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Psalm 74

1  O God, why have you utterly disowned us? ♦︎
   Why does your anger burn
      against the sheep of your pasture?
2  Remember your congregation that you purchased of old, ♦︎
   the tribe you redeemed for your own possession,
      and Mount Zion where you dwelt.
3  Hasten your steps towards the endless ruins, ♦︎
   where the enemy has laid waste all your sanctuary.
4  Your adversaries roared in the place of your worship; ♦︎
   they set up their banners as tokens of victory.
5  Like men brandishing axes on high in a thicket of trees, ♦︎
   all her carved work they smashed down with hatchet and hammer.
6  They set fire to your holy place; ♦︎
   they defiled the dwelling place of your name
      and razed it to the ground.
7  They said in their heart, ‘Let us make havoc of them altogether,’ ♦︎
   and they burned down all the sanctuaries of God in the land.
8  There are no signs to see, not one prophet left, ♦︎
   not one among us who knows how long.
9  How long, O God, will the adversary scoff? ♦︎
   Shall the enemy blaspheme your name for ever?
10  Why have you withheld your hand ♦︎
   and hidden your right hand in your bosom?
11  Yet God is my king from of old, ♦︎
   who did deeds of salvation in the midst of the earth.
12  It was you that divided the sea by your might ♦︎
   and shattered the heads of the dragons on the waters;
13  You alone crushed the heads of Leviathan ♦︎
   and gave him to the beasts of the desert for food.
14  You cleft the rock for fountain and flood; ♦︎
   you dried up ever-flowing rivers.
15  Yours is the day, yours also the night; ♦︎
   you established the moon and the sun.
16  You set all the bounds of the earth; ♦︎
   you fashioned both summer and winter.
17  Remember now, Lord, how the enemy scoffed, ♦︎
   how a foolish people despised your name.
18  Do not give to wild beasts the soul of your turtle dove; ♦︎
   forget not the lives of your poor for ever.
19  Look upon your creation,
      for the earth is full of darkness, ♦︎
   full of the haunts of violence.
20  Let not the oppressed turn away ashamed, ♦︎
   but let the poor and needy praise your name.
21  Arise, O God, maintain your own cause; ♦︎
   remember how fools revile you all the day long.
22  Forget not the clamour of your adversaries, ♦︎
   the tumult of your enemies that ascends continually.

17 When Ahab saw Elijah, Ahab said to him, ‘Is it you, you troubler of Israel?’ ¹⁸He answered, ‘I have not troubled Israel; but you have, and your father’s house, because you have forsaken the commandments of the Lord and followed the Baals. ¹⁹Now therefore have all Israel assemble for me at Mount Carmel, with the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal and the four hundred prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel’s table.’

Elijah’s Triumph over the Priests of Baal

20 So Ahab sent to all the Israelites, and assembled the prophets at Mount Carmel. ²¹Elijah then came near to all the people, and said, ‘How long will you go limping with two different opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him.’ The people did not answer him a word. ²²Then Elijah said to the people, ‘I, even I only, am left a prophet of the Lord; but Baal’s prophets number four hundred and fifty. ²³Let two bulls be given to us; let them choose one bull for themselves, cut it in pieces, and lay it on the wood, but put no fire to it; I will prepare the other bull and lay it on the wood, but put no fire to it. ²⁴Then you call on the name of your god and I will call on the name of the Lord; the god who answers by fire is indeed God.’ All the people answered, ‘Well spoken!’ ²⁵Then Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, ‘Choose for yourselves one bull and prepare it first, for you are many; then call on the name of your god, but put no fire to it.’ ²⁶So they took the bull that was given them, prepared it, and called on the name of Baal from morning until noon, crying, ‘O Baal, answer us!’ But there was no voice, and no answer. They limped about the altar that they had made. ²⁷At noon Elijah mocked them, saying, ‘Cry aloud! Surely he is a god; either he is meditating, or he has wandered away, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he is asleep and must be awakened.’ ²⁸Then they cried aloud and, as was their custom, they cut themselves with swords and lances until the blood gushed out over them. ²⁹As midday passed, they raved on until the time of the offering of the oblation, but there was no voice, no answer, and no response.

30 Then Elijah said to all the people, ‘Come closer to me’; and all the people came closer to him. First he repaired the altar of the Lord that had been thrown down; ³¹Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of the Lord came, saying, ‘Israel shall be your name’; ³²with the stones he built an altar in the name of the Lord. Then he made a trench around the altar, large enough to contain two measures of seed. ³³Next he put the wood in order, cut the bull in pieces, and laid it on the wood. He said, ‘Fill four jars with water and pour it on the burnt-offering and on the wood.’ ³⁴Then he said, ‘Do it a second time’; and they did it a second time. Again he said, ‘Do it a third time’; and they did it a third time, ³⁵so that the water ran all round the altar, and filled the trench also with water.

36 At the time of the offering of the oblation, the prophet Elijah came near and said, ‘O Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that you are God in Israel, that I am your servant, and that I have done all these things at your bidding. ³⁷Answer me, O Lord, answer me, so that this people may know that you, O Lord, are God, and that you have turned their hearts back.’ ³⁸Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt-offering, the wood, the stones, and the dust, and even licked up the water that was in the trench. ³⁹When all the people saw it, they fell on their faces and said, ‘The Lord indeed is God; the Lord indeed is God.’ ⁴⁰Elijah said to them, ‘Seize the prophets of Baal; do not let one of them escape.’ Then they seized them; and Elijah brought them down to the Wadi Kishon, and killed them there.

Satan’s Doom

7 When the thousand years are ended, Satan will be released from his prison ⁸and will come out to deceive the nations at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, in order to gather them for battle; they are as numerous as the sands of the sea. ⁹They marched up over the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. And fire came down from heaven^* and consumed them. ¹⁰And the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulphur, where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.

The Dead Are Judged

11 Then I saw a great white throne and the one who sat on it; the earth and the heaven fled from his presence, and no place was found for them. ¹²And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Also another book was opened, the book of life. And the dead were judged according to their works, as recorded in the books. ¹³And the sea gave up the dead that were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and all were judged according to what they had done. ¹⁴Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire; ¹⁵and anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.