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Psalm 74 Bible study: Remember your congregation
Psalm 74 says forever four times in Hebrew, netsach (74:1, 74:3, 74:10, 74:19), and asks God three times to remember (74:2, 74:18, 74:22). Between its questions it calls God "my King of old" (74:12) and says the separate Hebrew word for you, attah, seven times (74:13-17), each time before something God did.
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“Yet God is my King of old, working salvation throughout the earth.”
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“Psalm 74 says God made summer and winter.”
Is that in Psalm 74, or not? Make your call.
What's really going on
"Why have you rejected us forever?"
The title is "A contemplation by Asaph" (74:1), and it names no occasion. Then the psalm opens with two questions to God: "God, why have you rejected us forever? Why does your anger smolder against the sheep of your pasture?" (74:1) (tap rejected, forever). The chapter on Psalm 44 has already set this first question beside "Don’t reject us forever" (Psalm 44:23), which has the same two Hebrew words. Here is what almost everyone misses: Psalm 74 has that word for forever, netsach, four times. The WEB gives it as forever in 74:1, 74:10 and 74:19, and as perpetual in "Lift up your feet to the perpetual ruins" (74:3). And from its first lines the psalm calls what it speaks of God's: "the sheep of your pasture" (74:1), "your congregation, which you purchased of old" (74:2), and "Mount Zion, in which you have lived" (74:2).
Honest questions
Questions people ask about Psalm 74
That was a taste
The rest of Psalm 74 is waiting in Favor
- What the enemy did, in God's own places
- "Yet God is my King of old"
- Remember, and don't forget
- Words from the song at the sea
- Signs, seasons, day and night
- 9 questions as you read
- 13 more Hebrew words
- A short check at the end
- Your notes, saved as you go
Favor reads the Bible in order, so you'll reach Psalm 74 with everything before it in view. First week free, then $10 a month per person.
The Hebrew word behind it
נֵצַחnetsachsay NE-tsakh
Brown-Driver-Briggs: "eminence, enduring, everlasting, perpetuity". Strong's gives its first sense as "properly, a goal, i.e. the bright object at a distance travelled towards", and adds "but usually (adverbially), continually". This psalm has it four times, more than any other psalm: "God, why have you rejected us forever?" (74:1), "Lift up your feet to the perpetual ruins" (74:3), "Shall the enemy blaspheme your name forever?" (74:10), and "Don’t forget the life of your poor forever" (74:19). The Psalms have it 18 times in Hebrew. Other psalms have it beside "How long" too: "How long, LORD? Will you forget me forever?" (Psalm 13:1), "How long, LORD? Will you be angry forever?" (Psalm 79:5), and "How long, LORD? Will you hide yourself forever?" (Psalm 89:46).
For your group
Psalm 74 Bible study questions
- 1The psalm opens, "God, why have you rejected us forever?" (74:1), spoken straight to God. Is there a question you have brought to God like that, or one you have held back?
- 2In the middle of its questions the psalm says, "Yet God is my King of old" (74:12), and remembers what God has done. What has God done in your past that you go back to when something in your life is broken?
- 3"Don’t forget the life of your poor forever" (74:19). Who around you might feel forgotten right now, and how could your group remember them this week?
Leading a group? In Favor, everyone reads Psalm 74 during the week and answers these questions privately. Answers stay sealed until you meet, then appear together, and you can print the week's sheet.
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Questions
What is Favor?
Favor is a Bible study app that explains every chapter as you read: the Hebrew and Greek behind the words, the details most readers miss, and how each part of the Bible leads to Jesus. Read on your own, or start a Bible study with friends, family or your church.
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Favor takes the Bible as one story, in order, so you'll reach Psalm 74 with everything that leads up to it in view. Start from Genesis, or meet Jesus first in the Gospels. You can read the text of any chapter in Favor's Look up whenever you like.
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No. Many people read on their own. If you'd like to read with others, start a Bible study and share one link. Everyone's answers stay private until you meet.
I've never really read the Bible. Is this for me?
Yes. Favor starts where you are and explains as it goes. The questions along the way aren't marked right or wrong: you answer, then see what the text shows.
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The World English Bible, a modern, readable translation in the public domain. God's name appears as "the LORD", as in most English Bibles.
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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Hebrew and Greek words are checked against the original-language texts and public-domain lexicons. What we believe · Favor home