Bible Strands
Psalms 74:18
Remember how the enemy has mocked You, O LORD, how a foolish people has spurned Your name.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The psalmist addresses Yahweh directly, recounting the desecration of the sanctuary while appealing for divine remembrance amid national ruin. The plea occurs in the midst of a lament over the destroyed temple and ongoing persecution.
The words — The imperative זְכָר־ (ze.khor-) commands God to remember, while נִֽאֲצ֥וּ (ni.'a.Tzu) describes the people's active spurning of His name. These terms anchor the appeal in a call for divine action against deliberate contempt.
The thread — This appeal for God to remember runs parallel to the plea in Psalms 39:8 for deliverance from the reproach of fools, and echoes the covenant warning in Deuteronomy 32:6 regarding a foolish people repaying the Creator. The motif of divine remembrance against national judgment also appears in Revelation 16:19.
Why it lands — The verse demands that the reader acknowledge the reality of sustained mockery against God and recognize that divine remembrance is the necessary response to human contempt. It calls for a posture of urgent prayer rather than passive resignation.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Remember this, that the enemy hath reproached, O Lord, and that the foolish people have blasphemed thy name.
Cross-references
- Psalms 39:8 Deliver me from all my transgressions; do not make me the reproach of fools.
- Deuteronomy 32:6 Is 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?
- Revelation 16:19 The 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 wrath.
- Deuteronomy 32:27 if I had not dreaded the taunt of the enemy, lest their adversaries misunderstand and say: ‘Our own hand has prevailed; it was not the LORD who did all this.’”
- Psalms 41:1 For the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. Blessed is the one who cares for the poor; the LORD will deliver him in the day of trouble.
- Psalms 74:22 Rise up, O God; defend Your cause! Remember how the fool mocks You all day long.
- Psalms 89:50 Remember, O Lord, the reproach of Your servants, which I bear in my heart from so many people—
- Psalms 94:2 Rise up, O Judge of the earth; render a reward to the proud.
- Psalms 137:7 Remember, O LORD, the sons of Edom on the day Jerusalem fell: “Destroy it,” they said, “tear it down to its foundations!”
- Isaiah 37:23 Whom have you taunted and blasphemed? Against whom have you raised your voice and lifted your eyes in pride? Against the Holy One of Israel!