791 O God, the nations are come into thine inheritance: thy holy temple have they defiled; they have laid Jerusalem in heaps. 2 The dead bodies of thy servants have they given to be meat unto the fowl of the heavens, the flesh of thy saints unto the beasts of the earth: 3 Their blood have they shed like water round about Jerusalem, and there was none to bury [them]. 4 We are become a reproach to our neighbours, a mockery and a derision to them that are round about us. 5 How long, O Jehovah? wilt thou be angry for ever? Shall thy jealousy burn like fire?
6 Pour out thy fury upon the nations that have not known thee, and upon the kingdoms that call not upon thy name: 7 For they have devoured Jacob, and laid waste his habitation. 8 Remember not against us the iniquities of [our] forefathers; let thy tender mercies speedily come to meet us: for we are brought very low. 9 Help us, O God of our salvation, because of the glory of thy name; and deliver us, and forgive our sins, for thy name's sake. 10 Wherefore should the nations say, Where is their God? Let the avenging of the blood of thy servants that is shed be known among the nations in our sight. 11 Let the groaning of the prisoner come before thee; according to the greatness of thine arm, preserve those that are appointed to die; 12 And render unto our neighbours, sevenfold into their bosom, their reproach, wherewith they have reproached thee, O Lord. 13 And we, thy people and the sheep of thy pasture, will give thanks unto thee for ever; we will shew forth thy praise from generation to generation.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Psalm 79:1-18
Commentary on Psalm 79:1-5
(Read Psalm 79:1-5)
God is complained to: whither should children go but to a Father able and willing to help them? See what a change sin made in the holy city, when the heathen were suffered to pour in upon them. God's own people defiled it by their sins, therefore he suffered their enemies to defile it by their insolence. They desired that God would be reconciled. Those who desire God's favour as better than life, cannot but dread his wrath as worse than death. In every affliction we should first beseech the Lord to cleanse away the guilt of our sins; then he will visit us with his tender mercies.
Commentary on Psalm 79:6-13
(Read Psalm 79:6-13)
Those who persist in ignorance of God, and neglect of prayer, are the ungodly. How unrighteous soever men were, the Lord was righteous in permitting them to do what they did. Deliverances from trouble are mercies indeed, when grounded upon the pardon of sin; we should therefore be more earnest in prayer for the removal of our sins than for the removal of afflictions. They had no hopes but from God's mercies, his tender mercies. They plead no merit, they pretend to none, but, Help us for the glory of thy name; pardon us for thy name's sake. The Christian forgets not that he is often bound in the chain of his sins. The world to him is a prison; sentence of death is passed upon him, and he knows not how soon it may be executed. How fervently should he at all times pray, O let the sighing of a prisoner come before thee, according to the greatness of thy power preserve thou those that are appointed to die! How glorious will the day be, when, triumphant over sin and sorrow, the church beholds the adversary disarmed for ever! while that church shall, from age to age, sing the praises of her great Shepherd and Bishop, her King and her God.