Chapter 79

A Psalm by Asaph.

¹God, 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.

³Their blood they have shed 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.