Step toward the irreparable ruins; The enemy has damaged everything in the sanctuary.
Parallel translations
- WEB Lift up your feet to the perpetual ruins, all the evil that the enemy has done in the sanctuary.
- KJV Lift up thy feet unto the perpetual desolations; even all that the enemy hath done wickedly in the sanctuary.
- BSB Turn Your steps to the everlasting ruins, to everything in the sanctuary the enemy has destroyed.
- NKJV Lift up Your feet to the perpetual desolations. The enemy has damaged everything in the sanctuary.
- NLT Walk through the awful ruins of the city; see how the enemy has destroyed your sanctuary.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
He asks God to come to the perpetual ruins and see all the destruction the enemy has wrought in the sanctuary.
Overview
Asaph urges God to behold the desolation of his holy place. The plea assumes that God cares about his dwelling and the worship of his people. The ruin of the earthly sanctuary points ahead to the day when God dwells with his people perfectly, a hope secured by Christ, in whom God's true temple is restored (John 2:19-21).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 25
- Lam 1:10The adversary has spread out his hand on all her pleasant things: for she has seen that the nations are entered into her sanctuary, concerning whom you commanded that they should not enter into your assembly.
- Ps 79:1A Psalm by Asaph. God, the nations have come into your inheritance. They have defiled your holy temple. They have laid Jerusalem in heaps.
- Dan 9:17Now therefore, our God, listen to the prayer of your servant, and to his petitions, and cause your face to shine on your sanctuary that is desolate, for the Lord’s sake.
- Mark 11:17He taught, saying to them, “Isn’t it written, ‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all the nations?’ But you have made it a den of robbers!”
- Isa 64:10–11Your holy cities have become a wilderness. Zion has become a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation.
- Luke 21:24They will fall by the edge of the sword, and will be led captive into all the nations. Jerusalem will be trampled down by the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.
- 2 Sam 22:39–43I have consumed them, and struck them through, so that they can’t arise. Yes, they have fallen under my feet.
- Mic 3:12Therefore Zion for your sake will be plowed like a field, and Jerusalem will become heaps of rubble, and the mountain of the temple like the high places of a forest.
- Isa 25:10For in this mountain Yahweh’s hand will rest. Moab will be trodden down in his place, even like straw is trodden down in the water of the dunghill.
- Neh 2:13I went out by night by the valley gate, even toward the jackal’s well, then to the dung gate, and inspected the walls of Jerusalem, which were broken down, and its gates were consumed with fire.
- Dan 9:27He shall make a firm covenant with many for one week: and in the middle of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the offering to cease; and on the wing of abominations shall come one who makes desolate; and even to the full end, and that determined, shall wrath be poured out on the desolate.
- Isa 61:4They will rebuild the old ruins. They will raise up the places long devastated. They will repair the ruined cities, that have been devastated for many generations.
- Ps 44:23Wake up! Why do you sleep, Lord? Arise! Don’t reject us forever.
- Jer 52:13He burned Yahweh’s house, and the king’s house; and all the houses of Jerusalem, even every great house, he burned with fire.
- Neh 2:3I said to the king, “Let the king live forever! Why shouldn’t my face be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers’ tombs, lies waste, and its gates have been consumed with fire?”
- Dan 8:11–14Yes, it magnified itself, even to the prince of the army; and it took away from him the continual burnt offering, and the place of his sanctuary was cast down.
- Isa 63:3–6“I have trodden the wine press alone; and of the peoples, no one was with me: Yes, I trod them in my anger, and trampled them in my wrath. Their lifeblood is sprinkled on my garments, and I have stained all my clothing.
- Ps 44:26Rise up to help us. Redeem us for your loving kindness’ sake.
- Dan 11:31Forces shall stand on his part, and they shall profane the sanctuary, even the fortress, and shall take away the continual burnt offering, and they shall set up the abomination that makes desolate.
- Josh 10:24When they brought those kings out to Joshua, Joshua called for all the men of Israel, and said to the chiefs of the men of war who went with him, “Come near. Put your feet on the necks of these kings.” They came near, and put their feet on their necks.
- Rev 11:2Leave out the court which is outside of the temple, and don’t measure it, for it has been given to the nations. They will tread the holy city under foot for forty-two months.
- Ps 102:13–14You will arise and have mercy on Zion; for it is time to have pity on her. Yes, the set time has come.
- Neh 1:3They said to me, “The remnant who are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach. The wall of Jerusalem is also broken down, and its gates are burned with fire.”
- Mic 1:3For, behold, Yahweh comes out of his place, and will come down and tread on the high places of the earth.
- Isa 10:6I will send him against a profane nation, and against the people who anger me will I give him a command to take the plunder and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets.
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Christ at the center
The Psalms are Christ's own prayer book and a gallery of his portraits — the suffering one of Psalm 22, the risen Lord of Psalm 16, the priest-king of Psalm 110, the Son to whom the nations are given.
How Psalms 74:3 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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