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Psalm 80:4
LORD God of Armies, how long will you be angry against the prayer of your people?
2Before Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh, stir up your might! Come to save us!
3Turn us again, God. Cause your face to shine, and we will be saved.
4LORD God of Armies, how long will you be angry against the prayer of your people?
5You have fed them with the bread of tears, and given them tears to drink in large measure.
6You make us a source of contention to our neighbors. Our enemies laugh among themselves.
Notice
Anger against prayer is the hard edge of this cry: God's people appeal to him while asking how long his anger toward them will last.
Questions to write on. Each one opens a new entry with this verse already attached.
When, if ever, have you feared that God was angry even as you prayed?
Write on thisHow does naming God as “LORD God of Armies” shape the question about his anger for you?
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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 13:1For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by David. How long, LORD? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?Both prayers ask how long distress will last, addressing the LORD about his anger in one and his hidden face in the other.
Psalm 55:1For the Chief Musician. On stringed instruments. A contemplation by David. Listen to my prayer, God. Don’t hide yourself from my supplication.Both address God about prayer itself: one asks him to listen, while the other questions his anger against his people's prayer.
Psalm 85:5Will you be angry with us forever? Will you draw out your anger to all generations?Both prayers ask God how long his anger toward his people will continue.
Psalm 22:2My God, I cry in the daytime, but you don’t answer; in the night season, and am not silent.Both speakers keep addressing God while naming trouble in prayer: anger in Psalm 80 and unanswered cries in Psalm 22.
Job 7:20If I have sinned, what do I do to you, you watcher of men? Why have you set me as a mark for you, so that I am a burden to myself?Both speakers question God about his dealings with them, with Job asking why God has made him a target.
Deuteronomy 29:20The LORD will not pardon him, but then the LORD’s anger and his jealousy will smoke against that man, and all the curse that is written in this book will fall …Both name the LORD's anger, though Deuteronomy declares judgment against a man and Psalm 80 asks how long anger will last.
Matthew 15:22–28Behold, a Canaanite woman came out from those borders and cried, saying, “Have mercy on me, Lord, you son of David! My daughter is severely possessed by a …Both contain a cry for divine help amid suffering: the people's prayer in the psalm and a mother's appeal for her daughter.
Lamentations 3:44You have covered yourself with a cloud, so that no prayer can pass through.Both describe prayer meeting opposition from God, expressed as anger in the psalm and a cloud blocking prayer in Lamentations.
Isaiah 58:6–9“Isn’t this the fast that I have chosen: to release the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and that you break …Prayer and fasting are the limited link here; Isaiah describes God's chosen fast, while the psalm questions his anger against prayer.
Isaiah 58:2–3Yet they seek me daily, and delight to know my ways. As a nation that did righteousness, and didn’t forsake the ordinance of their God, they ask of me …Both describe people approaching God: Isaiah speaks of seeking him and asking for judgments, while the psalm names his people's prayer.
Luke 18:1–8He also spoke a parable to them that they must always pray and not give up,Luke teaches persistence in prayer, and Psalm 80 records a prayer that continues amid questions about God's anger.
Song of Songs 5:6I opened to my beloved; but my beloved left, and had gone away. My heart went out when he spoke. I looked for him, but I didn’t find him. I called him, but he …Both describe troubled appeals, though the Song addresses an absent beloved and the psalm addresses God about his anger.
Where this verse fits
Feeling distant from God. waiting. doubt.
One step
Something small to carry out of this verse
Encouragement
This cry offers no explanation for God's anger or timetable for relief. Yet the speaker still addresses YHWH God of Armies and names those suffering as his people.
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).