Psalms 79:1-8

A Lament over the Destruction of Jerusalem, and Prayer for Help.

1 O God, the 1nations have invaded 2Your inheritance; They have defiled Your 3holy temple; They have 4laid Jerusalem in ruins.
2 They have given the 5dead bodies of Your servants for food to the birds of the heavens, The flesh of Your godly ones to the beasts of the earth.
3 They have poured out their blood like water round about Jerusalem; And there was 6no one to bury them.
4 We have become a 7reproach to our neighbors, A scoffing and derision to those around us.
5 8How long, O LORD? Will You be angry forever? Will Your 9jealousy 10burn like fire?
6 11Pour out Your wrath upon the nations which 12do not know You, And upon the kingdoms which 13do not call upon Your name.
7 For they have 14devoured Jacob And 15laid waste his habitation.
8 16Do not remember the iniquities of our forefathers against us; Let Your compassion come quickly to 17meet us, For we are 18brought very low.

Psalms 79:1-8 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 18

  • 1. Lamentations 1:10
  • 2. Psalms 74:2
  • 3. Psalms 74:3, 7
  • 4. 2 Kings 25:9, 10; 2 Chronicles 36:17-19; Jeremiah 26:18; Jeremiah 52:12-14; Micah 3:12
  • 5. Deuteronomy 28:26; Jeremiah 7:33; Jeremiah 16:4; Jeremiah 19:7; Jeremiah 34:20
  • 6. Jeremiah 14:16; Jeremiah 16:4
  • 7. Psalms 44:13; Psalms 80:6; Daniel 9:16
  • 8. Psalms 13:1; Psalms 74:1, 9, 10; Psalms 85:5; Psalms 89:46
  • 9. Deuteronomy 29:20; Ezekiel 36:5; Ezekiel 38:19
  • 10. Psalms 89:46; Zephaniah 3:8
  • 11. Psalms 69:24; Jeremiah 10:25; Ezekiel 21:31; Zephaniah 3:8
  • 12. 1 Thessalonians 4:5; 2 Thessalonians 1:8
  • 13. Psalms 14:4; Psalms 53:4
  • 14. Psalms 53:4
  • 15. 2 Chronicles 36:19; Jeremiah 39:8
  • 16. Psalms 106:6; Isaiah 64:9
  • 17. Psalms 21:3
  • 18. Deuteronomy 28:43; Psalms 116:6; Psalms 142:6; Isaiah 26:5

Footnotes 3

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