Psalm 74

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Psalm 74

1 O 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.

Notes

Cross Reference

Concordance

Commentary

Rashi

Verse 1

<html>is Your wrath kindled lit. do Your nostrils smoke. Whenever one is angry, the nostrils emit smoke.</html>

Verse 2

<html>which You acquired from time immemorial Before the creation of the world, as it is said (below 90: 1,2): “You were a dwelling place for us, etc., before mountains were formed.” on which You dwelt Heb. זה שכנתבו, this upon which You dwelt. This is an improvement of the language, as (Isa. 42: 24): “against whom (זו) we sinned.” It is like אשר שכנתבו, on which You dwelt.</html>

Verse 3

<html>Raise Your blows to inflict eternal ruin Raise Your blows and Your terrors that Your enemies will experience as eternal ruin for every evil thing that the enemy did in the Temple. In this manner, Menachem (p. 144) associates it with (Gen. 41:8): “that his spirit was troubled (ותפעם).” to…ruin Heb. למשאות, an expression of destruction, as (Isa. 24:12): “through desolation (שאיה)”; (Isa. 6:11), “and the ground lies waste (למשאות) and desolate.”</html>

Verse 4

<html>Your meeting place That is the Temple about which it is said (Exod. 25:22): וְנוֹעַדְתִּי לְךָ שָׁם, “There I will meet with you at appointed times.” they made their signs for signs When they became powerful enough to destroy it, then they themselves accepted that the signs of their divination were true signs. Now what were their divinations? “He shook the arrows, he consulted the terafim.”</html>

Verse 5

<html>May he be known as though bringing on high; the hatchets were in the thicket of the trees The enemy knows that when he strikes the gates of the entrances of the Sanctuary, it was as though he was bringing his blows on high, even into the sky. Now how did he know it? For he would see that the trees would entangle, grasp, and swallow up the hatchets, as our Rabbis said (Sanh. 96b): One gate of Jerusalem swallowed them all up. the hatchets were in the thicket of the trees Heb. בסבך-עץ, an expression of (Gen. 22:13): “caught in the thicket (בסבך).” The tree entangles them, and they become entangled in it.</html>

Verse 6

<html>And now although he saw that this troubled the Holy One, blessed be He, he did not refrain from striking all its entrances and all its gates together. with hatchets and hammers They are tools of destruction used by carpenters (Jer. 46:22): “and will come against her with axes (ובקרדמות).” Jonathan renders: בּכשיליא. כֵּילַפּוֹת is Arabic. This is how Dunash (p. 34) explained it, and it is one of the carpenters’ tools. they strike The enemies [strike].</html>

Verse 8

<html>They said in their heart, their rulers together Heb. נינם, their rulers, and similarly (above 72: 17): “his name will be magnified (ינון) ; (Prov. 29:21), “he will ultimately be a ruler (מנון).” All their rulers devise one plot, the first as the last: namely, to get at the protector of Israel first and afterwards they would get at them [Israel], You should know this by the fact that they burned all the meeting places of God in the land, all His meeting houses. The Philistines destroyed Shiloh; Nebuchadnezzar destroyed the First Temple; Titus destroyed the Second Temple.</html>

Verse 9

<html>our signs which You promised us through Your prophetswe have not seen them in the many days that we have been in exile. Asaph prophesied concerning the days of the (last) exile. how long How long we will be in this trouble.</html>

Verse 11

<html>Draw it out from within Your bosom Cast it and draw it out from within Your bosom and wage battle with Your enemies. כַּלֵה is an expression of driving out, as (Exod. 11:1): “he will drive you out completely (כלה).”</html>

Verse 12

<html>But God is my King from time immemorial Behold, You were our salvation from time immemorial.</html>

Verse 13

<html>the beads of the sea monsters They are the Egyptians, who are called sea monsters, as it is said (Ezek. 29:3): “the great sea monster, etc.”</html>

Verse 14

<html>the heads of Leviathan Pharaoh is called [by] this [name], as it is said (Isa. 27:1): “the Lord will visit with His hard…sword on leviathan, etc.” You give it as food to the people in companies You gave his money to the people of Israel to consume. in companies Heb. לציים. To the companies and hosts that You took out. ציים are companies, as (Num. 24:24): “And companies from the Kittites,” which is translated as וסיען, and companies.</html>

Verse 15

<html>You split for Israel fountains from the rock. You dried up the Jordan, which is a mighty river.</html>

Verse 16

<html>Day is Yours The redemption of Israel. even night is Yours And they were with You in the darkness of the night. You established the luminary and the sun You established the light of the Torah for them.</html>

Verse 17

<html>You set for them all the boundaries of their land with all good. summer and winter—You formed them This is similar to (Jer. 5:24): “the weeks of the laws of harvest He keeps for us.” You did not alter for us the order of the years.</html>

Verse 18

<html>Remember how the enemy, etc. And since all our salvation is through You, remember how the enemy reviled You by destroying us.</html>

Verse 19

<html>Do not deliver to the company To the companies of the nations, as (II Sam. 23:11): “Now the Philistines were gathered together into a troop (לחיה).” the soul of Your turtledove Heb. תורך, Your turtledove. And Jonathan rendered this as (sic) an expression of turtledoves and young pigeons. This turtledoveas soon as the male recognizes its mate, it does not mate with another. So have Israel not exchanged You for another god, although You have distanced Yourself from them and they were like a widow. the soul of Your poor ones Heb. חיתענייך, the soul of Your poor ones.</html>

Verse 20

<html>Look to the covenant which You formed with our forefathers. with dwellings of violence Heb. נאותחמס, a dwelling of violence, an expression of a dwelling place.</html>

Verse 21

<html>Let not the poor turn back in disgrace Let the poor not turn back from before You disgraced in his prayer.</html>

Verse 22

<html>Your disgrace Your blasphemies, as (verse 18): “Remember how the enemy reviled.”</html>

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Table of Contents

Psalm 74

Psalm 74

Notes

Cross Reference

Concordance

Commentary

Rashi

Verse 1

Verse 2

Verse 3

Verse 4

Verse 5

Verse 6

Verse 8

Verse 9

Verse 11

Verse 12

Verse 13

Verse 14

Verse 15

Verse 16

Verse 17

Verse 18

Verse 19

Verse 20

Verse 21

Verse 22