Read
Psalm 80:13
The boar out of the wood ravages it. The wild animals of the field feed on it.
11It sent out its branches to the sea, its shoots to the River.
12Why have you broken down its walls, so that all those who pass by the way pluck it?
13The boar out of the wood ravages it. The wild animals of the field feed on it.
14Turn again, we beg you, God of Armies. Look down from heaven, and see, and visit this vine,
15the stock which your right hand planted, the branch that you made strong for yourself.
Notice
The boar ravages a vine whose walls have fallen, turning Israel’s loss of protection into a picture of living growth being torn apart.
Questions to write on. Each one opens a new entry with this verse already attached.
What stands out to you about describing Israel’s suffering through animals ravaging a vine?
Write on thisWhat loss in your community would you name before God alongside this damaged vine?
Write on thisWhat would you write between the description of ravaging and the plea for God to return?
Write on thisConnect
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
Song of Songs 2:15Catch for us the foxes, the little foxes that plunder the vineyards; for our vineyards are in blossom.Both passages picture animals damaging vines: the boar ravages in the psalm, while foxes plunder vineyards in blossom in Song of Songs.
Jeremiah 4:7A lion has gone up from his thicket, and a destroyer of nations. He is on his way. He has gone out from his place, to make your land desolate, that your cities …The boar coming from the wood and the lion leaving his thicket both picture destructive forces threatening a people’s life.
Jeremiah 5:6Therefore a lion out of the forest will kill them. A wolf of the evenings will destroy them. A leopard will watch against their cities. Everyone who goes out …Both passages describe wild animals destroying; Jeremiah names transgressions as the cause, while Psalm 80:13 itself gives no such explanation.
2 Chronicles 25:18Joash king of Israel sent to Amaziah king of Judah, saying, “The thistle that was in Lebanon sent to the cedar that was in Lebanon, saying, ‘Give your daughter …Both use a wild animal’s destruction of a plant as an image, though Chronicles places it within a king’s warning.
Psalm 79:7for they have devoured Jacob, and destroyed his homeland.Devouring links these laments: animals consume the vine in Psalm 80, while Psalm 79 names Jacob and his destroyed homeland.
2 Kings 18:1–19Now in the third year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, Hezekiah the son of Ahaz king of Judah began to reign.The supplied verse names Hezekiah’s accession in Judah; its connection to the ravaged vine extends only to the setting of God’s people.
Jeremiah 39:1–3In the ninth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army came against Jerusalem, and besieged it.Jeremiah names Babylon’s siege of Jerusalem; the psalm portrays devastation through a ravaged vine without identifying a particular siege.
Jeremiah 52:12–14Now in the fifth month, in the tenth day of the month, which was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan the captain of the …The supplied verse records a Babylonian officer entering Jerusalem; it does not itself describe destruction matching the psalm’s ravaged vine.
2 Chronicles 36:1–23Then the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah, and made him king in his father’s place in Jerusalem.Jehoahaz’s appointment in Jerusalem belongs to the history of God’s people, though the supplied verse shares no destruction imagery with the psalm.
2 Kings 24:1–20In his days Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up, and Jehoiakim became his servant for three years. Then he turned and rebelled against him.Babylon’s domination of Jehoiakim and the ravaged vine both portray a people under threat, though the psalm names no king.
2 Chronicles 32:1–33After these things and this faithfulness, Sennacherib king of Assyria came, entered into Judah, encamped against the fortified cities, and intended to win them …Sennacherib threatens Judah’s fortified cities, while animals ravage the vine behind broken walls in the psalm’s surrounding lines.
Psalm 89:41All who pass by the way rob him. He has become a reproach to his neighbors.Both psalms describe exposure to plunder: animals ravage the vine in Psalm 80, and passersby rob the king in Psalm 89.
Where this verse fits
Injustice and anger. grief. feeling distant from God.
One step
Something small to carry out of this verse
Encouragement
The ravaging receives plain words in a prayer to God. The surrounding plea reaches toward the one who planted the vine, while its wounds remain in view.
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).