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Psalm 74:4
Your adversaries have roared in the middle of your assembly. They have set up their standards as signs.
2Remember your congregation, which you purchased of old, which you have redeemed to be the tribe of your inheritance: Mount Zion, in which you have lived.
3Lift up your feet to the perpetual ruins, all the evil that the enemy has done in the sanctuary.
4Your adversaries have roared in the middle of your assembly. They have set up their standards as signs.
5They behaved like men wielding axes, cutting through a thicket of trees.
6Now they break all its carved work down with hatchet and hammers.
Notice
Enemy banners stand where God’s people gathered, making the sanctuary’s invasion a public display of contempt for the God to whom the assembly belongs.
Questions to write on. Each one opens a new entry with this verse already attached.
What troubles you most about enemies raising their banners where God’s people gathered?
Write on thisHow does naming the invaded gathering as God’s assembly shape your prayer about its ruin?
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Where else Scripture says this
12 passages readers most often link with this verse, and the thread each one shares with it.
This verse's connections, by chapterThe Bible's strongest chapter linksHover or tap a book to trace it
Lamentations 2:7The Lord has cast off his altar. He has abhorred his sanctuary. He has given the walls of her palaces into the hand of the enemy. They have made a noise in the …Both describe enemies making noise inside the place of worship, turning the sanctuary into a scene of conquest.
Matthew 24:15“When, therefore, you see the abomination of desolation, which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand),Both describe an offensive presence in a holy place, though Matthew names Daniel’s prophecy and the psalm describes enemy standards.
Daniel 6:27He delivers and rescues. He works signs and wonders in heaven and in earth, who has delivered Daniel from the power of the lions.”The shared word is signs: the psalm names enemy standards, while Daniel names signs worked by the God who rescues.
Numbers 2:2“The children of Israel shall encamp every man by his own standard, with the banners of their fathers’ houses. They shall encamp around the Tent of Meeting at …Both mention standards near a place of worship: Israel’s banners surround the tent, while enemy standards occupy the assembly.
2 Chronicles 36:17Therefore he brought on them the king of the Chaldeans, who killed their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion on …Both describe enemies invading the sanctuary; Chronicles names the Chaldean king and the people killed there.
Luke 13:1Now there were some present at the same time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices.Both describe hostility intruding upon worship, though Luke names bloodshed and the psalm names enemy roars and standards.
Jeremiah 6:1–5“Flee for safety, you children of Benjamin, out of the middle of Jerusalem! Blow the trumpet in Tekoa and raise up a signal on Beth Haccherem, for evil looks …Both mention visible signals amid military danger, though Jeremiah’s signal warns of destruction and the psalm’s standards belong to invading enemies.
Revelation 13:6He opened his mouth for blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, his dwelling, and those who dwell in heaven.Both portray hostility toward God expressed through a hostile voice and an attack upon what belongs to him.
Luke 21:20“But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation is at hand.Both concern military threats to Jerusalem’s worshiping life: Luke names surrounding armies, while the psalm describes enemies inside the assembly.
2 Kings 19:28Because of your raging against me, and because your arrogance has come up into my ears, therefore I will put my hook in your nose, and my bridle in your lips, …Both portray loud defiance against God; Kings also records God’s answer that the aggressor will be turned back.
Psalm 74:23Don’t forget the voice of your adversaries. The tumult of those who rise up against you ascends continually.Both name God’s adversaries by their noise, with the later verse asking him to remember their continuing tumult.
Psalm 83:2For, behold, your enemies are stirred up. Those who hate you have lifted up their heads.Both identify the hostile people as God’s enemies and describe their open defiance.
Where this verse fits
Injustice and anger. grief. fear for the future.
One step
Something small to carry out of this verse
Encouragement
The prayer still names the invaded gathering as God’s assembly. Its ruin is spoken to him without softening the violence or pretending that rescue has come.
Now put it in your words.
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Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).