Psalms 79

Psalm 79

Faith amid Confusion

A psalm of Asaph.

¹God, the nations have invaded your inheritance, desecrated your holy temple, and turned Jerusalem into ruins.²

³They gave the corpses of your servants to the birds of the sky for food, the flesh of your faithful ones to the beasts of the earth.⁴

⁵They poured out their blood like water all around Jerusalem, and there was no one to bury them.⁶

⁷We have become an object of reproach to our neighbors, a source of mockery and ridicule to those around us.⁸

⁹How long, Lord? Will you be angry forever? Will your jealousy keep burning like fire?¹⁰

¹¹Pour out your wrath on the nations that don’t acknowledge you, on the kingdoms that don’t call on your name,¹²

¹³for they have devoured Jacob and devastated his homeland.¹⁴

¹⁵Do not hold past iniquities against us; let your compassion come to us quickly, for we have become very weak.¹⁶

¹⁷God of our salvation, help us, for the glory of your name. Rescue us and atone for our sins, for your name’s sake.¹⁸

¹⁹Why should the nations ask, “Where is their God?” Before our eyes, let vengeance for the shed blood of your servants be known among the nations.²⁰

²¹Let the groans of the prisoners reach you; according to your great power, preserve those condemned to die.²²

²³Pay back sevenfold to our neighbors the reproach they have hurled at you, Lord.²⁴

²⁵Then we, your people, the sheep of your pasture, will thank you forever; we will declare your praise to generation after generation.²⁶