Psalms 79:2-12

2 They have given 1the bodies of your servants to the birds of the heavens for food, the flesh of your 2faithful to 3the beasts of the earth.
3 They have poured out their blood like water all around Jerusalem, and there was 4no one to bury them.
4 We have become 5a taunt to our neighbors, 6mocked and derided by those around us.
5 7How long, O LORD? Will you be angry 8forever? Will your 9jealousy 10burn like fire?
6 11Pour out your anger on the nations that 12do not know you, and on the kingdoms that 13do not call upon your name!
7 For they have devoured Jacob and laid waste his habitation.
8 14Do not remember against us 15our former iniquities;[a] let your compassion come speedily to meet us, for we are 16brought very low.
9 17Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of your name; deliver us, and 18atone for our sins, for your 19name's sake!
10 20Why should the nations say, "Where is their God?" Let 21the avenging of the outpoured blood of your servants be known among the nations before our eyes!
11 Let 22the groans of the prisoners come before you; according to your great power, preserve those 23doomed to die!
12 Return 24sevenfold into the 25lap of our neighbors the 26taunts with which they have taunted you, O Lord!

Psalms 79:2-12 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO PSALM 79

\\<>\\. This psalm was not written by one Asaph, who is supposed to live after the destruction of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans, or, according to some, even after the times of Antiochus, of whom there is no account, nor any certainty that there ever was such a man in those times; but by Asaph, the seer and prophet, that lived in the time of David, who, under a prophetic spirit, foresaw and foretold things that should come to pass, spoken of in this psalm: nor is it any objection that what is here said is delivered as an history of facts, since many prophecies are delivered in this way, especially those of the prophet Isaiah. The Targum is, ``a song by the hands of Asaph, concerning the destruction of the house of the sanctuary (or temple), which he said by a spirit of prophecy.'' The title of the Syriac versions, ``said by Asaph concerning the destruction of Jerusalem.'' The argument of the psalm is of the same kind with the Seventy Fourth. Some refer it to the times of Antiochus Epiphanes; so Theodoret; but though the temple was then defiled, Jerusalem was not utterly destroyed; and others to the destruction of the city and temple by Nebuchadnezzar; and why may it not refer to both, and even to the after destruction of both by Titus Vespasian? and may include the affliction and troubles of the Christians under Rome Pagan and Papal, and especially the latter; for Jerusalem and the temple may be understood in a mystical and spiritual sense; at least the troubles of the Jews, in the times referred to, were typical of what should befall the people of God under the New Testament, and in antichristian times.

Cross References 26

  • 1. Deuteronomy 28:26; Jeremiah 7:33; Jeremiah 16:4; Jeremiah 19:7; Jeremiah 34:20
  • 2. See Psalms 50:5
  • 3. Psalms 74:19
  • 4. Jeremiah 14:16; [2 Kings 9:10]
  • 5. Daniel 9:16; See Psalms 44:13
  • 6. Daniel 9:16; See Psalms 44:13
  • 7. [Psalms 74:10; Psalms 80:4]
  • 8. [Psalms 74:1; Psalms 85:5]; See Psalms 13:1
  • 9. Psalms 78:58
  • 10. Psalms 78:21; Psalms 89:46
  • 11. Cited Jeremiah 10:25; [Zephaniah 3:8]
  • 12. 2 Thessalonians 1:8
  • 13. See Psalms 14:4
  • 14. Isaiah 64:9
  • 15. Jeremiah 11:10
  • 16. Psalms 116:6; Psalms 142:6
  • 17. 2 Chronicles 14:11
  • 18. See Psalms 65:3
  • 19. Jeremiah 14:7, 21; See Psalms 23:3
  • 20. See Psalms 42:3
  • 21. See Psalms 94:1
  • 22. Psalms 102:20
  • 23. [1 Samuel 20:31]
  • 24. Genesis 4:15, 24; Leviticus 26:21, 28; Proverbs 6:31
  • 25. Isaiah 65:6, 7; Jeremiah 32:18
  • 26. See Psalms 74:10

Footnotes 1

  • [a]. Or the iniquities of former generations
The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.