Discovery BoxPsalms 74:10-11 
Context74:10 How long, O God, will the adversary hurl insults?
Will the enemy blaspheme your name forever?
74:11 Why do you remain inactive?
Intervene and destroy him! 1
Psalms 74:18-23
Context74:18 Remember how 2 the enemy hurls insults, O Lord, 3
and how a foolish nation blasphemes your name!
74:19 Do not hand the life of your dove 4 over to a wild animal!
Do not continue to disregard 5 the lives of your oppressed people!
74:20 Remember your covenant promises, 6
for the dark regions of the earth are full of places where violence rules. 7
74:21 Do not let the afflicted be turned back in shame!
Let the oppressed and poor praise your name! 8
74:22 Rise up, O God! Defend your honor! 9
Remember how fools insult you all day long! 10
74:23 Do not disregard 11 what your enemies say, 12
or the unceasing shouts of those who defy you. 13
1 tn Heb “Why do you draw back your hand, even your right hand? From the midst of your chest, destroy!” The psalmist pictures God as having placed his right hand (symbolic of activity and strength) inside his robe against his chest. He prays that God would pull his hand out from under his robe and use it to destroy the enemy.
2 tn Heb “remember this.”
3 tn Or “[how] the enemy insults the
4 sn Your dove. The psalmist compares weak and vulnerable Israel to a helpless dove.
5 tn Heb “do not forget forever.”
6 tc Heb “look at the covenant.” The LXX reads “your covenant,” which seems to assume a second person pronominal suffix. The suffix may have been accidentally omitted by haplography. Note that the following word (כִּי) begins with kaf (כ).
7 tn Heb “for the dark places of the earth are full of dwelling places of violence.” The “dark regions” are probably the lands where the people have been exiled (see C. A. Briggs and E. G. Briggs, Psalms [ICC], 2:157). In some contexts “dark regions” refers to Sheol (Ps 88:6) or to hiding places likened to Sheol (Ps 143:3; Lam 3:6).
8 sn Let the oppressed and poor praise your name! The statement is metonymic. The point is this: May the oppressed be delivered from their enemies! Then they will have ample reason to praise God’s name.
9 tn Or “defend your cause.”
10 tn Heb “remember your reproach from a fool all the day.”
11 tn Or “forget.”
12 tn Heb “the voice of your enemies.”
13 tn Heb “the roar of those who rise up against you, which ascends continually.”
