1 A psalm of Asaph. God, heathen nations have invaded your land. They have defiled your holy Temple. They have turned Jerusalem into heaps of rubble. 2 They have given the dead bodies of your servants as food to the birds of the air, the flesh of your faithful people to the beasts of the earth. 3 They have poured out the blood of Jerusalem's people like water all through the city; no one remains to bury the dead. 4 We have been made a mockery before our neighbors, ridiculed and laughed at by those around us. 5 How long, Lord? Will you be angry with us forever? Will your jealousy always burn like fire? 6 Pour out your anger on the heathen nations that don't know you, and on those kingdoms that don't worship you! 7 For they have destroyed the descendants of Jacob, and turned our country into a wasteland. 8 Don't hold the sins of our forefathers against us! Come to us quickly for we desperately need your compassion. 9 Help us, God of our salvation, because of your wonderful character! Save us and forgive us our sins because that's the kind of person you are! 10 Why should the heathen nations be able to say, “Where is their God?” May they experience your punishment for shedding the blood of your servants, and may we see it. 11 Listen to the groans of the prisoners; with your great power save those condemned to die. 12 Pay each of these neighbors back seven times for the scorn and ridicule they directed against you, Lord. 13 Then we your people, the flock of your pasture, will praise you forever. We will thank you for all generations to come.
Psalm 79 Free Bible Version
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
Notes on this text (1)
- Greek and Latin Bibles number most Psalms one lower than Hebrew and English Bibles.
Cross references (13)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 Lamentations 1:10; 2 Chronicles 36:19; Micah 3:12; Psalm 74:1–4; Psalm 74:7–8
- 2 Jeremiah 7:33; Jeremiah 34:20; Jeremiah 16:4; Jeremiah 19:7; Deuteronomy 28:26
- 3 Jeremiah 16:4; Jeremiah 14:16; Revelation 11:9; Romans 8:36; Jeremiah 25:33
- 4 Psalm 80:6; Ezekiel 36:15; Psalm 89:41; Lamentations 5:1; Psalm 44:13–14
- 5 Psalm 89:46; Psalm 74:1; Psalm 85:5; Deuteronomy 29:20; Zephaniah 3:8
- 6 Jeremiah 10:25; 2 Thessalonians 1:8; Psalm 14:4; Psalm 69:24; Psalm 53:4
- 7 Jeremiah 51:34–35; Zechariah 1:15; Isaiah 64:10–11; Isaiah 24:1–12; Jeremiah 50:7
- 8 Isaiah 64:9; Psalm 142:6; Psalm 116:6; Revelation 18:5; Psalm 21:3
- 9 Jeremiah 14:7; Psalm 25:11; 2 Chronicles 14:11; Jeremiah 14:21; Isaiah 48:9
- 10 Psalm 42:10; Exodus 6:7; Psalm 115:2; Ezekiel 39:21–22; Exodus 7:5
- 11 Psalm 102:20; Isaiah 42:7; Isaiah 33:2; Psalm 146:6–7; Exodus 2:23–24
- 12 Jeremiah 32:18; Genesis 4:15; Leviticus 26:21; Proverbs 6:31; Leviticus 26:28
- 13 Psalm 95:7; Isaiah 43:21; Psalm 100:3; Psalm 74:1; Psalm 145:4
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
This Psalm doth contain the things which are said to have been done among the old people: but the new and latter people is being admonished, to beware that it be not ungrateful regarding the blessings of God, and provoke His anger against it, whereas it ought to receive His grace....The Title thereof doth first move and engage our attention.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 8 (1888)
Wilt Thou be angry for ever? Oh, remember not against us former iniquities;" for I felt that I was enthralled by them.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 1 (1886)
For they who did not spare children, who slew prophets, and "shed blood as water," much more would they have showed no mercy to women.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 10 (1888)