Psalm 74
Psalm 74 (Greek numbering: 73) is part of the Biblical Book of Psalms. A community lament, it expresses the pleas of the Jewish community in the Babylonian captivity. It begins in verses 1-3 by imploring God to recall his people, and Mount Zion, and continues in verses 4-11 by describing the destruction of the Temple by Nebuchadnezzar. Verses 12-17 praise the might of God; the psalm ends (verses 18-23) by imploring the Lord to remember Israel and come to their aid.
Verses 13-14 particularly memorializes God's creation of the world in terms and details quite different from Genesis 1 and 2; here God contends with the "dragons in the waters", and crushes the "heads of Leviathan", who is then given as food to the wild beasts. This is similar to Canaanite creation myths, and is echoed in the text of Psalm 89:9-10.
Uses
Judaism
- Is recited on the fast of the Tenth of Tevet in some traditions.[1]
- Is recited on the second day of Passover in some traditions.[2]
- Verses 2 and 12 are recited during the blessings before the Shema on the second day of Rosh Hashanah.[3]