Psalms 74:2
in Psalms 74Remember Your congregation, which You purchased long ago and redeemed as the tribe of Your inheritance— Mount Zion where You dwell.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Remember thy congregation, which thou hast gotten of old, Which thou hast redeemed to be the tribe of thine inheritance; And mount Zion, wherein thou hast dwelt.
KJV
Remember thy congregation, which thou hast purchased of old; the rod of thine inheritance, which thou hast redeemed; this mount Zion, wherein thou hast dwelt.
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This verse in Psalms 74
Commentary
10 notes on this verseRemember thy congregation, which thou hast purchased of old. What a mighty plea is redemption. O God, canst thou see the blood mark on thine own sheep, and yet allow grievous wolves to devour them? The church is no new purchase of the Lord; from before the world's foundation the chosen were regarded as redeemed by the Lamb slain; shall ancient love die out, and the eternal purpose become frustrate? The Lord would have his people remember the paschal Lamb, the bloodstained lintel, and the overthrow of Egypt; and will he forget all this himself?
This site's exposition
the sheep of Your pasture
on Psalms 74:1-3
The psalm opens by asking why God has rejected his own and why his anger smolders against the sheep of his pasture. The plea rests on what God did, purchasing this congregation and redeeming it as the tribe of his inheritance, with Mount Zion as his dwelling.
This site's exposition
the tribe of Your inheritance
Wesley took the tribe of Your inheritance as Judah, chosen for the birth of the Messiah and hardest hit by this ruin. Henry heard the plea beneath it. Would God reject a congregation He had purchased so dearly?
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
"Remember Thou Thy congregation, which Thou hast possessed from the beginning" (ver. 2). Can this by any means be the voice of the Gentiles? Hath He possessed the Gentiles from the beginning? Nay, but He hath possessed the seed of Abraham, the people of Israel even according to the flesh, born of the Patriarchs our fathers: of whom we have become the sons, not by coming out of their flesh, but by imitating their faith. But those, possessed by God from the beginning, what befell them? "Remember Thy congregation which Thou hast possessed from the beginning. Thou hast redeemed the rod of Thine inheritance." That same congregation of Thine, being the rod of Thine inheritance, Thou hast redeemed. This same congregation he hath called "the rod of the inheritance." Let us look back to the first thing that was done, when He willed to possess that same congregation, delivering it from Egypt, what sign He gave to Moses, when Moses said to Him, "What sign shall I give that they may believe me, that Thou hast sent me? And God saith to him, What dost thou bear in thine hand? A rod. Cast it on to the ground," etc. What doth it intimate? For this was not done to no purpose. Let us inquire of the writings of God. To what did the serpent persuade man? To death. Therefore death is from the serpent. If death is from the serpent, the rod in the serpent is Christ in death. Therefore also when by serpents in the desert they were being bitten and being slain, the Lord commanded Moses to exalt a brazen serpent in the desert, and admonish the people that whosoever by a serpent had been bitten, should look thereupon and be made whole. Thus also it was done: thus also men, bitten by serpents, were made whole of the venom by looking upon a serpent. To be made whole of a serpent is a great Sacrament. What is it to be made whole of a serpent by looking upon a serpent? […]
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
Thy congregation - Thy people. Thine inheritance - The tribe of Judah, which thou hast in a special manner chosen for thine inheritance, and for the birth of the Messiah. Nor is it strange that he mentions this tribe particularly, because the calamity here remembered, did principally befall this tribe, and Benjamin, which was united with it.
Remember thy congregation, which thou hast purchased of old,....
"Now, Lord, wilt thou now abandon a people that cost thee so dear, and has been so dear to thee?" And, if the redemption of Israel out of Egypt was an encouragement to hope that he would not cast them off, much more reason have we to hope that God will not cast off any whom Christ has redeemed with his own blood; but the people of his purchase shall be for ever the people of his praise.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
Remember thy congregation, which thou hast purchased of old. What a mighty plea is redemption. O God, canst thou see the blood mark on thine own sheep, and yet allow grievous wolves to devour them? The church is no new purchase of the Lord; from before the world's foundation the chosen were regarded as redeemed by the Lamb slain; shall ancient love die out, and the eternal purpose become frustrate? The Lord would have his people remember the paschal Lamb, the bloodstained lintel, and the overthrow of Egypt; and will he forget all this himself? Let us put him in remembrance, let us plead together. Can he desert his blood bought and forsake his redeemed? Can election fail and eternal love cease to glow? Impossible. The woes of Calvary, and the covenant of which they are the seal, are the security of the saints. The rod of thine inheritance, which thou hast redeemed. So sweet a plea deserved to be repeated and enlarged upon. The Lord's portion is his people—will he lose his inheritance? His church is his kingdom, over which he stretches the rod of sovereignty; will he allow his possessions to be torn from him? God's property in us is a fact full of comfort: his value of us, his dominion over us, his connection with us are all so many lights to cheer our darkness. No man will willingly lose his inheritance, and no prince will relinquish his dominions; therefore we believe that the King of kings will hold his own, and maintain his rights against all comers. This mount Zion, wherein thou hast dwelt. The Lord's having made Zion the especial centre of his worship, and place of his manifestation, is yet another plea for the preservation of Jerusalem. Shall the sacred temple of Jehovah be desecrated by heathen, and the throne of the Great King be defiled by his enemies? Has the Spirit of God dwelt in our hearts, and will he leave them to become a haunt for the devil?
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
Remember thy congregation, which thou hast purchased of old - We are the descendants of that people whom thou didst take unto thyself; the children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Wilt thou never more be reconciled to us?
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Remember thy congregation - The word rendered “congregation” means properly an “assembly,” a “community,” and it is frequently applied to the Israelites, or the Jewish people, considered as a body or a community associated for the service of God. Exo 12:3; Exo 16:1-2, Exo 16:9; Lev 4:15; Num 27:17. The word used by the Septuagint is συναγωγή sunagōgē - synagogue - but refers here to the whole Jewish people, not to a particular synagogue or congregation. Which thou hast purchased of old - In ancient times; in a former age. That is, Thou hast “purchased” them to thyself, or as thine own, by redeeming them from bondage, thus securing to thyself the right to them, as one does who redeems or purchases a thing. See the notes at Isa 43:3. The rod of thine inheritance - Margin, as in Hebrew, “tribe.” The Hebrew word - שׁבט shêbet - means properly “a staff,” stick, rod; then, a shepherd’s staff, a crook; then, a scepter; and then it is used to denote a “tribe,” so called from the staff or scepter which the chief of the tribe carried as the symbol of authority. Exo 28:21; Jdg 20:2. The word “inheritance” is frequently applied to the children of Israel considered as belonging to God, as property inherited belongs to him who owns it - perhaps suggesting the idea that the right to them had come down, as inherited property does, from age to age. It was a right over them acquired long before, in the days of the patriarchs. Which thou hast redeemed - By delivering them out of Egyptian bondage. So the church is now redeemed, and, as such, it belongs to God. This mount Zion - Jerusalem - the seat of government, and of public worship - the capital of the nation. Wherein thou last dwelt - By the visible symbol of thy presence and power. - On all these considerations the psalmist prays that God would not forget Jerusalem in the present time of desolation and trouble.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
is Your wrath kindled lit. do Your nostrils smoke. Whenever one is angry, the nostrils emit smoke.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 5 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
12 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| זְכֹ֤ר | zekhor | remember | H2142 → | 230 times |
| עֲדָתְךָ֨׀ | ʾadatekha | congregation your | H5712 → | 149 times |
| קָ֘נִ֤יתָ | kanita | [which] you acquired | H7069 → | 84 times |
| קֶּ֗דֶם | kedem | antiquity | H6924 → | 87 times |
| גָּ֭אַלְתָּ | gaalta | [which] you redeemed | H1350 → | 104 times |
| שֵׁ֣בֶט | shevet | [the] tribe of | H7626 → | 190 times |
| נַחֲלָתֶ֑ךָ | nachalatekha | inheritance your | H5159 → | 222 times |
| הַר־ | har- | [the] mountain of | H2022 → | 546 times |
| צִ֝יּ֗וֹן | tziyon | Zion | H6726 → | 154 times |
| זֶ֤ה׀ | zeh | which | H2088 → | 1180 times |
| שָׁכַ֬נְתָּ | shakhanta | you have dwelt | H7931 → | 129 times |
| בּֽוֹ׃ | bo | on it |
זְכֹ֤רremember
zekhorH2142 →230 times
עֲדָתְךָ֨׀congregation your
ʾadatekhaH5712 →149 times
קָ֘נִ֤יתָ[which] you acquired
kanitaH7069 →84 times
קֶּ֗דֶםantiquity
kedemH6924 →87 times
גָּ֭אַלְתָּ[which] you redeemed
gaaltaH1350 →104 times
שֵׁ֣בֶט[the] tribe of
shevetH7626 →190 times
נַחֲלָתֶ֑ךָinheritance your
nachalatekhaH5159 →222 times
הַר־[the] mountain of
har-H2022 →546 times
צִ֝יּ֗וֹןZion
tziyonH6726 →154 times
זֶ֤ה׀which
zehH2088 →1180 times
שָׁכַ֬נְתָּyou have dwelt
shakhantaH7931 →129 times
בּֽוֹ׃on it
bo
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
Jeremiah 10:16The Portion of Jacob is not like these, for He is the Maker of all things, and Israel is the tribe of His inheritance—the LORD of Hosts is His name.
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 32:9
But the LORD’s portion is His people, Jacob His allotted inheritance.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Jeremiah 32:18
You show loving devotion to thousands but lay the iniquity of the fathers into the laps of their children after them, O great and mighty God whose name is the LORD of Hosts,
- Deuteronomy 32:9
Through
Deuteronomy 4:20Yet the LORD has taken you and brought you out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, to be the people of His inheritance, as you are today.
it leads to
- 1 Kings 8:51
For they are Your people and Your inheritance; You brought them out of Egypt, out of the furnace for iron.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- 1 Kings 8:51
Through
Deuteronomy 32:9But the LORD’s portion is His people, Jacob His allotted inheritance.
it leads to
- Exodus 19:5–6
Now if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, you will be My treasured possession out of all the nations—for the whole earth is Mine.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Jeremiah 10:16
The Portion of Jacob is not like these, for He is the Maker of all things, and Israel is the tribe of His inheritance—the LORD of Hosts is His name.
- 1 Peter 2:9–10
But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, to proclaim the virtues of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.
- Exodus 19:5–6
Through
Exodus 15:13With loving devotion You will lead the people You have redeemed; with Your strength You will guide them to Your holy dwelling.
it leads to
- Psalms 77:20
You led Your people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron.
- 1 Peter 1:5
who through faith are shielded by God’s power for the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.
- Psalms 77:20
About Psalms
Who and where
1 name in this verse with a page on the site.
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, Vol. 3; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.