's primordial separating acts.
Commentary & Study Notes
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown (1871) ยท Public Domain
Classic verse-by-verse commentary on Psalms 74 from Jamieson, Fausset & Brown (1871). Covers: If The Historical Allusions Of Ps 74:6-8, &C., Be Referred, As Is Probable, To The Period Of The Captivity, The Author Was Probably A Descendant And Namesake Of Asaph, David's Contemporary And Singer (Compare 2ch 35:15; Ezr 2:41). He Complains Of God's Desertion Of His Church, And Appeals For Aid, Encouraging Himself By Recounting Some Of God's Mighty Deeds, And Urges His Prayer On The Ground Of God's Covenant Relation To His People, And The Wickedness Of His And Their Common Enemy.
If The Historical Allusions Of Ps 74:6-8, &C., Be Referred, As Is Probable, To The Period Of The Captivity, The Author Was Probably A Descendant And Namesake Of Asaph, David's Contemporary And Singer (Compare 2ch 35:15; Ezr 2:41). He Complains Of God's Desertion Of His Church, And Appeals For Aid, Encouraging Himself By Recounting Some Of God's Mighty Deeds, And Urges His Prayer On The Ground Of God's Covenant Relation To His People, And The Wickedness Of His And Their Common Enemy v1-23
1. cast . . . off--with abhorrence (compare Ps 43:2; 44:9). There is no disavowal of guilt implied. The figure of fire to denote God's anger is often used; and here, and in De 29:20, by the word "smoke," suggests its continuance. sheep . . . pasture--(Compare Ps 80:1; 95:7). 2. The terms to denote God's relation to His people increase in force: "congregation"--"purchased"--"redeemed"--"Zion," His dwelling. 3. Lift . . . feet-- (Ge 29:1) --that is, Come (to behold) the desolations (Ps 73:19). 4. roar--with bestial fury. congregations--literally, "worshipping assemblies." ensigns--literally, "signs"--substituted their idolatrous objects, or tokens of authority, for those articles of the temple which denoted God's presence. 5, 6. Though some terms and clauses here are very obscure, the general sense is that the spoilers destroyed the beauties of the temple with the violence of woodmen. was famous--literally, "was known." 6. carved work-- (1Ki 6:29). thereof--that is, of the temple, in the writer's mind, though not expressed till Ps 74:7, in which its utter destruction by fire is mentioned (2Ki 25:9; Isa 64:11). 7. defiled--or, "profaned," as in Ps 89:39. 8. together--at once, all alike. synagogues--literally, "assemblies," for places of assembly, whether such as schools of the prophets (2Ki 4:23), or "synagogues" in the usual sense, there is much doubt. 9. signs--of God's presence, as altar, ark, &c. (compare Ps 74:4; 2Ch 36:18, 19; Da 5:2). no more any prophet-- (Isa 3:2; Jer 40:1; 43:6). how long--this is to last. Jeremiah's prophecy (Jer 25:11), if published, may not have been generally known or understood. To the bulk of the people, during the captivity, the occasional and local prophetical services of Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel would not make an exception to the clause, "there is no more any prophet." 10. (Compare Ps 31:1). how long . . . reproach?--us, as deserted of God. blaspheme thy name--or, "perfections," as power, goodness, &c. (Ps 29:2). 11. Why cease to help us? (Compare Ps 3:7; 7:6; 60:5). 12. For--literally, "And," in an adversative sense. 13-15. Examples of the "salvation wrought" are cited. divide the sea--that is, Red Sea. brakest . . . waters--Pharaoh and his host (compare Isa 51:9, 10; Eze 29:3, 4). 14. heads of leviathan--The word is a collective, and so used for many. the people . . . wilderness--that is, wild beasts, as conies (Pr 30:25, 26), are called a people. Others take the passages literally, that the sea monsters thrown out on dry land were food for the wandering Arabs. 15. cleave the fountain--that is, the rocks of Horeb and Kadesh; for fountains. driedst up--Jordan, and, perhaps, Arnon and Jabbok (Nu 21:14). 16, 17. The fixed orders of nature and bounds of earth are of God. 18. (Compare Ps 74:10; De 32:6). The contrast is striking--that such a God should be thus insulted! 19. multitude--literally, "beast," their flock or company of men (Ps 68:10). turtledove--that is, the meek and lonely Church. congregation--literally, "the company," as above--thus the Church is represented as the spoiled and defeated remnant of an army, exposed to violence. 20. And the prevalence of injustice in heathen lands is a reason for invoking God's regard to His promise (compare Nu 14:21; Ps 7:16; 18:48). 21. oppressed--broken (Ps 9:9). return--from seeking God. ashamed-- (Ps 35:4). 22, 23. (Compare Ps 3:7; 7:6). God hears the wicked to their own ruin (Ge 4:10; 18:20).