Psalm 79

A Psalm for Asaph.

¹ O God, the heathen are come into thine inheritance; they have polluted thy holy temple; they have made Jerusalem a storehouse of fruits. ² They have given the dead bodies of thy servants to be food for the birds of the sky, the flesh of thy holy ones for the wild beasts of the earth. ³ They have shed their blood as water, round about Jerusalem; and there was none to bury them. ⁴ We are become a reproach to our neighbours, a scorn and derision to them that are round about us.

⁵ How long, O Lord? wilt thou be angry for ever? shall thy jealousy burn like fire? ⁶ Pour out thy wrath upon the heathen that have not known thee, and upon the kingdoms which have not called upon thy name. ⁷ For they have devoured Jacob, and laid his place waste.

⁸ Remember not our old transgressions; let thy tender mercies speedily prevent us; for we are greatly impoverished. ⁹ Help us, O God our Saviour; for the glory of thy name, O Lord, deliver us; and be merciful to our sins, for thy name's sake. ¹⁰ Lets haply they should say among the heathen, Where is their God? and let the avenging of thy servant's blood that has been shed be known among the heathen before our eyes.

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¹¹ Let the groaning of the prisoners come in before thee; according to the greatness of thine arm preserve the ¹sons of the slain ones. ¹² Repay to our neighbours sevenfold into their bosom their reproach, with which they have reproached thee, O Lord. ¹³ For we are thy people and the sheep of thy pasture; we will give thee thanks for ever; we will declare thy praise throughout all generations.

Psalm 80

For the ²end, for alternate strains, a testimony for Asaph, a Psalm concerning the Assyrian.

¹ Attend, O Shepherd of Israel, who guidest Joseph like a flock; thou who sittest upon the cherubs, manifest thyself; ² before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasse, stir up thy power, and come to deliver us. ³ Turn us, O God, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be delivered.

⁴ O Lord God of hosts, how long art thou angry with the prayer of thy servant? ⁵ Thou wilt feed us with bread of tears; and wilt cause us to drink tears by measure. ⁶ Thou has made us a strife to our neighbours; and our enemies have mocked at us. ⁷ Turn us, O Lord God of hosts, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved. Pause.

⁸ Thou hast transplanted a vine out of Egypt: thou hast cast out the heathen, and planted it. ⁹ Thou madest a way before it, and didst cause its roots to strike, and the land was filled with it. ¹⁰ Its shadow covered the mountains, and its shoots equalled the ³goodly cedars. ¹¹ It sent forth its branches to the sea, and its shoots to the river. ¹² Wherefore hast thou broken down its hedge, while all that pass by the way pluck it? ¹³ The boar out of the wood has laid it waste, and the wild beast has devoured it.

¹⁴ O God of hosts, turn, we pray thee: look on us from heaven, and behold and visit this vine; ¹⁵ and restore that which thy right hand has planted: and look on the son of man whom thou didst strengthen for thyself. ¹⁶ It is burnt with fire and dug up: they shall perish at the rebuke of thy ⁴presence. ¹⁷ Let thy hand be upon the man of thy right hand, and upon the son of man whom thou didst strengthen for thyself.

¹⁸ So will we not depart from thee: thou shalt quicken us, and we will call upon thy name. ¹⁹ Turn us, O Lord God of hosts, and make thy face to shine; and we shall be saved.