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Psalm 79:8
Don’t hold the iniquities of our forefathers against us. Let your tender mercies speedily meet us, for we are in desperate need.
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.
Notice
The plea about forefathers’ sins can touch fear about what the past still carries, as a devastated people ask God for mercy without delay.
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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
Isaiah 64:9Don’t be furious, LORD. Don’t remember iniquity forever. Look and see, we beg you, we are all your people.Both prayers ask God to withhold judgment over iniquity and turn his attention toward his distressed people.
Exodus 20:5you shall not bow yourself down to them, nor serve them, for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on …Both texts address fathers’ iniquity affecting later generations; Exodus warns of judgment, while the psalm pleads for mercy.
Psalm 116:6The LORD preserves the simple. I was brought low, and he saved me.Both connect human need with God’s help: Psalm 79 asks for mercy, while Psalm 116 recounts rescue after being brought low.
Psalm 142:6Listen to my cry, for I am in desperate need. Deliver me from my persecutors, for they are too strong for me.Both prayers name desperate need as the reason for asking God to act.
Revelation 18:5for her sins have reached to the sky, and God has remembered her iniquities.Both concern God’s reckoning with iniquity: the psalm asks him to withhold judgment, while Revelation declares that he has remembered sins.
Psalm 25:7Don’t remember the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions. Remember me according to your loving kindness, for your goodness’ sake, LORD.Both prayers appeal to God’s mercy when asking him not to remember sins against the person or people praying.
Psalm 59:10My God will go before me with his loving kindness. God will let me look at my enemies in triumph.Both look for God’s kindness to reach those facing enemies, through mercy that meets them or loving kindness that goes before them.
Hosea 9:9They have deeply corrupted themselves, as in the days of Gibeah. He will remember their iniquity. He will punish them for their sins.Both connect iniquity with God’s judgment; Hosea announces punishment, while the psalm asks that ancestral sins be spared a reckoning.
Matthew 23:32–36Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers.Both mention the fathers, though the psalm pleads for mercy and Matthew speaks of filling their measure.
Jeremiah 44:21“The incense that you burned in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, you and your fathers, your kings and your princes, and the people of the …Both concern God’s remembrance of wrongdoing involving earlier generations, with Jeremiah naming incense burned by the people and their fathers.
Exodus 32:34Now go, lead the people to the place of which I have spoken to you. Behold, my angel shall go before you. Nevertheless, in the day when I punish, I will punish …Both address God’s response to sin: Exodus announces punishment, while the psalm asks for mercy concerning ancestral iniquity.
Deuteronomy 28:43The foreigner who is among you will mount up above you higher and higher, and you will come down lower and lower.The shared thread is a lowered condition: Deuteronomy describes declining standing, and the psalm voices desperate need.
Where this verse fits
Guilt and confession. injustice and anger.
One step
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Encouragement
There is room in prayer to ask God for help without delay. This devastated people speak with urgency, appealing to his tender mercies from within their desperate need.
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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).