74.

(1) Благоразумное [наставление] Асафа. Почему, Всесильный, оставил Ты нас навсегда? [Почему] возгорелся гнев Твой на овец паствы Твоей? (2) Вспомни общину Твою, [которую] Ты приобрел издревле, искупил колено наследия Твоего, – эту гору Сион, на которой Ты обитаешь. (3) Подвигни стопы Твои за развалины вечные – за все злодеяния врага в святилище. (4) Рычали враги Твои посреди собраний Твоих[169], поставили знамения свои знамениями[170]. (5) Известно было, что заносящий топор на сплетшиеся ветви дерева словно приносит Всевышнему [приношение][171] (6) Теперь же всю резьбу в нем вмиг разбили молотами и топорами. (7) Предали огню святилище Твое, до земли [низринув], осквернили обитель имени Твоего. (8) Сказали они: «Уничтожим их всех вместе», сожгли все места собраний Всесильного в стране[172]. (9) Знамений наших мы не видим, нет больше пророка, и нет с нами того, кто знал бы, доколе [это будет продолжаться][173]. (10) Доколе, Всесильный, враг будет поносить? Вечно ли будет хулить противник имя Твое? (11) Зачем Ты отводишь руку Твою, десницу Твою? Извлеки [ее] из недр Твоих! (12) [Ведь] Всесильный – царь мой издавна, творящий спасение посреди земли. (13) Ты силою Своею море раскрошил, Ты головы крокодилов[174] сокрушил о воду. (14) Ты размозжил головы левиафана, отдал его в пищу народу пустыни[175]. (15) Ты иссек источник и поток, Ты иссушил сильные реки[176]. (16) День Твой и ночь Твоя: Ты уготовил светило и солнце. (17) Ты установил все пределы земли, лето и зиму Ты образовал. (18) Вспомни же: враг поносит Бога, народ подлый хулит имя Твое. (19) Не предавай зверям душу голубицы Твоей, собрания бедных Твоих не забывай вовек. (20) Взгляни на союз Твой, ибо наполнились все мрачные места земли жилищами насилия. (21) Да не возвратится угнетенный посрамленным, бедный и нищий да восхвалят имя Твое. (22) Восстань, Всесильный, защити дело Твое, вспомни ежедневное поношение Твое от подлеца. (23) Не забудь голоса врагов Твоих; вопль восстающих против Тебя непрестанно поднимается.

75.

(1) Руководителю [музыкантов]. Не погуби![177]. Песнь Асафа. (2) Благодарим Тебя, Всесильный, благодарим, близко [нам] имя Твое: [нам] возвестили чудеса Твои. (3) «Когда изберу время, Я произведу суд по справедливости. (4) Таяла земля и все обитающие на ней, но Я утвердил столпы ее, вовек». (5) Говорю распутникам: «Не распутствуйте!» и злодеям: «Не тщеславьтесь! (6) Не тщеславьтесь непомерно, [не говорите] жестоковыйно, (7) ибо не от востока, и не от запада, и не от пустыни возвышение. (8) Но Всесильный есть Судья: одного унижает, а другого возносит. (9) Ибо чаша в руке Бога, вино крепкое в ней, полное приправ. Он наливает из нее. Только дрожжи ее будут выжимать [и] пить все злодеи земли». (10) А я вовек буду возвещать [о славе Твоей], воспевать Всесильного [Бога] Яакова. (11) Всю гордыню злодеев срублю, [а] праведника возвеличу.

76.

(1) To the leader [of the musicians]. On the neginot, the song of Asaph. (2) The Almighty will be known in Judah, and His name will be great in Israel: (3) His booth will be in Shalem,178 and His abode will be in Zion. (4) There he will crush the lightning arrows of the bow, the shield, the sword, and the war, forever. (5) Thou art brighter, mightier than the ravenous mountains. 6 The valiant in heart were dumbfounded, and fell asleep in their sleep, and all the men of war did not find their hands. (7) At Thy cry, O Almighty [God] of Jacob, chariots and horses fell asleep.179 (8) You are terrible, who can stand before you in the moments of your wrath? (9) From heaven you have proclaimed judgment; the earth was afraid, and was quiet, (10) when the Almighty rose up in judgment to save all the humble of the earth. (11) For the wrath of men will be turned into thanksgiving to you, [and] the remnant of wrath you will tame.180 (12) Make and make vows to God your Almighty; (13) He tames the spirit of princes, he is terrible to the kings of the earth.

77.

(1) To the leader [of the musicians] for Yedutun, the song of Asaph. (2) My voice is to the Almighty, I will cry out; my voice to the Almighty, hearken unto me! (3) In the day of my affliction I seek the Lord. My wound expires at night and does not go away; My soul refuses consolation. (4) I remember the Almighty and thirst; I converse – my spirit is exhausted. (5) Thou hast held my eyelids[181]; I'm shocked and I can't speak. (6) I meditate on the days of old, on the years of ages past. (7) I remember my singing in the night, I converse with my heart, and my spirit seeks an answer: (8) Has the Lord rejected me forever, and will he no longer be pleased with me? (9) Has his mercy ceased forever, and is his speech finished for generations? (10) Has the Almighty forgotten to have mercy, has he shut up his mercy in anger? (11) I said, "This is my fear, the change of the right hand of the Most High." (12) I will remember the deeds of God when I remember your wondrous deeds of old. (13) I will meditate on all your works, I will speak of your creations. (14) Almighty! Holy is Thy way. Who is the Almighty [God] great as the Almighty! (15) You, the Almighty, do wondrous deeds; Thou hast manifested Thy power among the nations. (16) With your arm you have delivered your people, the sons of Yaakov and Yosef[183] forever[184]. (17) The waters have seen you, O Almighty, the waters have seen you, they have trembled, and the depths have also been troubled. (18) Clouds poured out waters, the heavens gave out thunder, and your lightnings dispersed. (19) The voice of Thy thunder in the wheel,186 lightning illuminated the universe, and the earth shook and roared. (20) Your way is in the sea, your way is in great waters, but your tracks are unknown. (21) You led your people like sheep by the hand of Moses and Aharon.

78.

(1) Asaph's prudent [instruction]. Hearken, my people, to my instruction, incline your ear to the words of my mouth. (2) I will open my mouth in a parable, I will speak in riddles from ancient times. (3) What we have heard, and know that our fathers have told us, (4) we will not hide from their children, from the generation to come, when we tell of the glory of God, of his might, of his wondrous works which he has done. (5) He set up testimonies in Yaakov, the Law in Israel, which commanded our fathers to tell their children. (6) That the generations to come, the sons who will be born, may know, that they may in turn tell their children. (7) That they may put their hope in the Almighty, that they may not forget the deeds of the Almighty, and that they may keep his commandments. (8) So that they may not be like their fathers, an unfaithful and rebellious generation, a generation that has not set its heart and has remained unfaithful to the Almighty in spirit. 9 The sons of Ephraim,187 armed and archers, took to flight on the day of the battle. (10) They did not keep their covenant with the Almighty, and refused to follow His law. (11) They have forgotten his deeds and the miracles he has shown them. (12) In the eyes of their fathers he showed miracles in the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan. (13) He cut the sea and led them apart, and set the waters into a hill. (14) By day he led them in a cloud, and all night long in the light of fire. (15) He cut the rocks in the wilderness and gave them to drink as if they were from a great abyss. (16) Out of the rock he brought forth streams, and the waters flowed like a river. (17) But they continued to sin against him, to rebuke the Most High in the wilderness. (18) They tempted the Almighty in their hearts, demanding the food that their souls craved. (19) They spoke against the Almighty, saying, "Will the Almighty be able to set the table in the wilderness? (20) Behold, he struck the rock, and the waters flowed, and the rivers flowed. Will He also be able to give bread and meat to prepare for His people?" (21) So God heard and was inflamed with wrath, a fire was kindled in Yaakov, and wrath fell upon Israel. (22) Because they did not believe in the Almighty, and did not rely on Him to send salvation. (23) He commanded the clouds from above, and opened the doors of heaven. (24) He poured rain on them to eat, and he gave them the bread of heaven. (25) Man ate the bread of the angels, and he sent them food to their heart's content. (26) The east wind moved across the sky, and he led the south wind in his might. (27) As if they were dust, he showered them with flesh, as with the sand of the sea with feathered birds. (28) He cast them down in the midst of their camp, around their dwellings. (29) As they ate and were satiated, he satisfied their lust. (30) Their whim had not yet passed, and food was still in their mouths, (31) when the wrath of the Almighty fell upon them, killed the fat among them, and deposed the elect of Israel. (32) And yet they continued to sin, not believing in his miracles. (33) And he has ruined their days in vanity, and their years in confusion. (34) If (when) He had executed them, they would have inquired of Him, they would have turned to seek the Almighty, (35) and would have remembered that the Almighty is their stronghold, that the Almighty is their deliverer! (36) But they persuaded him with their lips, but with their tongues they lied before him. (37) But their hearts were not attuned to Him, nor were they faithful to their union with Him. (38) But He, the merciful, forgives sin and does not destroy, but repeatedly turns away His wrath and does not provoke all His wrath. (39) He remembered that they were flesh, a spirit that goes away and does not return. (40) How many times have they rebuked Him in the wilderness, angered Him in an uninhabited country! (41) And again they tried the Almighty, and they sought a sign from the holy [God] of Israel. (42) They did not remember his hands, the day when he delivered them from the oppressor. (43) When he did his signs in Egypt, his wonders in the field of Zoan. (44) When He turned their rivers into blood, their streams, so that they could not drink (the water) from them. (45) He sent upon them a mixture of (wild beasts) that devoured them, and frogs that destroyed them. (46) He gave the caterpillars their harvest, and their labor to the locusts. (47) He smote their grapes with hail, and the sycamores with ice-stones. (48) He gave their cattle over to the city, and their flocks to the flames. (49) He sent upon them the flame of his wrath, indignation, wrath, and calamity, the embassy of the angels of evil. (50) He has paved the way for his wrath, he has not preserved their souls from death, he has given up their animals to the plague. (51) He put to death every firstborn in Egypt, and the firstfruits of his strength in the tents of Ham.189 (52) He led his people like sheep, leading them like a flock in the wilderness. [53] He led them in safety, and they were not afraid, but the sea covered their enemies. (54) He led them into his holy country, to this mountain, which his right hand had gained. (55) He drove out from before them the nations whose land he had divided for their inheritance, and he settled the tribes of Israel in their tents. (56) But they tried and did not obey the Almighty (God) the Most High, and they did not keep His testimonies. (57) They turned away, they betrayed like their fathers, they turned back like a false bow,190 (58) They angered Him with their temples, and with their idols they stirred up His jealousy. (59) When the Almighty heard this, he was inflamed with anger and became very angry with Israel. (60) He rejected the monastery at Shiloh, the tent in which he dwelt among men. (61) He gave His fortress and His splendor into the hands of the enemy[191]. (62) He put his people to the sword, he was angry with his inheritance, (63) his young men were consumed by fire, his maidens were not sung wedding songs,192 (64) his priests fell by the sword, and his widows did not weep.[193] (65) But the Lord awoke as if from a dream, like a giant awakened from wine. (66) He smote his enemies in the rear, and delivered them over to eternal shame. (67) He rejected the tent of Joseph, and did not choose the tribe of Ephraim. (68) But he chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion, which he loved. (69) And He built His sanctuary like the heavens, like the earth, and established it forever. (70) He chose David his servant, took him from the sheepfolds, (71) and brought him from the milling sheep and goats to feed Jacob, his people, Israel, his inheritance. (72) And he shepherded them in the purity of his heart, leading them with wise hands.