Read
Psalm 79:7
for they have devoured Jacob, and destroyed his homeland.
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.
Notice
The words “devoured Jacob” make the appeal for God's wrath concrete: a people has been ravaged, and the place they called home has been destroyed.
Questions to write on. Each one opens a new entry with this verse already attached.
What does the word “devoured” convey about the violence done to Jacob?
Write on thisWhat losses come to mind when you read that a people's homeland has been destroyed?
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Where else Scripture says this
11 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
Zechariah 1:15I am very angry with the nations that are at ease; for I was but a little displeased, but they added to the calamity.”Both passages connect anger toward the nations with the devastation those nations have caused.
Jeremiah 51:34–35“Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon has devoured me. He has crushed me. He has made me an empty vessel. He has, like a monster, swallowed me up. He has filled …Both describe conquest as being devoured; Jeremiah names Nebuchadnezzar as the attacker and extends the image to being swallowed.
Isaiah 9:12The Syrians in front, and the Philistines behind; and they will devour Israel with open mouth. For all this, his anger is not turned away, but his hand is …Both portray Israel's enemies as devouring the people, with Isaiah naming the Syrians and Philistines.
Isaiah 64:10–11Your holy cities have become a wilderness. Zion has become a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation.Both mourn a ruined homeland; Isaiah names Zion and Jerusalem as places reduced to wilderness and desolation.
Isaiah 24:1–12Behold, the LORD makes the earth empty, makes it waste, turns it upside down, and scatters its inhabitants.Both describe devastated land, though Psalm 79 names hostile nations as destroyers while Isaiah names the LORD.
Jeremiah 50:7All who found them have devoured them. Their adversaries said, ‘We are not guilty, because they have sinned against the LORD, the habitation of righteousness, …Both describe people being devoured by adversaries; Jeremiah adds the attackers' claim that their victims' sin excuses them.
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 describe the destruction of a homeland; Chronicles details the burning and breaking of Jerusalem's buildings and wall.
2 Chronicles 36:21to fulfill the LORD’s word by Jeremiah’s mouth, until the land had enjoyed its Sabbaths. As long as it lay desolate, it kept Sabbath, to fulfill seventy years.Both speak of a devastated land; Chronicles also describes its desolation as a time of Sabbath rest.
Psalm 80:13The boar out of the wood ravages it. The wild animals of the field feed on it.Both use images of consuming and ravaging to portray destruction, with Psalm 80 depicting animals feeding.
Psalm 94:5They break your people in pieces, LORD, and afflict your heritage.Both bring violence against God's people before him, describing a people devoured or broken in pieces.
Ezekiel 19:14Fire has gone out of its branches. It has devoured its fruit, so that there is in it no strong branch to be a scepter to rule.’ This is a lamentation, and …Both use the language of devouring to describe destruction; Ezekiel names his account a lamentation.
Where this verse fits
Injustice and anger. grief.
One step
Something small to carry out of this verse
Encouragement
Such ruin has a place in prayer. In this psalm, the cry for God's wrath comes from a devastated people who also plead for his tender mercies.
Now put it in your words.
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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).