Psalms 73 and 74 from my new book:

A NEW LOOK AT THE OLD PSALMS

Praying the Psalms: a modern interpretation

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I present here a new perspective on the psalms. I have rewritten them from a New 
Testament Christ-centered point of view. I did not try to capture the poetry of the 
psalms – I leave that to more gifted writers – but I attempted to capture their message
with a more modern interpretation.

God bless,

John

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Psalm 73

O

Lord, how well you treat the righteous. But there was a time when I almost walked away from you. I was jealous of the peace of the ungodly. They seem to get away with murder, without any thought of the eternal judgment to come. Life goes so smoothly for them that they take pride in sinning and doing their evil acts. They even become more prosperous as they do as they please. They think evil thoughts and speak as if they were God themselves. Everybody listens to them and seems to profit from their pronouncements. Listeners ask, “What do we really know about God? Does he really know what’s going on?” They see how sinners prosper.

In a moment of weakness, I said to myself: “I am surely wasting my time trying to do what is right. I have nothing to show for it but endless heartache. Yet if I followed their example, I would be violating the sacred trust that exists between God and his children.” So I prayed about this and finally understood what would eventually happen to these proud sinners. They who deceive others will suddenly find themselves deceived, humiliated, and utterly ruined; their dream become a nightmare.

I realized how much you despised them, and that I was unknowingly abhorred by you as well. I had become like a wild animal driven by instinct rather than conscience. Yet the tie that binds us together is too tight for me to stray from you too far or too long. I know you are there guiding me, leading me to the glory of heaven. For what I desire in heaven and on earth is only you. I know how weak I am, but I love you, Lord, and I wish to spend eternity with you. The wicked will lose their soul because they acted unfaithfully. But I cling to you and place my hope in you. And I will sing your praises to the whole world. Amen.

Psalm 74

L

ord, why have you abandoned us? Why are you so angry with the sheep of your flock whom you redeemed with your precious blood? Remember your Church. Defend us against the arrogant who blatantly break your commandments, despite all that you did for them. Your enemy, Satan, makes no attempt to hide his intentions. He attacks your Church and seeks to destroy what you have built, the institution that carries your name. There is no prophet to let us know when this ordeal will end. How long must we endure this assault on your Church? When will you strike back in our defense?

Lord, you were King before time began. You incarnated to work out our salvation by your death on the cross. It was your great power that split the sea and drowned the Egyptians, leaving Pharaoh’s men as food for the animals roaming the desert. That same power revealed itself again at your Baptism when the Trinity – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – was made manifest and crushed the devil. You created the world, the sun and the moon, the earth’s frontiers, and the seasons. And yet the foolish enemy insults you and your name.

May the soul that praises you not become food for the savage beasts. Remember us suffering souls, Lord, and the covenant you made between us, for evil lurks wherever there is darkness. Hear the pleas of the humiliated and disgraced who bless your name. Rise, O Lord, as you did at your resurrection, and answer the insults of the foolish. Remember us who beg you for help. Otherwise, the enemy will become more and more arrogant. Amen.³⁰

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Cover image: Christ the Saviour (Pantokrator)." Web. 25 Sept 2016.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Spas_vsederzhitel_sinay.jpg
"Creative Commons License." Web. 18 May 2016.
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

³⁰he Orthodox Study Bible. (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2008), 730.

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Scriptural quotations marked NLT are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, 

copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois
60189. All rights reserved.

Copyright © 2016 by John P. Gross. All rights reserved. Reproduction of this material must 

be done in its entirety with the copyright notice intact. This book is not for sale, but is 

offered to the public free of charge for the glory of God.