A Prayer for Deliverance
(Psalm 74:1-23; Jeremiah 52:1-11)
A Psalm of Asaph.
The nations, O God, have invaded Your inheritance;
they have defiled Your holy temple
and reduced Jerusalem to rubble.
2They have given the corpses of Your servants
as food to the birds of the air,
the flesh of Your saints to the beasts of the earth.
3They have poured out their blood like water
all around Jerusalem,
and there is no one to bury the dead.
4We have become a reproach to our neighbors,
a scorn and derision to those around us.
5How long, O LORD?
Will You be angry forever?
Will Your jealousy burn like fire?
6Pour out Your wrath on the nations
that do not acknowledge You,
on the kingdoms that refuse to call on Your name,
7for they have devoured Jacob
and laid waste to his homeland.
8Do not hold past sins against us;
let Your compassion come quickly,
for we are brought low.
9Help us, O God of our salvation,
for the glory of Your name;
deliver us and atone for our sins,
for the sake of Your name.
10Why should the nations ask,
“Where is their God?”
Before our eyes, make known among the nations
Your vengeance for the bloodshed of Your servants.
11May the groans of the captives reach You;
by the strength of Your arm preserve those condemned to death.
12Pay back into the laps of our neighbors
sevenfold the reproach they hurled at You, O Lord.
13Then we Your people, the sheep of Your pasture,
will thank You forever;
from generation to generation,
we will declare Your praise.