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Psalm 79

Psalm 79 brings a devastated people’s grief, guilt, and demand for justice before God, appealing to his name and mercy.

Jerusalem lies in ruins, its temple defiled and its dead left unburied. A speaker representing God’s people asks how long God’s anger will last, pleads for forgiveness, and calls for judgment on the nations responsible for the bloodshed. The title associates the psalm with Asaph; the devastation fits Jerusalem’s fall to Babylon, though the attackers are unnamed. The prayer brings prisoners and those facing death before God, then closes with a pledge of praise across generations.

griefinjustice and angerguilt and confession
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1A Psalm by Asaph. God, the nations have come into your inheritance. They have defiled your holy temple. They have laid Jerusalem in heaps.
2They have given the dead bodies of your servants to be food for the birds of the sky, the flesh of your saints to the animals of the earth.
3They have shed their blood like water around Jerusalem. There was no one to bury them.
4We have become a reproach to our neighbors, a scoffing and derision to those who are around us.
5How long, LORD? Will you be angry forever? Will your jealousy burn like fire?
6Pour out your wrath on the nations that don’t know you, on the kingdoms that don’t call on your name,
7for they have devoured Jacob, and destroyed his homeland.
8Don’t hold the iniquities of our forefathers against us. Let your tender mercies speedily meet us, for we are in desperate need.
9Help us, God of our salvation, for the glory of your name. Deliver us, and forgive our sins, for your name’s sake.
10Why should the nations say, “Where is their God?” Let it be known among the nations, before our eyes, that vengeance for your servants’ blood is being poured out.
11Let the sighing of the prisoner come before you. According to the greatness of your power, preserve those who are sentenced to death.
12Pay back to our neighbors seven times into their bosom their reproach with which they have reproached you, Lord.
13So we, your people and sheep of your pasture, will give you thanks forever. We will praise you forever, to all generations.
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Key verses
Psalm 79:8The plea for swift mercy names inherited guilt and desperate need within a community shattered by violence.
Psalm 79:9This verse joins rescue and forgiveness in one appeal, grounding both requests in the glory of God’s name.
Psalm 79:13The closing pledge claims their place as God’s flock even while the prayer’s pleas for deliverance remain unresolved.
Where this chapter reaches

Jeremiah and 2 Chronicles share Psalm 79’s account of Jerusalem’s devastation and the temple’s defilement, while Ezekiel shares its concern for God’s name among the nations. Revelation shares the appeal for God to judge the shedding of his servants’ blood.

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Notice

After reading the whole chapter

What stands out when the people ask for forgiveness alongside judgment on their attackers?

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How does the closing image of God’s sheep relate to the opening scene of devastation?

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Questions people ask about Psalm 79

Who wrote Psalm 79?

The title identifies Psalm 79 as a psalm by Asaph. The devastation described has led many readers to connect it with Jerusalem’s fall to Babylon and understand the attribution in relation to the Asaphite singers. The psalm itself does not explain the authorship or give a date.

What historical event is Psalm 79 about?

Psalm 79 describes foreign nations defiling the temple, reducing Jerusalem to ruins, and leaving the dead unburied. These details fit the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BC. That is a common historical identification, though the psalm names neither Babylon nor a king and gives no explicit date.

Why does Psalm 79 ask God to repay the neighbors seven times?

The request follows the killing of God’s servants and the neighbors’ taunts against God. Sevenfold repayment expresses a plea for full retribution for that reproach. The speaker asks God to carry out judgment; the passage contains no instruction for the people to take revenge themselves.

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Psalms · 150 chapters
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What the Bible says about grief →What the Bible says about anger →What the Bible says about guilt →

Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).