Psalms 79 – Thy Holy Temple Have They Defiled
A grieving prayer over Jerusalem's ruin, pleading for mercy.
This chapter of the Psalms overview laments an invasion in which Jerusalem's temple is defiled and its people left as a reproach to their neighbours, a national catastrophe echoing the earlier warning in Psalms 78.
Unto the end, for them that shall be changed, a testimony for Asaph, a psalm.
Give ear, O thou that rulest Israel: thou that leadest Joseph like a sheep. Thou that sittest upon the cherubims, shine forth
Before Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasses. Stir up thy might, and come to save us.
Convert us, O God: and shew us thy face, and we shall be saved.
O Lord God of hosts, how long wilt thou be angry against the prayer of thy servant?
How long wilt thou feed us with the bread of tears: and give us for our drink tears in measure?
Thou hast made us to be a contradiction to our neighbours: and our enemies have scoffed at us.
O God of hosts, convert us: and shew thy face, and we shall be saved.
Thou hast brought a vineyard out of Egypt: thou hast cast out the Gentiles and planted it.
Thou wast the guide of its journey in its sight: thou plantedst the roots thereof, and it filled the land.
The shadow of it covered the hills: and the branches thereof the cedars of God.
It stretched forth its branches unto the sea, and its boughs unto the river.
Why hast thou broken down the hedge thereof, so that all they who pass by the way do pluck it?
The boar out of the wood hath laid it waste: and a singular wild beast hath devoured it.
Turn again, O God of hosts, look down from heaven, and see, and visit this vineyard:
And perfect the same which thy right hand hath planted: and upon the son of man whom thou hast confirmed for thyself.
Things set on fire and dug down shall perish at the rebuke of thy countenance.
Let thy hand be upon the man of thy right hand: and upon the son of man whom thou hast confirmed for thyself.
And we depart not from thee, thou shalt quicken us: and we will call upon thy name.
O Lord God of hosts, convert us and shew thy face, and we shall be saved.