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Psalm 79[a]

A Prayer for Jerusalem

A psalm of Asaph.

I

O God, the nations have invaded your inheritance;
    they have defiled your holy temple;
    they have laid Jerusalem in ruins.(A)

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Footnotes

  1. Psalm 79 A communal lament complaining that the nations have defiled the Temple and murdered the holy people, leaving their corpses unburied (Ps 79:1–4). The occasion is probably the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonian army in 587 B.C. The people ask how long the withdrawal of divine favor will last (Ps 79:5), pray for action now (Ps 79:6–7), and admit that their own sins have brought about the catastrophe (Ps 79:8–9). They seek to persuade God to act for reasons of honor: the nations who do not call upon the Name are running amok (Ps 79:6); the divine honor is compromised (Ps 79:1, 10, 12); God’s own servants suffer (Ps 79:2–4, 11).

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)

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10 Our holy and glorious house
    in which our ancestors praised you
Has been burned with fire;
    all that was dear to us is laid waste.

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10 Your sacred cities(A) have become a wasteland;
    even Zion is a wasteland, Jerusalem a desolation.(B)

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