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There your enemies shouted their victorious battle cries; there they set up their battle standards.
Psalms 74:4 · New Living Translation
Parallel translations
  • WEB Your adversaries have roared in the middle of your assembly. They have set up their standards as signs.
  • KJV Thine enemies roar in the midst of thy congregations; they set up their ensigns for signs.
  • BSB Your foes have roared within Your meeting place; they have unfurled their banners as signs,
  • NKJV Your enemies roar in the midst of Your meeting place; They set up their banners for signs.
  • NASB Your adversaries have roared in the midst of Your meeting place; They have set up their own signs as signs.

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

The enemies roared in triumph within God's assembly and set up their own standards as signs of conquest.

Overview

Pagan foes desecrated the sacred place, raising their banners where God was worshiped. Their arrogant intrusion mocked the Lord himself. This profanation deepens the lament and appeals to God's honor, for the dishonoring of his sanctuary is ultimately an affront against him.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 9

  • Lam 2:7The Lord has cast off his altar, he has abhorred his sanctuary; He has given up into the hand of the enemy the walls of her palaces: They have made a noise in Yahweh’s house, as in the day of a solemn assembly.
  • Matt 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),
  • Num 2:2“The children of Israel shall encamp every man by his own standard, with the banners of their fathers’ houses: at a distance from the Tent of Meeting shall they encamp around it.”
  • Dan 6:27He delivers and rescues, and he works signs and wonders in heaven and in earth, who has delivered Daniel from the power of the lions.
  • 2 Chr 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 young man or virgin, old man or gray-headed. He gave them all into his hand.
  • Jer 6:1–5“Flee for safety, you children of Benjamin, out of the middle of Jerusalem, and blow the trumpet in Tekoa, and raise up a signal on Beth Haccherem; for evil looks out from the north, and a great destruction.
  • 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.
  • Luke 21:20“But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation is at hand.
  • Rev 13:6He opened his mouth for blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his dwelling, those who dwell in heaven.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (1)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Psalms videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Psalms 74:4YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on PsalmsMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

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 74:4 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

Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.