Psalms 79

1 A psalm of Asaph. God, heathen nations have invaded your land. They have defiled your holy Temple. They have turned Jerusalem into heaps of rubble.

A Psalm of Asaph. O God, the nations are come into thine inheritance: thy holy temple have they defiled; they have laid Jerusalem in heaps.

2 They have given the dead bodies of your servants as food to the birds of the air, the flesh of your faithful people to the beasts of the earth.

The dead bodies of thy servants have they given to be meat unto the fowl of the heavens, the flesh of thy saints unto the beasts of the earth:

3 They have poured out the blood of Jerusalem's people like water all through the city; no one remains to bury the dead.

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

4 We have been made a mockery before our neighbors, ridiculed and laughed at by those around us.

We are become a reproach to our neighbours, a mockery and a derision to them that are round about us.

5 How long, Lord? Will you be angry with us forever? Will your jealousy always burn like fire?

How long, O Jehovah? wilt thou be angry for ever? Shall thy jealousy burn like fire?

6 Pour out your anger on the heathen nations that don't know you, and on those kingdoms that don't worship you!

Pour out thy fury upon the nations that have not known thee, and upon the kingdoms that call not upon thy name:

7 For they have destroyed the descendants of Jacob, and turned our country into a wasteland.

For they have devoured Jacob, and laid waste his habitation.

8 Don't hold the sins of our forefathers against us! Come to us quickly for we desperately need your compassion.

Remember not against us the iniquities of [our] forefathers; let thy tender mercies speedily come to meet us: for we are brought very low.

9 Help us, God of our salvation, because of your wonderful character! Save us and forgive us our sins because that's the kind of person you are!

Help us, O God of our salvation, because of the glory of thy name; and deliver us, and forgive our sins, for thy name's sake.

10 Why should the heathen nations be able to say, “Where is their God?” May they experience your punishment for shedding the blood of your servants, and may we see it.

Wherefore should the nations say, Where is their God? Let the avenging of the blood of thy servants that is shed be known among the nations in our sight.

11 Listen to the groans of the prisoners; with your great power save those condemned to die.

Let the groaning of the prisoner come before thee; according to the greatness of thine arm, preserve those that are appointed to die;

12 Pay each of these neighbors back seven times for the scorn and ridicule they directed against you, Lord.

And render unto our neighbours, sevenfold into their bosom, their reproach, wherewith they have reproached thee, O Lord.

13 Then we your people, the flock of your pasture, will praise you forever. We will thank you for all generations to come.

And we, thy people and the sheep of thy pasture, will give thanks unto thee for ever; we will shew forth thy praise from generation to generation.