Psalm 79
BSB
A Prayer for Deliverance
(Psalms 74:1–23; Jeremiah 52:1–11)
A Psalm of Asaph.
1The nations, O God, have invaded Your inheritance;
they have defiled Your holy temple
and reduced Jerusalem to rubble.
2They have given the corpses of Your servants
as food to the birds of the air,
the flesh of Your saints to the beasts of the earth.
3They have poured out their blood like water
all around Jerusalem,
and there is no one to bury the dead.
4We have become a reproach to our neighbors,
a scorn and derision to those around us.
5How long, O LORD?
Will You be angry forever?
Will Your jealousy burn like fire?
6Pour out Your wrath on the nations
that do not acknowledge You,
on the kingdoms
that refuse to call on Your name,
7for they have devoured Jacob
and devastated his homeland.
8Do not hold past sins against us;
let Your compassion come quickly,
for we are brought low.
9Help us, O God of our salvation,
for the glory of Your name;
deliver us and atone for our sins,
for the sake of Your name.
10Why should the nations ask,
“Where is their God?”
Before our eyes, make known among the nations
Your vengeance for the bloodshed of Your servants.
11May the groans of the captives reach You;
by the strength of Your arm preserve those condemned to death.
12Pay back into the laps of our neighbors
sevenfold the reproach they hurled at You, O Lord.
13Then we Your people, the sheep of Your pasture,
will thank You forever;
from generation to generation
we will declare Your praise.
Introduction
Psalms 79
This psalm, if penned with any particular event in view, is with most probability made to refer to the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple, and the woeful havoc made of the Jewish nation by the Chaldeans under Nebuchadnezzar. It is set to the same tune, as I may say, with the Lamentations of Jeremiah, and that weeping prophet borrows two verses out of it (Psa 79:6, Psa 79:7) and makes use of them in his prayer, Jer 10:25. Some think it was penned long before by the spirit of prophecy, prepared for the use of the church in that cloudy and dark day. Others think that it was penned then by the spirit of prayer, either by a prophet named Asaph or by some other prophet for the sons of Asaph. Whatever the particular occasion was, we have here, I. A representation of the very deplorable condition that the people of God were in at this time (Psa 79:1-5). II. A petition to God for succour and relief, that their enemies might be reckoned with (Psa 79:6, Psa 79:7, Psa 79:10, Psa 79:12), that their sins might be pardoned (Psa 79:8, Psa 79:9), and that they might be delivered (Psa 79:11). III. A plea taken from the readiness of his people to praise him (Psa 79:13). In times of the church's peace and prosperity this psalm may, in the singing of it, give us occasion to bless God that we are not thus trampled on and insulted. But it is especially seasonable in a day of treading down and perplexity, for the exciting of our desires towards God and the encouragement of our faith in him as the church's patron.
A psalm of Asaph.
Cross-references: Ps 79:6 · Ps 79:7 · Jer 10:25 · Ps 79:1 · Ps 79:10 · Ps 79:12 · Ps 79:8 · Ps 79:9 · Ps 79:11 · Ps 79:13