Psalms 74:23
in Psalms 74Do not disregard the clamor of Your adversaries, the uproar of Your enemies that ascends continually.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Forget not the voice of thine adversaries: The tumult of those that rise up against thee ascendeth continually.
KJV
Forget not the voice of thine enemies: the tumult of those that rise up against thee increaseth continually.
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This verse in Psalms 74
Commentary
11 notes on this verseForget not the voice of thine enemies. Great warrior let the enemy's taunt provoke thee to the fray. They challenge thee; accept thou the gage of battle, and smite them with thy terrible hand. If the cries of thy children are too feeble to be heard, be pleased to note the loud voices of thy foes and silence their profanities for ever. The tumult of those that rise up against thee increaseth continually.
This site's exposition
defend Your cause
on Psalms 74:22-23
The closing appeal hands the case to God as his own, with the fool mocking him all day long. The last picture is noise, the clamor of the adversaries and the uproar of the enemies going up without stopping. The psalm ends there, with the noise still rising.
This site's exposition
the uproar of Your enemies that ascends continually
Charles Spurgeon heard a bold turn: if the cries of God's children are too faint, let the loud voices of his foes reach him. Augustine said God remembers their pride, and either punishes it or amends it. The noise rises to him.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers2 voices
"Forget not the voice of them that implore You" [Psalm 74:23]. While they groan for and expect now that which You have promised from the New Testament, and walk by that same Faith, "do Thou not forget the voice of them imploring You." But those still say, "Where is Your God? Let the pride of them that hate You come up always to You." Do not forget even their pride. Nor does He forget: no doubt He does either punish or amend.
Next comes "May the haughtiness of those who hate you always ascend to you." We note that this has been aptly spoken concerning the Romans, about whom he says earlier, "In the middle of your hall they have placed their standards," in order to move …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Forget not the voice of thine enemies,....
God needs not to be put in remembrance by us of what he has to do, but thus we must show our concern for his honour and believe that he will vindicate us. That the persecuted are his covenant-people. See what distress they are in.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
Forget not the voice of thine enemies. Great warrior let the enemy's taunt provoke thee to the fray. They challenge thee; accept thou the gage of battle, and smite them with thy terrible hand. If the cries of thy children are too feeble to be heard, be pleased to note the loud voices of thy foes and silence their profanities for ever. The tumult of those that rise up against thee increaseth continually. The ungodly clamour against thee and thy people, their blasphemies are loud and incessant, they defy thee, even thee, and because thou repliest not they laugh thee to scorn. They go from bad to worse, from worse to worst; their fury swells like the thunders of an advancing tempest. What will it come too? What infamy will next be hurled at thee and thine? O God, wilt thou for ever bear this? Hast thou no regard for thine honour, no respect for thy glory? Much of this Psalm has passed over our mind while beholding the idolatries of Rome, (the author visited Rome in November and December, 1871, while this portion of the Treasury of David was in progress) and remembering her bloody persecution of the saints. O Lord, how long shall it be ere thou wilt ease thyself of those profane wretches, the priests, and cast the harlot of Babylon into the ditch of corruption? May the church never cease to plead with thee till judgment shall be executed, and the Lord avenged upon Antichrist.
3 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century3 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.
Forget not the voice - While we pray to thee for our own salvation, we call upon thee to vindicate thy injured honor: and let all the nations see that thou lovest thy followers, and hatest those who are thy enemies. Let not man prevail against thee or thine.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Forget not the voice of thine enemies - The voice of thine enemies clamoring for the destruction of thy people. Compare Psa 137:7. The prayer is, that God would bring deserved chastisement upon them for their purposes and their aims against his people. It is not necessarily a prayer for vengeance; it is a prayer for just retribution. The tumult of those that rise up against thee - Of those that make war on thee, and on thy people. The word ““tumult” here means clamor or shout - as the shout of battle. The reference is to the movement of a host pressing on to conquest, encouraging and exciting each other, and endeavoring to intimidate their enemies by the loud clamor of the war-cry. It is a description of what had occurred among the main events referred to in the psalm, when the enemy came in to lay waste the capital, and to spread desolation throughout the land. Increaseth continually - Margin, as in Hebrew, “Ascendeth.” That is, it seems to go up; it is the swelling clamor of a great multitude of warriors intent on conquest. A cry or clamor thus seems to swell or rise on the air, and (as it were) to ascend to God. The prayer here is, that God would regard that cry, not in the sense that he would grant them the fulfillment of their wishes, but in the sense that he would recompense them as they deserved. It is in this sense that the clamors of the wicked ascend to heaven - in this sense that God will regard them, as if they were a prayer for just retribution.
The words behind it
8 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| אַל־ | ʾal- | may not | H408 → | 724 times |
| תִּ֭שְׁכַּח | tishkach | you forget | H7911 → | 102 times |
| ק֣וֹל | kol | [the] sound of | H6963 → | 506 times |
| צֹרְרֶ֑יךָ | tzorereikha | opposers your | H6887 → | 54 times |
| שְׁא֥וֹן | sheon | [the] uproar of | H7588 → | 18 times |
| קָ֝מֶ֗יךָ | kameicha | [those who] rise against you | H6965 → | 628 times |
| עֹלֶ֥ה | ʾoleh | [which] goes up | H5927 → | 890 times |
| תָמִֽיד׃ | tamid | continually | H8548 → | 104 times |
אַל־may not
ʾal-H408 →724 times
תִּ֭שְׁכַּחyou forget
tishkachH7911 →102 times
ק֣וֹל[the] sound of
kolH6963 →506 times
צֹרְרֶ֑יךָopposers your
tzorereikhaH6887 →54 times
שְׁא֥וֹן[the] uproar of
sheonH7588 →18 times
קָ֝מֶ֗יךָ[those who] rise against you
kameichaH6965 →628 times
עֹלֶ֥ה[which] goes up
ʾolehH5927 →890 times
תָמִֽיד׃continually
tamidH8548 →104 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
Revelation 17:14They will make war against the Lamb, and the Lamb will triumph over them, because He is Lord of lords and King of kings; and He will be accompanied by His called and chosen…
it leads to
- Romans 8:30
And those He predestined, He also called; those He called, He also justified; those He justified, He also glorified.
- 1 Timothy 6:15
which the blessed and only Sovereign One—the King of kings and Lord of lords—will bring about in His own time.
- Matthew 22:14
For many are called, but few are chosen.”
- Revelation 3:21
To the one who overcomes, I will grant the right to sit with Me on My throne, just as I overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.
- Deuteronomy 10:17
For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, mighty, and awesome God, showing no partiality and accepting no bribe.
- Romans 8:30
Through
Psalms 74:4Your foes have roared within Your meeting place; they have unfurled their banners as signs,
it leads to
- Lamentations 2:7
The Lord has rejected His altar; He has abandoned His sanctuary; He has delivered the walls of her palaces into the hand of the enemy. They have raised a shout in the house of…
- Matthew 24:15
So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination of desolation,’ described by the prophet Daniel (let the reader understand),
- Lamentations 2:7
Through
Psalms 65:7You stilled the roaring of the seas, the pounding of their waves, and the tumult of the nations.
it leads to
- Psalms 89:9
You rule the raging sea; when its waves mount up, You still them.
- Psalms 89:9
About Psalms
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Augustine of Hippo, Exposition on Psalm 74; Cassiodorus, EXPOSITIONS OF THE PSALMS 73:23; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, Vol. 3; Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Psalms; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.