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Psalm 79:1

A Psalm by Asaph. God, the nations have come into your inheritance. They have defiled your holy temple. They have laid Jerusalem in heaps.

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.
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Psalm 79:2 →
Notice

Jerusalem lies in heaps, yet the prayer still calls the invaded land God’s inheritance and the defiled temple his, making the devastation harder to comprehend.

Questions to write on. Each one opens a new entry with this verse already attached.

What troubles you about the temple being called holy even as it is defiled?

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How might Asaph’s direct account of Jerusalem’s destruction shape your prayers about violence today?

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Connect

Where else Scripture says this

12 passages readers most often link with this verse, and the thread each one shares with it.

This verse's connections, by chapterThe Bible's strongest chapter linksHover or tap a book to trace it
2 Chronicles 36:19They burned God’s house, broke down the wall of Jerusalem, burned all its palaces with fire, and destroyed all of its valuable vessels.Both passages describe Jerusalem’s devastation and damage to God’s house; Chronicles names the burning and destruction in concrete detail.
Lamentations 1:10The adversary has spread out his hand on all her pleasant things; for she has seen that the nations have entered into her sanctuary, concerning whom you …Both passages lament nations entering a place set apart for God, violating the sanctuary.
1 Corinthians 3:17If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him; for God’s temple is holy, which you are.Both texts name God’s temple as holy and speak of harm to it; Corinthians identifies its readers as that temple.
Psalm 74:1–4A contemplation by Asaph. God, why have you rejected us forever? Why does your anger smolder against the sheep of your pasture?Both prayers address God amid distress concerning those who belong to him; Psalm 74 asks why he has rejected them.
Jeremiah 52:13He burned the LORD’s house, and the king’s house; and all the houses of Jerusalem, even every great house, he burned with fire.Both passages describe devastation involving Jerusalem and God’s house; Jeremiah specifies fire consuming the city’s houses.
Micah 3:12Therefore Zion for your sake will be plowed like a field, and Jerusalem will become heaps of rubble, and the mountain of the temple like the high places of a …Jerusalem reduced to heaps links these texts: Micah announces the ruin, while Psalm 79 laments it.
2 Kings 25:9He burned the LORD’s house, the king’s house, and all the houses of Jerusalem. He burned every great house with fire.Both passages describe Jerusalem’s destruction, including harm to God’s house; Kings records the burning of its buildings.
Psalm 74:3Lift up your feet to the perpetual ruins, all the evil that the enemy has done in the sanctuary.Both prayers bring ruined holy places before God and name the enemy’s actions against the sanctuary.
Psalm 74:7–8They have burned your sanctuary to the ground. They have profaned the dwelling place of your Name.Both passages lament the profaning of God’s dwelling place; Psalm 74 also names its burning.
Jeremiah 26:18“Micah the Morashtite prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah; and he spoke to all the people of Judah, saying, ‘The LORD of Armies says: “‘Zion will …Jeremiah records Micah’s warning that Jerusalem would become heaps, the condition Psalm 79 describes in lament.
1 Chronicles 6:39His brother Asaph, who stood on his right hand, even Asaph the son of Berechiah, the son of Shimea,The shared link is the name Asaph, appearing in the psalm’s heading and in Chronicles’ family record.
2 Chronicles 36:6–7Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up against him, and bound him in fetters to carry him to Babylon.Both texts describe foreign aggression; Chronicles names Nebuchadnezzar and a captive, while the psalm describes Jerusalem’s ruin.
Where this verse fits

Grief. injustice and anger. feeling distant from God.

What the Bible says about grief →What the Bible says about anger →What the Bible says about doubt →
One step

Something small to carry out of this verse

Pray for one community whose homes war has destroyed

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Encouragement

Naming devastation before God is already prayer. Asaph offers no explanation here and softens none of the damage; he still addresses God as the owner of what has been violated.

Now put it in your words.

Start an entry on Psalm 79:1. Write what it stirs. Psalmlog sets your words beside Scripture and gives you one next step. Your first entry is free, no account needed.

Keep goingPsalm 79 · the whole chapter with its connection mapPsalms · every chapterBuild a reading plan through Psalms

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).