23 Yet I am always with you;
    you hold me by my right hand.
24 You guide me with your counsel,
    and afterwards you will take me into glory.
25 Whom have I in heaven but you?
    And earth has nothing I desire besides you.
26 My flesh and my heart may fail,
    but God is the strength of my heart
    and my portion for ever.

27 Those who are far from you will perish;
    you destroy all who are unfaithful to you.
28 But as for me, it is good to be near God.
    I have made the Sovereign Lord my refuge;
    I will tell of all your deeds.

Psalm 74

A maskil[a] of Asaph.

O God, why have you rejected us for ever?
    Why does your anger smoulder against the sheep of your pasture?
Remember the nation you purchased long ago,
    the people of your inheritance, whom you redeemed –
    Mount Zion, where you dwelt.
Turn your steps towards these everlasting ruins,
    all this destruction the enemy has brought on the sanctuary.

Your foes roared in the place where you met with us;
    they set up their standards as signs.
They behaved like men wielding axes
    to cut through a thicket of trees.
They smashed all the carved panelling
    with their axes and hatchets.
They burned your sanctuary to the ground;
    they defiled the dwelling-place of your Name.
They said in their hearts, ‘We will crush them completely!’
    They burned every place where God was worshipped in the land.

Footnotes

  1. Psalm 74:1 Title: Probably a literary or musical term