Psalms 74:18
in Psalms 74Remember how the enemy has mocked You, O LORD, how a foolish people has spurned Your name.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Remember this, that the enemy hath reproached, O Jehovah, And that a foolish people hath blasphemed thy name.
KJV
Remember this, that the enemy hath reproached, O Lord, and that the foolish people have blasphemed thy name.
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This verse in Psalms 74
Commentary
8 notes on this verseThis was that which they roared in the sanctuary; they triumphed as if they had now got the mastery of the God is Israel, of whom they had heard such great things.
This site's exposition
how the enemy has mocked You
on Psalms 74:18-21
The requests gather: remember the mocking, and do not hand the soul of your dove over to beasts. The ground of the asking is the covenant, with haunts of violence filling the dark places of the land. The last request is that the poor praise his name.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
"Mindful be Thou of this Thy creature" (ver. 18). Of what creature of Thine? "The enemy hath reviled the Lord." O Asaph, grieve over thine old blindness in understanding: "the enemy hath reviled the Lord." It was said to Christ in His own nation, "a sinner is this Man: we know not whence He is:" we know Moses, to him spake God; this Man is a Samaritan. "And the unwise people hath provoked Thy name." The unwise people Asaph was at that time, but not the understanding of Asaph at that time. What is said in the former Psalm? "As it were a beast I have become unto Thee, and I am alway with Thee:" because He went not to the gods and idols of the Gentiles. Although he knew not, being like a beast, yet he knew again as a man. For he said, "alway I am with Thee, like a beast:" and what afterwards in that place in the same Psalm, where Asaph is? "Thou hast held the hand of my right hand, in Thy will Thou hast conducted me, and with glory Thou hast taken me up." In Thy will, not in my righteousness: by Thy gift, not by my work. Therefore here also, "the enemy hath reviled the Lord: and the unwise people hath provoked Thy name." Have they all then perished? Far be it. ...For even the Apostle Paul through unbelief had been broken, and through faith unto the root he was restored. So evidently "the unwise people provoked Thy name," when it was said, "If Son of God He is let Him come down from the Cross."
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
) and that still the foolish man reproaches thee daily. " Observe the character of those that reproach God; they are foolish. As atheism is folly ( Ps. xiv. 1 ), profaneness and blasphemy are no less so.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens+odd-straight-quotes
Remember this, that the enemy hath reproached, O Lord,....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
Having spread the sad case before the Lord, the pleader now urges another series of arguments for divine help. He reasons from the Lord's former wonders of grace, and his deeds of power, imploring a repetition of the same divine works.
Remember this - The heathen not only deny these things, but give the honor of them to their false gods, and thus blaspheme thy name.
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Remember this, that the enemy hath reproached - Has used opprobrious and abusive words in regard to thee, and to thy people. The idea is, that religion - the true religion - had been reproached by the foe. They had treated that religion as if it were false; they had reproached God as if he were a false God, and as if he were unable to defend his people. Compare Isa 36:4-10, Isa 36:13-20; Isa 37:10-13, Isa 37:23. The prayer here is, that God would remember that these words of reproach were against himself, and that he would regard them as such. And that the foolish people have blasphemed thy name - Have blasphemed thee - the name often being put for the person himself. The word “foolish” here may refer to them as “wicked” as well as foolish. Wickedness and folly are so connected - they are so commonly combined, that the word may be used to describe the enemies of God in either sense - characterising their conduct as either the one or the other. Compare the notes at Psa 14:1.
The words behind it
9 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| זְכָר־ | zekhor- | remember | H2142 → | 230 times |
| זֹ֗את | zot | this | H2063 → | 603 times |
| א֭וֹיֵב | ʾoyev | [the] enemy | H341 → | 282 times |
| חֵרֵ֣ף׀ | cheref | he taunted | H2778 → | 41 times |
| יְהוָ֑ה | yahweh | O Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| וְעַ֥ם | veam | and a people | H5971 → | 1873 times |
| נָ֝בָ֗ל | naval | foolish | H5036 → | 18 times |
| נִֽאֲצ֥וּ | niatzu | they spurned | H5006 → | 25 times |
| שְׁמֶֽךָ׃ | shemekha | name your | H8034 → | 864 times |
זְכָר־remember
zekhor-H2142 →230 times
זֹ֗אתthis
zotH2063 →603 times
א֭וֹיֵב[the] enemy
ʾoyevH341 →282 times
חֵרֵ֣ף׀he taunted
cherefH2778 →41 times
יְהוָ֑הO Yahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
וְעַ֥םand a people
veamH5971 →1873 times
נָ֝בָ֗לfoolish
navalH5036 →18 times
נִֽאֲצ֥וּthey spurned
niatzuH5006 →25 times
שְׁמֶֽךָ׃name your
shemekhaH8034 →864 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Psalms 41:1Blessed is the one who cares for the poor; the LORD will deliver him in the day of trouble.
it leads to
- Proverbs 19:17
Kindness to the poor is a loan to the LORD, and He will repay the lender.
- Proverbs 14:21
He who despises his neighbor sins, but blessed is he who shows kindness to the poor.
- Acts 20:35
In everything, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words of the Lord Jesus Himself: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”
- 2 Corinthians 9:8–14
And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things, at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.
- Matthew 25:34–39
Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
- Proverbs 19:17
Through
Deuteronomy 32:6Is this how you repay the LORD, O foolish and senseless people? Is He not your Father and Creator? Has He not made you and established you?
it leads to
- Isaiah 63:16
Yet You are our Father, though Abraham does not know us and Israel does not acknowledge us. You, O LORD, are our Father; our Redeemer from Everlasting is Your name.
- Isaiah 63:16
Through
Revelation 16:19The great city was split into three parts, and the cities of the nations collapsed. And God remembered Babylon the great and gave her the cup of the wine of the fury of His…
it leads to
- Revelation 18:5
For her sins are piled up to heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities.
- Revelation 17:18
And the woman you saw is the great city that rules over the kings of the earth.”
- Revelation 18:5
About Psalms
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Book of Psalms; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Augustine of Hippo, Exposition on Psalm 74; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, Vol. 3; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.