Psalms 79

God, foreign nations have marched into the land you gave your people. They have made your holy temple unclean. They have left Jerusalem in piles of rubble.

1O GOD, the heathen are come into thine inheritance; thy holy temple have they defiled; they have laid Jerusalem on heaps.

Note"Heathen" in the King James simply means "the nations", foreign peoples, not people with a particular religious attitude. "Thine inheritance" is the land of Israel, spoken of as a family estate God had handed on to his people. The description fits the Babylonian sack of Jerusalem and burning of the temple in 587/586 BC, though the psalm never names the invader. "Defiled" is ritual language: the building has been made unfit for worship by the presence of outsiders, blood, and violence, not merely dirtied.

2They have handed over the dead bodies of your servants as food for the birds of the sky, and the flesh of your faithful people to the wild animals of the earth.

2The dead bodies of thy servants have they given to be meat unto the fowls of the heaven, the flesh of thy saints unto the beasts of the earth.

Note"Saints" in 1611 English meant those set apart or loyal to God, the word carries no sense of officially canonized holy people. Leaving the dead unburied for scavengers was the deepest disgrace an ancient Near Eastern people could suffer, and it appears in treaties of the period as a standard curse on those who break their word.

3They have poured out their blood like water all around Jerusalem, and there was no one left to bury them.

3Their blood have they shed like water round about Jerusalem; and there was none to bury them.

4We have become something our neighbors sneer at. The peoples around us mock us and laugh at us.

4We are become a reproach to our neighbours, a scorn and derision to them that are round about us.

NoteHonor and shame were public, measurable things in this culture. To be "a reproach" to the neighboring peoples is not hurt feelings but a loss of standing that affected whether a nation could trade, make treaties, or be taken seriously at all.

5How long, LORD? Will you stay angry forever? Will your jealousy go on burning like fire?

5How long, LORD? wilt thou be angry for ever? shall thy jealousy burn like fire?

Note"Jealousy" here translates a Hebrew word meaning fierce protective passion over something that belongs to you. It is the word used of a husband's response to betrayal, and it is applied to God's relationship with Israel throughout the Hebrew scriptures. It does not mean envy of what someone else has.

6Pour out your anger on the nations that do not know you, and on the kingdoms that do not call on your name.

6Pour out thy wrath upon the heathen that have not known thee, and upon the kingdoms that have not called upon thy name.

NoteNations that "have not known" God means nations that do not acknowledge him or recognize any claim he has on them, a matter of allegiance rather than information. To "call on someone's name" is to invoke that god as your own in worship and oaths. These two lines are nearly identical to Jeremiah 10:25; one text is probably quoting the other.

7For they have swallowed up Jacob and left his homeland in ruins.

7For they have devoured Jacob, and laid waste his dwelling place.

Note"Jacob" stands for the whole nation descended from him, Jacob was renamed Israel, and his name is used as shorthand for his descendants.

8Do not hold the sins of the past against us. Let your tender mercy come to meet us quickly, because we have been brought very low.

8O remember not against us former iniquities: let thy tender mercies speedily prevent us: for we are brought very low.

NoteThe Hebrew phrase can mean either the sins of earlier generations or the speakers' own earlier sins, and the psalm does not settle which; both readings were available to ancient hearers. In the King James, "prevent" carries its older sense of "come before" or "go out to meet", not "stop."

9Help us, God who saves us, for the honor of your name. Rescue us and wipe our sins away, for the sake of your name.

9Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of thy name: and deliver us, and purge away our sins, for thy name’s sake.

Note"Purge away our sins" translates the verb used for making atonement in the sacrificial system, to cover or wipe away guilt. "For thy name's sake" appeals to God's public reputation: in the ancient world a god's standing rose or fell with the fortunes of the people who worshiped him.

10Why should the nations be able to say, "Where is their God?" Let those nations learn, while we watch it happen, that you pay back the spilled blood of your servants.

10Wherefore should the heathen say, Where is their God? let him be known among the heathen in our sight by the revenging of the blood of thy servants which is shed.

Note"Where is their God?" was a standard taunt of ancient warfare. A defeated nation was assumed to have a defeated or absent god, so the mockery is aimed past the people at the God they worship. Blood that had been shed and not answered for was thought of as an outstanding debt requiring settlement.

11Let the groaning of the prisoners reach you. By your great power, keep alive those who have been sentenced to die.

11Let the sighing of the prisoner come before thee; according to the greatness of thy power preserve thou those that are appointed to die;

NoteThe Hebrew behind "those that are appointed to die" is literally "sons of death", an idiom for people already condemned or as good as dead, here prisoners of war awaiting execution.

12Pay our neighbors back seven times over, right into their laps, for the insults they aimed at you, Lord.

12And render unto our neighbours sevenfold into their bosom their reproach, wherewith they have reproached thee, O Lord.

NoteLoose outer garments were belted so that the fold across the chest formed a pocket; grain, coins, or produce were measured out into it. To pay something "into their bosom" is to hand over the full amount directly. "Sevenfold" is a standard biblical way of saying complete and unstinting repayment rather than a literal multiplication by seven.

13Then we, your people, the sheep of your pasture, will thank you forever. We will tell of your praise to every generation.

13So we thy people and sheep of thy pasture will give thee thanks for ever: we will shew forth thy praise to all generations.

NoteCalling a god or king the shepherd of a people was ordinary political language across the ancient Near East. It carried the sense of an owner responsible for feeding, defending, and keeping track of those in his charge.