Arise, O God, Defend Your Cause
A Maskil74:1 Probably a musical or liturgical term of See Ps. 50, titleAsaph.
1 O God, why do you See Ps. 44:9cast us off forever?
Why does your anger Deut. 29:20;[Ps. 18:8] smoke against Ps. 79:13;100:3;Jer. 23:1;Ezek. 34:31;[Ps. 95:7]the sheep of your pasture?
2 ver. 18, 22Remember your congregation, which you have Ex. 15:16;Deut. 32:6;[Ps. 78:54] purchased of old,
which you have Ps. 77:15;Isa. 63:9redeemed to be Isa. 63:17;Jer. 10:16;51:19the tribe of your heritage!
Remember Mount Zion, Ps. 9:11where you have dwelt.
3 Direct your steps to [Isa. 61:4]the perpetual ruins;
the enemy has destroyed everything in the sanctuary!
4 Your foes have Lam. 2:6,7roared in the midst of your meeting place;
[Matt. 24:15] they set up their Num. 2:2own signs for [ver. 9]signs.
5 They were like those who swing [Jer. 46:22]axes
in a forest of trees.74:5 The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain
6 And all its [1 Kgs. 6:18,29,32,35]carved wood
they broke down with hatchets and hammers.
7 They 2 Kgs. 25:9;[Ps. 79:1] set your sanctuary on fire;
they Ps. 89:39;[Lam. 2:2] profaned [Ps. 26:8]the dwelling place of your name,
bringing it down to the ground.
8 They Ps. 83:4said to themselves, "We will utterly subdue them";
they burned all the meeting places of God in the land.
9 We do not see our [ver. 4] signs;
[1 Sam. 3:1;Lam. 2:9;Ezek. 7:26;Amos 8:11]there is no longer any prophet,
and there is none among us who knows how long.
10 How long, O God, ver. 18, 22;Ps. 79:12;89:51is the foe to scoff?
Is the enemy to revile your name forever?
11 Why Lam. 2:3do you hold back your hand, your right hand?
Take it from the fold of your garment74:11 Hebrew from your bosom and destroy them!
12 Yet Ps. 44:4God my King is from of old,
working salvation in the midst of the earth.
13 You Ex. 14:21divided the sea by your might;
you Isa. 51:9broke the heads of Isa. 27:1the sea monsters74:13 Or the great sea creatures on the waters.
14 You crushed the heads of See Job 41:1Leviathan;
you gave him as food for the creatures of the wilderness.
15 You Ps. 78:15;105:41;Ex. 17:5,6;Num. 20:11;Isa. 48:21split open springs and brooks;
you Josh. 2:10;4:23;Isa. 51:10;[Ps. 66:6]; See Ex. 14:21-25;Josh. 3:13-17dried up ever-flowing streams.
16 Yours is the day, yours also the night;
you have established Ps. 104:19;See Gen. 1:14-16the heavenly lights and the sun.
17 You have Deut. 32:8;[Acts 17:26] fixed all the boundaries of the earth;
you have made Gen. 8:22summer and winter.
18 ver. 2, 22;Ps. 89:50;Rev. 16:19;18:5Remember this, O Lord, how the enemy scoffs,
and Ps. 39:8;Deut. 32:6a foolish people reviles your name.
19 Do not deliver the soul of your Song 2:14dove to the wild beasts;
[Ps. 68:10]do not forget the life of your poor forever.
20 Have regard for Ps. 106:45;Gen. 17:7,8;Lev. 26:44,45;Jer. 33:21the covenant,
for [Ps. 10:8]the dark places of the land are full of the habitations of violence.
21 Let not Ps. 9:9;10:18the downtrodden [Ps. 6:10] turn back in shame;
let Ps. 86:1the poor and needy praise your name.
22 Arise, O God, [1 Sam. 24:15] defend your cause;
ver. 2, 18remember how the foolish scoff at you all the day!
23 Do not forget the clamor of your foes,
See Ps. 65:7the uproar of those who rise against you, which goes up continually!