Psalm 79-80

Common English Bible

Psalm 79

A psalm of Asaph.

79 The nations have come into your inheritance, God!
    They’ve defiled your holy temple.
    They’ve made Jerusalem a bunch of ruins.
²They’ve left your servants’ bodies
    as food for the birds;
    they’ve left the flesh of your faithful
    to the wild animals of the earth.
³They’ve poured out the blood of the faithful
    like water all around Jerusalem,
    and there’s no one left to bury them.
⁴We’ve become a joke to our neighbors,
    nothing but objects of ridicule
    and disapproval to those around us.

⁵How long will you rage, Lord? Forever?
    How long will your anger burn like fire?
⁶Pour out your wrath on the nations
        who don’t know you,
    on the kingdoms
        that haven’t called on your name.
⁷They’ve devoured Jacob
    and demolished his pasture.
⁸Don’t remember the iniquities of past generations;
    let your compassion hurry to meet us
    because we’ve been brought so low.
⁹God of our salvation, help us
    for the glory of your name!
Deliver us and cover our sins
    for the sake of your name!
¹⁰Why should the nations say,
    “Where’s their God now?”
Let vengeance for the spilled blood of your servants
    be known among the nations before our very eyes!
¹¹    Let the prisoners’ groaning reach you.
With your powerful arm
    spare those who are destined to die.
¹²Pay back our neighbors seven times over,
    right where it hurts,
    for the insults they used on you, Lord.
¹³We are, after all, your people
    and the sheep of your very own pasture.
We will give you thanks forever;
    we will proclaim your praises
    from one generation to the next.

Psalm 80

For the music leader. According to “Lotus Blossoms.” A testimony of Asaph. A psalm.

80 Shepherd of Israel, listen!
    You, the one who leads Joseph as if he were a sheep.
    You, who are enthroned upon the winged heavenly creatures.
Show yourself ²before Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh!
    Wake up your power!
    Come to save us!
³Restore us, God!
    Make your face shine so that we can be saved!

⁴Lord God of heavenly forces,
    how long will you fume against your people’s prayer?
⁵You’ve fed them bread made of tears;
    you’ve given them tears to drink three times over!
⁶You’ve put us at odds with our neighbors;
    our enemies make fun of us.
⁷Restore us, God of heavenly forces!
    Make your face shine so that we can be saved!

⁸You brought a vine out of Egypt.
    You drove out the nations and planted it.
⁹You cleared the ground for it;
    then it planted its roots deep, filling the land.
¹⁰The mountains were covered by its shade;
    the mighty cedars were covered by its branches.
¹¹It sent its branches all the way to the sea;
    its shoots went all the way to the Euphrates River.^[a]
¹²So why have you now torn down its walls
    so that all who come along can pluck its fruit,
¹³    so that any boar from the forest can tear it up,
    so that the bugs can feed on it?

¹⁴Please come back, God of heavenly forces!
    Look down from heaven and perceive it!
Attend to this vine,
¹⁵    this root that you planted with your strong hand,
    this son whom you secured as your very own.
¹⁶It is burned with fire. It is chopped down.
    They die at the rebuke coming from you.
¹⁷Let your hand be with the one on your right side—
    with the one whom you secured as your own—
¹⁸    then we will not turn away from you!
Revive us so that we can call on your name.
¹⁹    Restore us, Lord God of heavenly forces!
    Make your face shine so that we can be saved!