Old Testament

Psalms 79

A Nation in Ruins Cries Out

5 passages

Overview

Following the devastation of Jerusalem and its Temple by foreign invaders, the psalmist leads the community in lamentation over desecration and slaughter, intercedes for forgiveness and the vindication of God's holy name, pleads for divine wrath to fall upon the nations who neither know God nor call upon Him, and seals these petitions with a vow of perpetual praise offered by a people whose identity rests not in their suffering but in their belonging to the divine Shepherd.

Passages

1–4The Desolation of Jerusalem 5–7The Cry for Divine Wrath Upon the Enemies 8–10Plea for Forgiveness and Vindication of God's Name 11–12The Cry of the Captive and the Justice of God 13Vow of Perpetual Praise

Study Resources

No study guides, devotionals, or teaching outlines have been created for this chapter yet.

Psalms 79

¹A Psalm by Asaph. God, the nations have come into your inheritance. They have defiled your holy temple. They have laid Jerusalem in heaps.

²They have given the dead bodies of your servants to be food for the birds of the sky, the flesh of your saints to the animals of the earth.

³They have shed their blood like water around Jerusalem. There was no one to bury them.

⁴We have become a reproach to our neighbors, a scoffing and derision to those who are around us.

⁵How long, Yahweh? Will you be angry forever? Will your jealousy burn like fire?

⁶Pour out your wrath on the nations that don’t know you, on the kingdoms that don’t call on your name,

⁷for they have devoured Jacob, and destroyed his homeland.

⁸Don’t hold the iniquities of our forefathers against us. Let your tender mercies speedily meet us, for we are in desperate need.

⁹Help us, God of our salvation, for the glory of your name. Deliver us, and forgive our sins, for your name’s sake.

¹⁰Why should the nations say, “Where is their God?” Let it be known among the nations, before our eyes, that vengeance for your servants’ blood is being poured out.

¹¹Let the sighing of the prisoner come before you. According to the greatness of your power, preserve those who are sentenced to death.

¹²Pay back to our neighbors seven times into their bosom their reproach with which they have reproached you, Lord.

¹³So we, your people and sheep of your pasture, will give you thanks forever. We will praise you forever, to all generations.

Psalms 78 Psalms 80