Psalm 79 is the 79th psalm in the biblical Book of Psalms, one of the Psalms of Asaph. In the slightly different numbering system used in the Greek Septuagint and Latin Vulgate translations of the Bible, this psalm is Psalm 78. The New American Bible (Revised Edition) calls it "a prayer for Jerusalem".[1]

Psalm 79
"How Long, O Lord?"
Psalm 79:6 in Darmstädter Haggadah, a manuscript copied around 1430 in square Ashkenazic script. Illustrations by Israel b. Meir of Heidelberg.
Text	A Psalm of Asaph
Language	Hebrew (original)

Text

Hebrew Bible version

Following is the Hebrew text of Psalm 79, with English translation from the 1917 JPS Bible:

King James Version

To the chief Musician, A Psalm for the sons of Korah.

1. {A Psalm of Asaph.} O God, the heathen are come into thine inheritance; thy holy temple have they defiled; they have laid Jerusalem on heaps.
2. The dead bodies of thy servants have they given to be meat unto the fowls of the heaven, the flesh of thy saints unto the beasts of the earth.
3. Their blood have they shed like water round about Jerusalem; and there was none to bury them.
4. We are become a reproach to our neighbours, a scorn and derision to them that are round about us.
5. How long, LORD? wilt thou be angry for ever? shall thy jealousy burn like fire?
6. Pour out thy wrath upon the heathen that have not known thee, and upon the kingdoms that have not called upon thy name.
7. For they have devoured Jacob, and laid waste his dwelling place.
8. O remember not against us former iniquities: let thy tender mercies speedily prevent us: for we are brought very low.
9. Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of thy name: and deliver us, and purge away our sins, for thy name's sake.
10. Wherefore should the heathen say, Where is their God? let him be known among the heathen in our sight by the revenging of the blood of thy servants which is shed.
11. Let the sighing of the prisoner come before thee; according to the greatness of thy power preserve thou those that are appointed to die;
12. And render unto our neighbours sevenfold into their bosom their reproach, wherewith they have reproached thee, O Lord.
13. So we thy people and sheep of thy pasture will give thee thanks for ever: we will shew forth thy praise to all generations.

Context

The psalm has been described as a communal lament complaining that the nations have defiled the Temple in Jerusalem and murdered the holy people, leaving their corpses unburied (verses 1–4). The occasion is probably the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonian army in 587 B.C.,[1] although Rudinger, Wilhelm de Wette, and some other commentators, suppose that the reference in the psalm is to the later persecutions under Antiochus Epiphanes.[3]

Uses

Judaism

• This psalm is recited on the Seventeenth of Tammuz in some traditions.[4]
• Verse 8 is a part of the final paragraph of Tachanun.[5]
• Verse 9 is the final verse of the regular Tachanun,[6] and is also a part of the long Tachanun recited on Mondays and Thursdays.[7]
• Verse 10 is part of Av Harachamim.[8]
• Verse 13 is part of Baruch Hashem L'Olam during Maariv.[9] Part of Verse 13 is part of the Modim blessing of the Amidah.[10]

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Psalm 79.

• Psalm 79 in Hebrew and English - Mechon-mamre
• Psalm 79 King James Bible - Wikisource