Psalm 79
Psalm 79
Biblical Period
1A psalm of Asaph.
O God, heathens have entered Your domain,
defiled Your holy temple,
and turned Jerusalem into ruins.
2They have left Your servants’ corpses
as food for the fowl of heaven,
and the flesh of Your faithful for the wild beasts.
3Their blood was shed like water around
Jerusalem,
with none to bury them.
4We have become the butt of our neighbors,
the scorn and derision of those around us.
5How long, O Lord, will You be angry forever,
will Your indignation blaze like fire?
6Pour out Your fury on the nations that do not know
You,
upon the kingdoms that do not invoke Your
name,
7for they have devoured Jacob
and desolated his home.
8Do not hold our former iniquities against us;
let Your compassion come swiftly toward us,
for we have sunk very low.
9Help us, O God, our deliverer,
for the sake of the glory of Your name.
Save us and forgive our sin,
for the sake of Your name.
10Let the nations not say, “Where is their God?”
Before our eyes let it be known among the nations
that You avenge the spilled blood of Your
servants.
11Let the groans of the prisoners reach You;
reprieve those condemned to death,
as befits Your great strength.
12Pay back our neighbors sevenfold
for the abuse they have flung at You, O Lord.
13Then we, Your people,
the flock You shepherd,
shall glorify You forever;
for all time we shall tell Your praises.
Credits
Reprinted from Tanakh: The Holy Scriptures by permission of the University of Nebraska Press. Copyright 1985 by the Jewish Publication Society, Philadelphia.
Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 1.
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