791 O God , the nations have invaded Your inheritance ; They have defiled Your holy temple ; They have laid Jerusalem in ruins . 2 They have given the dead bodies of Your servants for food to the birds of the heavens , The flesh of Your godly ones to the beasts of the earth . 3 They have poured out their blood like water round about Jerusalem ; And there was no one to bury them. 4 We have become a reproach to our neighbors , A scoffing and derision to those around us. 5 How long , O Lord ? Will You be angry forever ? Will Your jealousy burn like fire ?
6 Pour out Your wrath upon the nations which do not know You, And upon the kingdoms which do not call upon Your name . 7 For they have devoured Jacob And laid waste his habitation . 8 Do not remember the iniquities of our forefathers against us; Let Your compassion come quickly to meet us, For we are brought very low . 9 Help us, O God of our salvation , for the glory of Your name ; And deliver us and forgive our sins for Your name's sake . 10 Why should the nations say , "Where is their God ?" Let there be known among the nations in our sight , Vengeance for the blood of Your servants which has been shed . 11 Let the groaning of the prisoner come before You; According to the greatness of Your power preserve those who are doomed to die . 12 And return to our neighbors sevenfold into their bosom The reproach with which they have reproached You, O Lord . 13 So we Your people and the sheep of Your pasture Will give thanks to You forever ; To all generations we will tell of Your praise .
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.