Psalms 74:2-7

Context

74:2 Remember your people¹ whom you acquired in ancient times,

whom you rescued² so they could be your very own nation,³

as well as Mount Zion, where you dwell!

74:3 Hurry and look⁴ at the permanent ruins,

and all the damage the enemy has done to the temple!⁵

74:4 Your enemies roar⁶ in the middle of your sanctuary;⁷

they set up their battle flags.⁸

74:5 They invade like lumberjacks

swinging their axes in a thick forest.⁹

74:6 And now¹⁰ they are tearing down¹¹ all its engravings¹²

with axes¹³ and crowbars.¹⁴

74:7 They set your sanctuary on fire;

they desecrate your dwelling place by knocking it to the ground.¹⁵

[74:2] ¹tn Heb “your assembly,” which pictures God’s people as an assembled community.

[74:2] ²tn Heb “redeemed.” The verb “redeem” casts God in the role of a leader who protects members of his extended family in times of need and crisis (see Ps 19:14).

[74:2] ³tn Heb “the tribe of your inheritance” (see Jer 10:16; 51:19).

[74:3] ⁴tn Heb “lift up your steps to,” which may mean “run, hurry.”

[74:3] ⁵tn Heb “everything [the] enemy has damaged in the holy place.”

[74:4] ⁷tn This verb is often used of a lion’s roar, so the psalmist may be comparing the enemy to a raging, devouring lion.

[74:4] ⁸tn Heb “your meeting place.”

[74:4] ⁹tn Heb “they set up their banners [as] banners.” The Hebrew noun אוֹת (’ot, “sign”) here refers to the enemy army’s battle flags and banners (see Num 2:12).

[74:5] ¹⁰tn Heb “it is known like one bringing upwards, in a thicket of wood, axes.” The Babylonian invaders destroyed the woodwork in the temple.

[74:6] ¹³tn This is the reading of the Qere (marginal reading). The Kethib (consonantal text) has “and a time.”

[74:6] ¹⁴tn The imperfect verbal form vividly describes the act as underway.

[74:6] ¹⁵tn Heb “its engravings together.”

[74:6] ¹⁶tn This Hebrew noun occurs only here in the OT (see H. R. Cohen, Biblical Hapax Legomena [SBLDS], 49-50).

[74:6] ¹⁷tn This Hebrew noun occurs only here in the OT. An Akkadian cognate refers to a “pickaxe” (cf. NEB “hatchet and pick”; NIV “axes and hatchets”; NRSV “hatchets and hammers”).

[74:7] ¹⁶tn Heb “to the ground they desecrate the dwelling place of your name.”