Psalms 74:5-7

74:5 They invade like lumberjacks

swinging their axes in a thick forest. ¹ 

74:6 And now ²  they are tearing down ³  all its engravings ⁴ 

with axes ⁵  and crowbars. ⁶ 

74:7 They set your sanctuary on fire;

they desecrate your dwelling place by knocking it to the ground. ⁷ 

[74:5]  ¹ tn 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]  ² tn This is the reading of the Qere (marginal reading). The Kethib (consonantal text) has “and a time.”

[74:6]  ³ tn The imperfect verbal form vividly describes the act as underway.

[74:6]  ⁴ tn Heb “its engravings together.”

[74:6]  ⁵ tn This Hebrew noun occurs only here in the OT (see H. R. Cohen, Biblical Hapax Legomena [SBLDS], 49-50).

[74:6]  ⁶ tn 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]  ⁷ tn Heb “to the ground they desecrate the dwelling place of your name.”