Psalmen 79:5-13

5 Hoe lang, HEERE? Zult Gij eeuwiglijk toornen? Zal Uw ijver als vuur branden?
6 Stort Uw grimmigheid uit over de heidenen, die U niet kennen, en over de koninkrijken, die Uw Naam niet aanroepen.
7 Want men heeft Jakob opgegeten, en zij hebben zijn liefelijke woning verwoest.
8 Gedenk ons de vorige misdaden niet; haast U, laat Uw barmhartigheden ons voorkomen; want wij zijn zeer dun geworden.
9 Help ons, o God onzes heils! ter oorzake van de eer Uws Naams; en red ons, en doe verzoening over onze zonden, om Uws Naams wil.
10 Waarom zouden de heidenen zeggen: Waar is hun God? Laat de wraak des vergoten bloeds Uwer knechten onder de heidenen voor onze ogen bekend worden.
11 Laat het gekerm der gevangenen voor Uw aanschijn komen; behoud overig de kinderen des doods, naar de grootheid Uws arms.
12 En geef onze naburen zevenvoudig weder in hun schoot hun smaad, waarmede zij U, o Heere! gesmaad hebben.
13 Zo zullen wij, Uw volk en de schapen Uwer weide, U loven in eeuwigheid, van geslacht tot geslacht; wij zullen Uw roem vertellen.

Psalmen 79:5-13 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.

The Dutch Staten Vertaling translation is in the public domain.