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Pour out your anger on the nations that do not acknowledge you,[a]
on the kingdoms that do not pray to you.[b]
For they have devoured Jacob
and destroyed his home.
Do not hold us accountable for the sins of earlier generations.[c]
Quickly send your compassion our way,[d]
for we are in serious trouble.[e]

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Footnotes

  1. Psalm 79:6 tn Heb “which do not know you.” Here the Hebrew term “know” means “acknowledge the authority of.”
  2. Psalm 79:6 sn The kingdoms that do not pray to you. The people of these kingdoms pray to other gods, not the Lord, because they do not recognize his authority over them.
  3. Psalm 79:8 tn Heb “do not remember against us sins, former.” Some understand “former” as an attributive adjective modifying sins, “former [i.e., chronologically prior] sins” (see BDB 911 s.v. רִאשׁוֹן). The present translation assumes that רִאשֹׁנִים (riʾshonim, “former”) here refers to those who lived formerly, that is, the people’s ancestors (see Lam 5:7). The word is used in this way in Lev 26:45; Deut 19:14 and Eccl 1:11.
  4. Psalm 79:8 tn Heb “may your compassion quickly confront us.” The prefixed verbal form is understood as a jussive, indicating a tone of prayer.
  5. Psalm 79:8 tn Heb “for we are very low.”