Psalm 78

Psalm 78

¹A psalm for Asaph.

O God, the heathens are come into thy inheritance, they have defiled thy holy temple: they have made Jerusalem as a place to keep fruit.

²They have given the dead bodies of thy servants to be meat for the fowls of the air: the flesh of thy saints for the beasts of the earth.

³They have poured out their blood as water, round about Jerusalem and there was none to bury them.

⁴We are become a reproach to our neighbours: a scorn and derision to them that are round about us.

⁵How long, O Lord, wilt thou be angry for ever: shall thy zeal be kindled like a fire?

⁶Pour out thy wrath upon the nations that have not known thee: and upon the kingdoms that have not called upon thy name.

⁷Because they have devoured Jacob; and have laid waste his place.

⁸Remember not our former iniquities: let thy mercies speedily prevent us, for we are become exceeding poor.

⁹Help us, O God, our saviour: and for the glory of thy name, O Lord, deliver us: and forgive us our sins for thy name’s sake:

¹⁰Lest they should say among the Gentiles: Where is their God? And let him be made known among the nations before our eyes, By the revenging the blood of thy servants, which hath been shed:

¹¹Let the sighing of the prisoners come in before thee. According to the greatness of thy arm, take possession of the children of them that have been put to death.

¹²And render to our neighbours sevenfold in their bosom: the reproach wherewith they have reproached thee, O Lord.

¹³But we thy people, and the sheep of thy pasture, will give thanks to thee for ever. We will shew forth thy praise, unto generation and generation.