Psalm 79:1

Translations

Modern

A Psalm of Asaph. The nations, O God, have invaded Your inheritance; they have defiled Your holy temple and reduced Jerusalem to rubble.

Traditional

A Psalm of Asaph. O God, the heathen are come into thine inheritance; thy holy temple have they defiled; they have laid Jerusalem on heaps.

Literal

A Psalm of Asaph. O God, the nations have come into Your inheritance; they have defiled Your holy temple; they have laid Jerusalem in ruins.

Latin

Psalmus Asaph. Deus, venerunt gentes in hæreditatem tuam; polluerunt templum sanctum tuum; posuerunt Jerusalem in pomorum custodiam.

Original

Hebrew

English

A Psalm of Asaph. The nations, O God, have invaded Your inheritance; they have defiled Your holy temple and reduced Jerusalem to rubble.

Notes

Psalms 79:1

Your inheritance: This phrase might refer to the land, the temple (see Psalm 61:5), or the people (see 79:2; 78:71).

Psalms 79:1–4

The poet laments the defilement of the temple and the success of the enemy.

Psalms 79:1–13

This lament describes the fall of Jerusalem in 586 BC. Israel’s early history of rebellion, described in Psalm 78, angered God. As a result, Zion was destroyed. The temple was defiled, and the bodies of the dead lay across the land.

The psalmist then prays for forgiveness and rescue (Psalm 79:8–9) and asks God to repay the nation's enemies (Psalm 79:12–13). Other psalms lamenting the exile include Psalms 42–44, 102, 107, 126, and 137.

Related verses

Lamentations 1:10
The adversary has seized all her treasures. For she has seen the nations enter her sanctuary—those You had forbidden to enter Your assembly.
2 Chronicles 36:19
Then the Chaldeans set fire to the house of God and broke down the wall of Jerusalem. They burned down all the palaces and destroyed every article of value.
Psalm 74:1–4
A Maskil of Asaph. Why have You rejected us forever, O God? Why does Your anger smolder against the sheep of Your pasture?
Micah 3:12
Therefore, because of you, Zion will be plowed like a field, Jerusalem will become a heap of rubble, and the temple mount a wooded ridge.
Jeremiah 26:18
“Micah the Moreshite prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah and told all the people of Judah that this is what the LORD of Hosts says: ‘Zion will be plowed like a field, Jerusalem will become a heap of rubble, and the temple mount a wooded ridge.’
Psalm 74:7–8
They have burned Your sanctuary to the ground; they have defiled the dwelling place of Your Name.
2 Kings 21:12–16
…this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘Behold, I am bringing such calamity upon Jerusalem and Judah that the news will reverberate in the ears of all who hear it.
2 Chronicles 36:6–7
Then Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up against Jehoiakim and bound him with bronze shackles to take him to Babylon.
2 Kings 25:4–10
Then the city was breached; and though the Chaldeans had surrounded the city, all the men of war fled by night by way of the gate between the two walls near the king’s garden. They headed toward the Arabah,
Jeremiah 52:13
He burned down the house of the LORD, the royal palace, and all the houses of Jerusalem—every significant building.
2 Kings 24:13
As the LORD had declared, Nebuchadnezzar also carried off all the treasures from the house of the LORD and the royal palace, and he cut into pieces all the gold articles that Solomon king of Israel had made in the temple of the LORD.
2 Chronicles 36:3–4
And the king of Egypt dethroned him in Jerusalem and imposed on Judah a levy of a hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold.

Parallels

Psalm 74:1–23 Jeremiah 52:1–11

People

Asaph: Levite musician, psalmist, and ancestor of temple singers

Places

Jerusalem: The capital of Israel, a holy city for three religions

Glossary

Asaph Imprecatory Psalms Mercy Music Psalms, Book of

Topics

Afflictions and Adversities: Prayer In Church: Holy Temple Gentiles: Often Ravaged and Defiled the Holy Land and Sanctuary Psalms: Afflictions Temple: Solomon's: Destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar, and the Valuable Contents Carried to Babylon Temple: Solomon's: Holy Temple The Jews: Denunciations Against Those Who: Slaughtered War: Evils of

Psalm 79:1

Translations?

Original?

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