Psalm 74

Common Metre (8,6,8,6)

Suggested Tunes:

(vv.1-11) 116 St Kilda, 96 Orphan’s

(vv.12-17) 130 Sheffield, 77 Irish

(vv.18-23) 90 Morven

1    O God, why hast thou cast us off?

            is it for evermore?

      Against thy pasture-sheep why doth

            thine anger smoke so sore?

2    O call to thy rememberance

            thy congregation,

      Which thou hast purchased of old;

            still think the same upon:

      The rod of thine inheritance,

            which thou redeemed hast,

      This Sion hill, wherein thou hadst

            thy dwelling in times past.

3    To these long desolations

            thy feet lift, do not tarry;

      For all the ills thy foes have done

            within thy sanctuary.

4    Amidst thy congregations

            thine enemies do roar:

      Their ensigns they set up for signs

            of triumph thee before.

5    A man was famous, and was had

            in estimation,

      According as he lifted up

            his axe thick trees upon.

6    But all at once with axes now

            and hammers they go to,

      And down the carved work thereof

            they break, and quite undo.

7    They fired have thy sanctuary,

            and have defil’d the same,

      By casting down unto the ground

            the place where dwelt thy name.

8    Thus said they in their hearts, Let us

            destroy them out of hand:

      They burnt up all the synagogues

            of God within the land.

9    Our signs we do not now behold;

            there is not us among

      A prophet more, nor any one

            that knows the time how long.

10  How long, Lord, shall the enemy

            thus in reproach exclaim?

      And shall the adversary thus

            always blaspheme thy name?

11  Thy hand, ev’n thy right hand of might,

            why dost thou thus draw back?

      O from thy bosom pluck it out

            for our deliv’rance’ sake.

12  For certainly God is my King,

            ev’n from the times of old,

      Working in midst of all the earth

            salvation manifold.

16  The sea, by thy great pow’r, to part

            asunder thou didst make;

      And thou the dragons’ heads, O Lord,

            within the waters brake.

14  The leviathan’s head thou brak’st

            in pieces, and didst give

      Him to be meat unto the folk

            in wilderness that live.

15  Thou clav’st the fountain and the flood,

            which did with streams abound:

      Thou dry’dst the mighty waters up

            unto the very ground.

16  Thine only is the day, O Lord,

            thine also is the night;

      And thou alone prepared hast

            the sun and shining light.

17  By thee the borders of the earth

            were settled ev’ry where:

      The summer and the winter both

            by thee created were.

18  That th’ enemy reproached hath,

            O keep it in record;

      And that the foolish people have

            blasphem’d thy name, O Lord.

19  Unto the multitude do not

            thy turtle’s soul deliver:

      The congregation of thy poor

            do not forget for ever.

20  Unto thy cov’nant have respect;

            for earth’s dark places be

      Full of the habitations

            of horrid cruelty.

21  O let not those that be oppress’d

            return again with shame:

      Let those that poor and needy are

            give praise unto thy name.

22  Do thou, O God, arise and plead

            the cause that is thine own:

      Remember how thou art reproach’d

            still by the foolish one.

23  Do not forget the voice of those

            that are thine enemies:

      Of those the tumult ever grows

            that do against thee rise.