Bible Strands
Psalms 74:9
There are no signs for us to see. There is no longer any prophet. And none of us knows how long this will last.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The psalmist speaks to God amid national ruin, immediately after describing enemies destroying sacred sites and immediately before questioning how long enemy taunts will continue.
The words — The text highlights the absence of 'o.to.Tei./nu (our signs) and na.Vi' (a prophet), stating plainly that visible divine markers and prophetic voices are no longer present.
The thread — This pattern of divine silence recurs in 1 Samuel 3:1 where the word of the LORD was rare, in Ezekiel 7:26 where people seek visions but find none, and in Amos 8:11 where a famine of hearing God’s words is announced.
Why it lands — The verse requires the reader to confront the reality of prolonged distress without prophetic or visionary guidance, demanding reliance on memory of God rather than present revelation.
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
We see not our signs: there is no more any prophet: neither is there among us any that knoweth how long.
Cross-references
- Amos 8:11 Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord GOD, when I will send a famine on the land—not a famine of bread or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the LORD.
- Ezekiel 7:26 Disaster upon disaster will come, and rumor after rumor. Then they will seek a vision from a prophet, but instruction from the priests will perish, as will counsel from the elders.
- 1 Samuel 3:1 And the boy Samuel ministered to the LORD before Eli. Now in those days the word of the LORD was rare, and visions were scarce.
- Lamentations 2:9 Her gates have sunk into the ground; He has destroyed and shattered their bars. Her king and her princes are exiled among the nations, the law is no more, and even her prophets find no vision from the LORD.
- Exodus 12:13 The blood on the houses where you are staying will be a sign; when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No plague will fall on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.
- Exodus 13:9 It shall be a sign for you on your hand and a reminder on your forehead that the Law of the LORD is to be on your lips. For with a mighty hand the LORD brought you out of Egypt.
- Ezekiel 20:12 I also gave them My Sabbaths as a sign between us, so that they would know that I am the LORD who sanctifies them.
- Micah 3:6 Therefore night will come over you without visions, and darkness without divination. The sun will set on these prophets, and the daylight will turn black over them.
- Judges 6:17 Gideon answered, “If I have found favor in Your sight, give me a sign that it is You speaking with me.
- Hebrews 2:4 and was affirmed by God through signs, wonders, various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to His will.