79 1 The Israelites complain to God for the great calamity and oppression that they suffered by God’s enemies, 8 and confessing their sins, flee to God’s mercies with full hope of deliverance, 10 Because their calamities were joined with the contempt of his Name, 13 for the which they promise to be thankful.

A Psalm committed to Asaph.

O God, [a]the heathen are come into thine inheritance: thine holy Temple have they defiled, and made Jerusalem heaps of stones.

The [b]dead bodies of thy servants have they given to be meat unto fowls of the heaven, and the flesh of thy saints unto the beasts of the earth.

Their blood have they shed like waters, round about Jerusalem, and there was none to [c]bury them.

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Footnotes

  1. Psalm 79:1 The people cry unto God against the barbarous tyranny of the Babylonians, who spoiled God’s inheritance, polluted his Temple, destroyed his religion, and murdered his people.
  2. Psalm 79:2 The Prophet showeth to what extremities God suffereth sometime his Church to fall, to exercise their faith, before he set his hand to deliver them.
  3. Psalm 79:3 Their friends and kinsfolks durst not bury them for fear of the enemies.

Psalm 79

A psalm of Asaph.

O God, the nations have invaded your inheritance;(A)
    they have defiled(B) your holy temple,
    they have reduced Jerusalem to rubble.(C)
They have left the dead bodies of your servants
    as food for the birds of the sky,(D)
    the flesh of your own people for the animals of the wild.(E)
They have poured out blood like water
    all around Jerusalem,
    and there is no one to bury(F) the dead.(G)

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