Footnotes

1. Psalm 79:1 sn Psalm 79. The author laments how the invading nations have destroyed the temple and city of Jerusalem. He asks God to forgive his people and to pour out his vengeance on those who have mistreated them.
2. Psalm 79:1 tn Or “nations.”
3. Psalm 79:1 tn Heb “have come into your inheritance.”
4. Psalm 79:2 tn Heb “[as] food for the birds of the sky.”
5. Psalm 79:3 tn Heb “they have poured out their blood like water, all around Jerusalem, and there is no one burying.”
6. Psalm 79:4 tn Heb “an [object of] taunting and [of] mockery to those around us.” See Ps 44:13.
7. Psalm 79:5 tn Heb “How long, O Lord?”
8. Psalm 79:5 tn Or “jealous anger.”
9. Psalm 79:6 tn Heb “which do not know you.” Here the Hebrew term “know” means “acknowledge the authority of.”
10. 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.
11. 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.
12. 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.
13. Psalm 79:8 tn Heb “for we are very low.”
14. Psalm 79:9 tn Heb “the glory of your name.” Here and in the following line “name” stands metonymically for God’s reputation.
15. Psalm 79:9 tn Heb “your name.”
16. Psalm 79:10 tn Heb “may it be known among the nations, to our eyes, the vengeance of the shed blood of your servants.”
17. Psalm 79:11 tn Heb “may the painful cry of the prisoner come before you.”
18. Psalm 79:11 tn Heb “according to the greatness of your arm leave the sons of death.” God’s “arm” here symbolizes his strength to deliver. The verbal form הוֹתֵר (hoter) is a Hiphil imperative from יָתַר (yatar, “to remain; to be left over”). Here it must mean “to leave over; to preserve.” However, it is preferable to emend the form to הַתֵּר (hatter), a Hiphil imperative from נָתַר (natar, “be free”). The Hiphil form is used in Ps 105:20 of Pharaoh freeing Joseph from prison. The phrase “sons of death” (see also Ps 102:21) is idiomatic for those condemned to die.
19. Psalm 79:12 tn Heb “Return to our neighbors sevenfold into their lap.” The number seven is used rhetorically to express the thorough nature of the action. For other rhetorical/figurative uses of the Hebrew phrase שִׁבְעָתַיִם (shivʿatayim, “seven times”) see Gen 4:15, 24; Ps 12:6; Prov 6:31; Isa 30:26.
20. Psalm 79:12 tn Heb “their reproach with which they reproached you, O Lord.”
21. Psalm 79:13 tn Or (hyperbolically) “will thank you forever.”
22. Psalm 79:13 tn Heb “to a generation and a generation we will report your praise.” Here “praise” stands by metonymy for the mighty acts that prompt worship. Cf. Ps 9:14.