Psalm 74:12-14
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
II
12 [a]Yet you, God, are my king from of old,
winning victories throughout the earth.
13 You stirred up the sea by your might;(A)
you smashed the heads of the dragons on the waters.(B)
14 You crushed the heads of Leviathan,(C)
gave him as food to the sharks.
Footnotes
- 74:12–17 Comparable Canaanite literature describes the storm-god’s victory over all-encompassing Sea and its allies (dragons and Leviathan) and the subsequent peaceful arrangement of the universe, sometimes through the placement of paired cosmic elements (day and night, sun and moon), cf. Ps 89:12–13. The Psalm apparently equates the enemies attacking the Temple with the destructive cosmic forces already tamed by God. Why then are those forces now raging untamed against your own people?
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