Psalm 79
Faith amid Confusion
A psalm of Asaph.
1God, the nations have invaded your inheritance,
desecrated your holy temple,
and turned Jerusalem into ruins.
2They gave the corpses of your servants
to the birds of the sky for food,
the flesh of your faithful ones
to the beasts of the earth.
3They poured out their blood
like water all around Jerusalem,
and there was no one to bury them.
4We have become an object of reproach
to our neighbors,
a source of mockery and ridicule
to those around us.
5How long, Lord? Will you be angry forever?
Will your jealousy keep burning like fire?
6Pour out your wrath on the nations
that don’t acknowledge you,
on the kingdoms that don’t call on your name,
7for they have devoured Jacob
and devastated his homeland.
8Do not hold past iniquities against us;
let your compassion come to us quickly,
for we have become very weak.
9God of our salvation, help us,
for the glory of your name.
Rescue us and atone for our sins,
for your name’s sake.
10Why should the nations ask,
“Where is their God?”
Before our eyes,
let vengeance for the shed blood of your servants
be known among the nations.
11Let the groans of the prisoners reach you;
according to your great power,
preserve those condemned to die.
12Pay back sevenfold to our neighbors
the reproach they have hurled at you, Lord.
13Then we, your people, the sheep of your pasture,
will thank you forever;
we will declare your praise
to generation after generation.