Psalm 79

A Prayer for the Nation’s Deliverance^x

79^* O God, the heathen have invaded your land.

They have desecrated your holy Temple

and left Jerusalem in ruins.

²They left the bodies of your people for the vultures,

the bodies of your servants for wild animals to eat.

³They shed your people’s blood like water;

blood flowed like water all through Jerusalem,

and no one was left to bury the dead.

⁴The surrounding nations insult us;

they laugh at us and mock us.

⁵Lord, will you be angry with us for ever?

Will your anger continue to burn like fire?

⁶Turn your anger on the nations that do not worship you,

on the people who do not pray to you.

⁷For they have killed your people;

they have ruined your country.

⁸Do not punish us for the sins of our ancestors.

Have mercy on us now;

we have lost all hope.

⁹Help us, O God, and save us;

rescue us and forgive our sins

for the sake of your own honour.

¹⁰Why should the nations ask us,

“Where is your God?”

Let us see you punish the nations

for shedding the blood of your servants.

¹¹Listen to the groans of the prisoners,

and by your great power free those

who are condemned to die.

¹²Lord, pay the other nations back seven times

for all the insults they have hurled at you.

¹³Then we, your people, the sheep of your flock,

will thank you for ever

and praise you for all time to come.