Psalm 74, Chant E

 

Psalm 74   Ut quid, Deus?

1 O God, why have you utterly cast us off? *
why is your wrath so hot against the sheep of your pas-ture?

2 Remember your congregation that you purchased long a-go, *
the tribe you redeemed to be your inheritance, and Mount Zion where you dwell.

3 Turn your steps toward the end-less ru-ins; *
the enemy has laid waste everything in your sanc-tu-a-ry.

4 Your adversaries roared in your ho-ly place; *
they set up their banners as tokens of vic-tory.

5 They were like men coming up with axes to a grove of trees; *
they broke down all your carved work with hatchets and ham-mers.

6 They set fire to your ho-ly place; *
they defiled the dwellingplace of your Name and razed it to the ground.

7 They said to themselves, “Let us destroy them al-to-ge-ther.” *
They burned down all the meetingplaces of God in the land.

8 There are no signs for us to see; there is no pro-phet left; *
there is not one among us who knows how long.

9 How long, O God, will the adversa-ry scoff? *
will the enemy blaspheme your Name for ev-er?

10 Why do you draw back your hand? *
why is your right hand hidden in your bo-som?

11 Yet God is my King from an-cient times, *
victorious in the midst of the earth.

12 You divided the sea by your might *
and shattered the heads of the dragons upon the wa-ters;

13 You crushed the heads of Le-vi-athan *
and gave him to the people of the desert for food.

14 You split open spring and tor-rent; *
you dried up everflow-ing ri-vers.

15 Yours is the day, yours also the night; *
you established the moon and the sun.

16 You fixed all the boundaries of the earth; *
you made both summer and win-ter.

17 Remember, O LORD, how the ene-my scoffed, *
how a foolish people despised your Name.

18 Do not hand over the life of your dove to wild beasts; *
never forget the lives of your poor.

19 Look upon your cov-enant; *
the dark places of the earth are haunts of vi-olence.

20 Let not the oppressed turn away a-shamed; *
let the poor and needy praise your Name.

21 Arise, O God, maintain your cause; *
remember how fools revile you all day long.

22 Forget not the clamor of your ad-ver-sa-ries, *
the unending tumult of those who rise up a-gainst you.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spir-it: *
as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. A-men.