Psalms 74:3

Psa 74:3 Lift up thy feet unto the perpetual desolations; [even] all [that] the enemy hath done wickedly in the sanctuary.

Ver. 3. Lift up thy feet unto the perpetual desolations] i.e. Make haste to help, accurre, advola, as Gen 29:1. Or, lift up thy feet, viz. to tread down thy enemies. A metaphor from combatants, Qui elevant pedes et passus, ut violentius in hostem invehantur. Some have rendered it, The loftiness of thy feet is perpetually (i.e. irreparably) desolated, understanding thereby the temple, that place of God’s feet, Eze 43:7

All that the enemy hath done wickedly in the sanctuary] Or, every one that hath done evil to his enemy in the sanctuary, whither he fled for safety.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Psa 74:3. Lift up thy feet — This is spoken after the manner of men, and means, Come speedily to our rescue, and do not delay, as men do when they sit or stand still; unto — Or rather, because of, the perpetual desolations — Namely, those ruins of the city and country, which had lasted so very long, and which, if God did not come to their help, he intimates, would be perpetual and irrecoverable. Even all that the enemy hath done wickedly, &c. — God had deserted his sanctuary, and the shechinah, or cloud of glory, emblematical of the divine presence, had gone up from between the cherubim: see Eze 10:4. In consequence of which the heathen people had invaded that holy place, and laid it waste. And the psalmist here supplicates and urges God’s return to them, as that which alone could restore their temple, city, and country to their former happy state.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Psa 74:3. Lift thy steps to the perpetual ruins, all the enemy has ill done in the holy place. The first phrase is a poetical expression meaning simply advance, draw near, for the purpose of inspection. The word translated ruins occurs only here and in Ps. lxxiii. 18. The whole phrase strictly means ruins of perpetuity, i.e. such as appears likely to continue for ever, and will certainly do so, unless God comply with this request to draw near. The construction of the second clause adopted by some writers, the enemy has destroyed all (or every thing) in the holy place, is scarcely grammatical. To express that idea, the word all would have the article, as in Psa 14:3, or a suffix, as in Psa 29:9, whereas its intimate connection here with the following verb in Hebrew is equivalent to a relative construction. Ill done, injured or destroyed, done mischief.

Joseph Addison Alexander, The Psalms Translated and Explained (1850) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

74:3-8 Like a guide, the psalmist points out to the Lord what took place during the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BC.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Or, feet.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Verse 3. Lift up thy feet] Arise, and return to us, our desolations still continue. Thy sanctuary is profaned by thine and our enemies.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

3. Lift up thy strokes. Here the people of God, on the other hand, beseech him to inflict a deadly wound upon their enemies, corresponding to the cruelty with which they had raged against his sanctuary. They would intimate, that a moderate degree of punishment was not sufficient for such impious and sacrilegious fury; and that, therefore, those who had shown themselves such violent enemies of the temple and of the worshippers of God should be completely destroyed, their impiety being altogether desperate. As the Holy Spirit has dictated this form of prayer, we may infer from it, in the first place, the infinite love which God bears towards us, when he is pleased to punish so severely the wrongs inflicted upon us; and, in the second place, the high estimation in which he holds the worship yielded to his Divine majesty, when he pursues with such rigour those who have violated it. With respect to the words, some translate פעמים, pheamim, which we have rendered strokes, by feet or steps, and understand the Church as praying that the Lord would lift up his feet, and run swiftly to strike her enemies. Others translate it hammers, which suits very well. I have, however, no hesitation in following the opinion of those who consider the reference to be to the act of striking, and that the strokes themselves are denoted. The last clause of the verse is explained by some as meaning that the enemy had corrupted all things in the sanctuary. But as this construction is not to be found elsewhere, I would not depart from the received and approved reading.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(3) Lift up thy feet.—Better, Lift thy steps. A poetical expression. God is invoked to hasten to view the desolation of the Temple. A somewhat similar expression will be found in Gen_29:1 (margin).

Perpetual desolations.—The word rendered “desolations” occurs also in Psa_73:18, where it is rendered “destruction.” Here, perhaps, we should render ruins which must be ever ruins, or complete ruins, or possibly, taking the first meaning of netsach, ruins of splendour. Isa_11:4 does not offer a parallel, since the Hebrew is different, and plainly refers to the long time the places have been in ruins.

Even all . . .—Better, the enemy hath devastated all in the holy place. 1Ma_1:38-40; 1Ma_3:45 (“Now Jerusalem lay void as a wilderness”) give the best explanation of the verse, descriptive, as it is, of the condition of the whole of Zion.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

3. Lift up thy feet] Bestir Thyself: come in might and majesty to visit and deliver. the perpetual desolations] R.V. the perpetual ruins: a word found elsewhere only in Psa_73:18. Cp. the threat, Jer_25:9, and the promises, Isa_58:12; Isa_61:4.

even all &c.] Better as R.V., All the evil that the enemy hath done in the sanctuary; or R.V. marg., The enemy hath wrought all evil.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Lift up thy feet unto the perpetual desolations,.... That is, arise, hasten, move swiftly, and in the greatness of strength, and come and see the desolations made by the enemy, which look as if they would remain for ever; meaning either the desolations made in the city and temple of Jerusalem, either by Nebuchadnezzar, or by Titus; or the havocs and devastations made in the church of God by the tyranny and persecutions of antichrist; which have continued so long, that an end of them has been almost despaired of. So Jacob is said to "lift up his feet"; which we render went on his way, Gen 29:1. Some take these words in a different sense, as a prayer for the destruction of the church's enemies; so the Targum,

"lift up thy feet or goings, to make desolate the nations for ever;''

and Kimchi makes but one sentence of this and the following clause, and reads it thus,

"lift up thy feet, to make desolate for ever every enemy that does wickedly in the sanctuary:''

but the accent "athnach", which divides propositions, and is upon the word forbids such a reading. The former sense is best, and most agreeable to the context;

even all that the enemy hath done wickedly in the sanctuary; by profaning and destroying the temple, as did Nebuchadnezzar, Antiochus, and Titus; or by antichrist sitting in the temple and church of God, setting up idolatrous worship in it, and blaspheming the tabernacle of God, and those that dwell therein, Th2 2:4.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Lift up thy feet - That is, Advance, or draw near. Come and look directly and personally on the desolations which now exist in the holy city.

Unto the perpetual desolations - Hebrew, “the ruins of perpetuity,” or eternity; that is, such as have been long continued, and threaten to continue forever. The ruin had not suddenly come, and it did not seem likely soon to pass away, but appeared to be entire and permanent. The destruction of the city seemed to be complete and final.

Even all that the enemy hath done wickedly - That is, with wicked intent and purpose. The reference seems to be to the Chaldeans, and to the ruin which they had brought upon the temple and city.

In the sanctuary - That is, either Jerusalem, considered as a holy place; or the temple, the place of the public worship of God.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Lift up thy feet, i.e. come speedily for our rescue, and do not sit or stand still, as hitherto thou seemest to do.

Unto the perpetual desolations; or rather, because of (as this prefix oft signifies) the perpetual desolations. So it is a powerful motive to God, to come to their help, because otherwise our destruction is everlasting and irrecoverable.

In the sanctuary; or, against thy sanctuary; of which see Psa 74:7.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Ver. 3. Lift up thy feet unto the perpetual desolations. The ruin made had already long been an eyesore to the suppliant, and there seemed no hope of restoration. Havoc lorded it not only for a day or a year, but with perpetual power. This is another argument with God. Would Jehovah sit still and see his own land made a wilderness, his own palace a desolation? Until he should arise, and draw near, the desolation would remain; only his presence could cure the evil, therefore is he entreated to hasten with uplifted feet for the deliverance of his people.

Even all that the enemy hath done wickedly in the sanctuary. Every stone in the ruined temple appealed to the Lord; on all sides were the marks of impious spoilers, the holiest places bore evidence of their malicious wickedness; would the Lord for ever permit this? Would he not hasten to overthrow the foe who defied him to his face, and profaned the throne of his glory? Faith finds pleas in the worst circumstances, she uses even the fallen stones of her desolate palaces, and assails with them the gates of heaven, casting them forth with the great engine of prayer.

Ver. 3. Lift up thy feet. Or, thy hammers, that is, "thy strokes, "to "stamp" or "beat down" the enemy "unto perpetual desolations." Thus the "feet" are used to "tread down with, " Isa 26:6; and so the Greek taketh it here, changing the metaphor, and translating it, "Thy hands, "which are also instruments to strike down with. Or, lift up thy feet, that is, come quickly to see the perpetual desolations, which the enemy hath made. Henry Ainsworth.

Ver. 3. Lift up thy feet. Abu Walid renders it, Tread hard upon thine enemies. The Jewish Arab, Shew forth thy punishment, adding in a note that the lifting up the feet implies punishment, the bringing under by force being usually expressed by treading under the feet. Henry Hammond.

Ver. 3. Lift up thy feet, etc. To these desolations they seek that God would lift up his footsteps, that is, that he would approach. In Ge 29:1, there occurs the phrase, to lift the feet; here the expression is much more marked--to lift up the footsteps --and must be taken to mean a swift, impetuous, majestic, and powerful approach; like a hero, who strikes the ground with heavy tread, and advances rapidly with far sounding footsteps. Hermann Venema.

Ver. 3. In the sanctuary. Their cities had been laid waste, their provinces, their farms, their vineyards, their oliveyards. They themselves had been everywhere cut down without striking a blow in defence, and their means of life had been snatched away without resistance. Yet they speak not of these things; not because things of this sort ought not to cause grief, nor yet because the saints are not touched with a sense of their loss; but because those things which threatened the extinction of religion and the worship of God, overtopped the feeling of all these other misfortunes with an intolerable sorrow. Musculus.

Ver. 3. Church mischief.

I. The church has enemies.

II. Wickedness in the church is their great weapon.

III. This causes much desolation to weak saints, to

enquirers, to peace, to prayer, to usefulness.

IV. The cure for it is God's interposition.

Ver. 3-4. The power of prayer.

I. On one side were,

1. Desolation: perpetual, etc.

2. Desecration.

3. Declamation: enemies roar.

4. Demonstration: they set up. II. On the other side is,

1. Supplication.

2. This brings God to the rescue effectually and quickly.

Psalms 74:4*

Ver. 3-4. The power of prayer.

I. On one side were,

1. Desolation: perpetual, etc.

2. Desecration.

3. Declamation: enemies roar.

4. Demonstration: they set up. II. On the other side is,

1. Supplication.

2. This brings God to the rescue effectually and quickly.

Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

3. Lift up thy feet—Hasten thy footsteps to the places utterly desolate. This lifting up of the foot, [or hand,] implies the purpose of doing something, as in Gen_41:44 : “Without thee shall no man lift up his hand or foot [that is, to execute a purpose] in all Egypt.” The lifting up the foot is sometimes for trampling down, in judgment; but here for haste to witness the work of the enemy, with the implied idea of recompense. See Psa_7:5; Dan_8:7.

Perpetual—Without end, eternal. Psa_74:1. So the desolations appeared to the crushed spirit.

In the sanctuary—The desolations reach even to the temple.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Lift up thy feet unto the perpetual desolations; or, the perpetual ruins. God is asked to visit and protect, or else to visit and inspect, the desolate ruins with which the Babylonians have covered Mount Zion. Even all that the enemy hath done wickedly in the sanctuary. The Babylonians had plundered the temple of all its treasures, breaking the precious Phoenician bronze work into pieces, and carrying off everything of value that was portable. (2Ki_25:13-17) They had also "burnt the house of the Lord "(ver. 9), and "broken down the walls of Jerusalem" (ver. 10) and the walls of the temple to a large extent (see below, ver. 7). It is quite certain that neither Shishak nor the Syrians under Antiochus Epiphanes created any such devastation.

HOMILIES BY S. CONWAY Vers. 3-8. Hell"s carnival.

This is what is portrayed to us in these lamentations over the desecrations and destructions wreaked upon the temple at Jerusalem, probably at the time of Nebuchadnezzar"s invasion. (see 2Ch_36:17, etc.) As the destroyer acted then, so he acts now when the like work is on hand of profaning God"s sanctuary. What the ancient temple was, the Church of God is the sanctuary of God. And it has once and again come under the destroyer"s power.

I THE TEMPLE IS LAID WASTE. (Ver. 3)

1. That at Jerusalem was. The sacred service had come to an end; the throng of worshippers were driven away: the ministers of the temple no longer served at the altar; there was desolation everywhere. "The holy and beautiful house wherein the fathers of Israel had worshipped has been plundered and desecrated by a heathen soldiery. Instead of the psalms and hymns and sacred anthems which once echoed within those walls, has been heard the brutal shout of the fierce invaders, roaring like lions over their prey.

2. And there have been similar desecrations. Our own land, and other"s, are sprinkled over with the ruins of desecrated shrines. They are beautiful even now in their decay, and suggest to us how glorious they must have been when they stood erect and complete in all their grandeur; when, instead of being given over, as now, to mouldering ruin, they were thronged with devout worshippers, and the sublime music of the praises of God reverberated through their high-roofed naves and choirs, and down the long vistas of their vaulted aisles. One can, even now, scarce keep back the bitter curse upon those brutal iconoclasts who in these once magnificent houses of God have wrought such cruel havoc and desolation, and the effects of whose blind fanaticism or wanton wickedness and greed can now never be repaired. The sacred rage which breathes in this psalm finds place yet in many hearts against those detestable destroyers of the most beautiful products of God-inspired genius and devotion that the world has ever seen or will see.

3. But the desolation of the spiritual temple is worse still, and what most concerns us all. And the wasters of that are not wicked men who assail us from without, but spiritual foes whom we have sheltered within. It is unbelief which lays waste the spiritual temple. Worse than fire, or axe, or sword, it makes havoc of the soul. And wickedness following hard on its footsteps completes the work which it has begun. Then comes

II THE EXULTATION OF THE ADVERSARY. (Ver. 4) No doubt this literally occurred at Jerusalem, as it has in many another sanctuary of God which has been brought to ruin. But most assuredly that "roar" has been heard when the Church of God his temple in the soul has been laid waste. The adversaries of God point the finger of scorn; they scoff and jibe and mock; they never weary of holding up to contempt the loud, lofty pretensions and vast claims of the Christian Church, as they bid all men see what a wretched fraud she has at last proved to be. They contrast what she said and what she is, and the roar of execration and exultation over her is heard far and wide as that contrast is seen. Let none of us by our infidelities add to that bitter shame.

III THEY SET UP THEIR STANDARDS AS TRUE. (Ver. 4) In the temple at Jerusalem the invaders, no doubt, piled their military trophies, banners, and ensigns; or the "signs" spoken of may mean religious emblems, heathen rites and ceremonies. (cf. RAPC 1Ma 1:54, 59 3:48) But both meanings may be combined, as the temple may have been turned both into a barrack and heathen altar at the same time. The incident, however, suggests what is so continually seen when the spiritual temple of God is laid waste. Then men take their standards of truth for those of God; they assert their miserable theories of things for the verities which the Holy Scriptures have taught us; they bid us welcome some age of reason instead of the time-honoured truths on which the Church is founded. Their ensigns for signs, man"s speculations for God"s revelations.

IV THE BEAUTY AND GRACE OF THE TEMPLE THEY BREAK DOWN. (Ver. 6) So has it been with material sanctuaries of God, and the like has been done in those which are spiritual. For a while the unbeliever filches from the fair fabric of Christian truth those gracious and winsome doctrines which have ever commended the faith of Christ to men, and he claims them as the mere product of reason, as evolved by the processes of human thought. But when his work of destruction is complete, and the spiritual sanctuary of God is all laid waste, faith utterly gone, then it will be found that this "carved work of the sanctuary" will be broken down, and the love and care of men will depart with the love and faith of God.

V THE WORK GOES ON UNTIL ALL IS DESTROYED. (Ver. 7) It was so with the material temple; but, thank God, all is not lost in the spiritual There may be, however, individuals and groups of men in which the dread work is complete, and "God is not in all their thoughts.

VI EVERY RELIC AND TRACE OF THE WORSHIP OF GOD IS GOT RID OF. (Ver. 8) Besides the temple, there were, doubtless, synagogues, places of assembly, where religious men met for worship, though we do not meet with the actual mention of synagogues until the times of the New Testament. And when the first temple was destroyed, we may reasonably believe that such places existed, as we know they did afterwards. But there are, alas! places and human hearts where every relic and trace of God"s worship have been swept utterly away, as if burned with fire. So long as any place where the soul can meet with God is left, the great enemy"s triumph is not complete; he is not satisfied till what is said in ver. 8 has been done. But from this may God keep us all! S.C.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Lift up - Come speedily to our rescue. Because - Because otherwise our destruction is irrecoverable.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

General Information:

These verses describe an actual event, a physical attack on the temple of Israel in Jerusalem.

Come look

Asaph is addressing God, asking him to come look at the destruction.

roared

The adversaries were shouting loudly with a great cry of victory.

engravings

This refers to carvings on wood, metal, or stone in the temple.

translationWords

ruin

holy place

adversary

ax

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

Raise Your blows to inflict eternal ruin Raise Your blows and Your terrors that Your enemies will experience as eternal ruin for every evil thing that the enemy did in the Temple. In this manner, Menachem (p. 144) associates it with (Gen. 41:8): “that his spirit was troubled (ותפעם).”

to...ruin Heb. למשאות, an expression of destruction, as (Isa. 24:12): “through desolation (שאיה)”; (Isa. 6:11), “and the ground lies waste (למשאות) and desolate.”

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.