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Psalm 79:11
Let the sighing of the prisoner come before you. According to the greatness of your power, preserve those who are sentenced to death.
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.
Notice
The prisoner's sigh and the death sentence make this a plea for lives to be spared by God's great power.
Questions to write on. Each one opens a new entry with this verse already attached.
Whose threatened life could you bring before God through this plea for preservation?
Write on thisHow does the appeal to God's great power shape your prayer for someone facing death?
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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
Psalm 102:20to hear the groans of the prisoner, to free those who are condemned to death,Both passages speak of prisoners' groans reaching God and of rescue for people condemned to death.
Exodus 2:24God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.Psalm 79 asks God to hear a prisoner's sigh; Exodus records God hearing groaning and remembering his covenant.
Isaiah 42:7to open the blind eyes, to bring the prisoners out of the dungeon, and those who sit in darkness out of the prison.Both passages concern prisoners needing rescue, with Psalm 79 asking for preservation and Isaiah describing release from the dungeon.
Isaiah 33:2LORD, be gracious to us. We have waited for you. Be our strength every morning, our salvation also in the time of trouble.Both prayers appeal to God for help in danger, grounding their requests in his strength.
Psalm 146:6–7who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them; who keeps truth forever;Psalm 79 appeals to God's great power; Psalm 146 names him as maker of heaven and earth.
Psalm 69:33For the LORD hears the needy, and doesn’t despise his captive people.Psalm 79 asks that a prisoner's sigh reach God; Psalm 69 affirms that God hears and does not despise his captives.
Exodus 2:23–24In the course of those many days, the king of Egypt died, and the children of Israel sighed because of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up to …Both texts describe sighing under captivity and direct attention to God as the one to whom that distress comes.
Psalm 12:5“Because of the oppression of the weak and because of the groaning of the needy, I will now arise,” says the LORD; “I will set him in safety from those who …Both passages connect the groaning of vulnerable people with an appeal to God's power to preserve their lives.
Ephesians 3:20Now to him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us,Both passages connect requests made to God with his power, which Ephesians describes as exceeding what people ask or think.
1 Samuel 26:16This thing isn’t good that you have done. As the LORD lives, you are worthy to die, because you have not kept watch over your lord, the LORD’s anointed. Now …The shared thread is threatened death: Psalm 79 pleads for condemned prisoners, while Samuel records a rebuke for failing to guard the king.
Numbers 14:17–19Now please let the power of the Lord be great, according as you have spoken, saying,Both prayers appeal to the greatness of the Lord's power as the basis for their request.
Matthew 6:13Bring us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For yours is the Kingdom, the power, and the glory forever. Amen.’Both prayers ask God for deliverance and name his power as they seek his help.
Where this verse fits
Injustice and anger. fear for the future.
One step
Something small to carry out of this verse
Encouragement
You need no polished speech to pray for someone in danger. Even a prisoner's sigh belongs in this plea to God, whose great power is the ground of its hope.
Now put it in your words.
Start an entry on Psalm 79:11. Write what it stirs. Psalmlog sets your words beside Scripture and gives you one next step. Your first entry is free, no account needed.
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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).