Psalms 79

Berean Standard Bible

Chapter summary

Foreign nations have invaded God's inheritance, defiled the holy temple, and reduced Jerusalem to rubble. They have left the corpses of God's servants unburied as food for birds and beasts, spilling blood like water around the city. Consequently, the survivors have become a reproach and a scorn to their neighboring peoples. The psalm questions how long the Lord's anger will last and asks Him to pour out His wrath instead upon the kingdoms that do not acknowledge Him. It pleads with God to forgive past sins, help His people for the glory of His name, preserve the condemned, and repay the neighbors for their taunts, promising enduring praise in return.

Summary automatically generated from the Bible text.

Words of Jesus in red

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.

Test this chapter

Louis Segond 1910 and Berean Standard Bible: public domain. Cross references: open-cross-ref, Creative Commons BY 4.0.