Bible Strands
Psalms 74:3
Turn Your steps to the everlasting ruins, to everything in the sanctuary the enemy has destroyed.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The psalmist addresses God, commanding Him to direct His attention to the desecrated sanctuary at Mount Zion. This appeal occurs during a communal lament following enemy invasion and temple destruction.
The words — The Hebrew הָרִ֣ימָ/ה (ha.Ri.ma/h) means "lift up" or "turn," combined with פְ֭עָמֶי/ךָ (Fe.'a.mei./kha) for "your footsteps." The text literally commands God to fix His gaze upon the lasting devastation.
The thread — This directive to observe ruined sacred spaces parallels the temple desolation recorded in Lamentations 1:10 and Psalm 79:1, and echoes the intercessory focus on God's dwelling in Daniel 9:17.
Why it lands — The verse requires a factual accounting of concrete destruction before any appeal for restoration. It asks the reader to recognize that divine attention must first confront documented ruin.
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
Lift up thy feet unto the perpetual desolations; even all that the enemy hath done wickedly in the sanctuary.
Cross-references
- Lamentations 1:10 The adversary has seized all her treasures. For she has seen the nations enter her sanctuary—those You had forbidden to enter Your assembly.
- Psalms 79:1 A Psalm of Asaph. The nations, O God, have invaded Your inheritance; they have defiled Your holy temple and reduced Jerusalem to rubble.
- Daniel 9:17 So now, our God, hear the prayers and petitions of Your servant. For Your sake, O Lord, cause Your face to shine upon Your desolate sanctuary.
- Isaiah 64:10 Your holy cities have become a wilderness. Zion has become a wasteland and Jerusalem a desolation.
- Mark 11:17 Then Jesus began to teach them, and He declared, “Is it not written: ‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it ‘a den of robbers.’”
- Luke 21:24 They will fall by the edge of the sword and be led captive into all the nations. And Jerusalem will be trodden down by the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.
- Joshua 10:24 When they had brought the kings to Joshua, he summoned all the men of Israel and said to the army commanders who had accompanied him, “Come here and put your feet on the necks of these kings.” So the commanders came forward and put their feet on their necks.
- 2 Samuel 22:39 I devoured and crushed them so they could not rise; they have fallen under my feet.
- Nehemiah 1:3 And they told me, “The remnant who survived the exile are there in the province, in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned with fire.”
- Nehemiah 2:3 and replied to the king, “May the king live forever! Why should I not be sad when the city where my fathers are buried lies in ruins, and its gates have been destroyed by fire?”