79 A Psalm of Asaph. O God, nations have come into Thy inheritance, They have defiled Thy holy temple, They made Jerusalem become heaps,

² They gave the dead bodies of Thy servants Food for the fowls of the heavens, The flesh of Thy saints For the wild beast of the earth.

³ They have shed their blood As water round about Jerusalem, And there is none burying.

⁴ We have been a reproach to our neighbours, A scorn and a derision to our surrounders.

⁵ Till when, O Jehovah? art Thou angry for ever? Thy jealousy doth burn as fire.

⁶ Pour Thy fury on the nations who have not known Thee, And on kingdoms that have not called in Thy name.

⁷ For [one] hath devoured Jacob, And his habitation they have made desolate.

⁸ Remember not for us the iniquities of forefathers, Haste, let Thy mercies go before us, For we have been very weak.

⁹ Help us, O God of our salvation, Because of the honour of Thy name, And deliver us, and cover over our sins, For Thy name's sake.

¹⁰ Why do the nations say, `Where [is] their God?' Let be known among the nations before our eyes, The vengeance of the blood of Thy servants that is shed.

¹¹ Let the groaning of the prisoner come in before Thee, According to the greatness of Thine arm, Leave Thou the sons of death.

¹² And turn Thou back to our neighbours, Sevenfold unto their bosom, their reproach, Wherewith they reproached Thee, O Lord.

¹³ And we, Thy people, and the flock of Thy pasture, We give thanks to Thee to the age, To all generations we recount Thy praise!

80 To the Overseer. -- `On the Lilies.' A testimony of Asaph. -- A Psalm. Shepherd of Israel, give ear, Leading Joseph as a flock, Inhabiting the cherubs -- shine forth,

² Before Ephraim, and Benjamin, and Manasseh, Wake up Thy might, and come for our salvation.

³ O God, cause us to turn back, And cause Thy face to shine, and we are saved.

⁴ Jehovah, God of Hosts, till when? Thou hast burned against the prayer of Thy people.

⁵ Thou hast caused them to eat bread of tears, And causest them to drink With tears a third time.

⁶ Thou makest us a strife to our neighbors, And our enemies mock at it.

⁷ God of Hosts, turn us back, And cause Thy face to shine, and we are saved.

⁸ A vine out of Egypt Thou dost bring, Thou dost cast out nations, and plantest it.

⁹ Thou hast looked before it, and dost root it, And it filleth the land,

¹⁰ Covered have been hills [with] its shadow, And its boughs [are] cedars of God.

¹¹ It sendeth forth its branches unto the sea, And unto the river its sucklings.

¹² Why hast Thou broken down its hedges, And all passing by the way have plucked it?

¹³ A boar out of the forest doth waste it, And a wild beast of the fields consumeth it.

¹⁴ God of Hosts, turn back, we beseech Thee, Look from heaven, and see, and inspect this vine,

¹⁵ And the root that Thy right hand planted, And the branch Thou madest strong for Thee,

¹⁶ Burnt with fire -- cut down, From the rebuke of Thy face they perish.

¹⁷ Let Thy hand be on the man of Thy right hand, On the son of man Thou hast strengthened for Thyself.

¹⁸ And we do not go back from Thee, Thou dost revive us, and in Thy name we call.

¹⁹ O Jehovah, God of Hosts, turn us back, Cause Thy face to shine, and we are saved!

81 To the Overseer. -- `On the Gittith.' By Asaph. Cry aloud to God our strength, Shout to the God of Jacob.

² Lift up a song, and give out a timbrel, A pleasant harp with psaltery.

³ Blow in the month a trumpet, In the new moon, at the day of our festival,

⁴ For a statute to Israel it [is], An ordinance of the God of Jacob.

⁵ A testimony on Joseph He hath placed it, In his going forth over the land of Egypt. A lip, I have not known -- I hear.

⁶ From the burden his shoulder I turned aside, His hands from the basket pass over.

⁷ In distress thou hast called and I deliver thee, I answer thee in the secret place of thunder, I try thee by the waters of Meribah. Selah.

⁸ Hear, O My people, and I testify to thee, O Israel, if thou dost hearken to me:

⁹ There is not in thee a strange god, And thou bowest not thyself to a strange god.

¹⁰ I [am] Jehovah thy God, Who bringeth thee up out of the land of Egypt. Enlarge thy mouth, and I fill it.

¹¹ But, My people hearkened not to My voice, And Israel hath not consented to Me.

¹² And I send them away in the enmity of their heart, They walk in their own counsels.

¹³ O that My people were hearkening to Me, Israel in My ways would walk.

¹⁴ As a little thing their enemies I cause to bow, And against their adversaries I turn back My hand,

¹⁵ Those hating Jehovah feign obedience to Him, But their time is -- to the age.

¹⁶ He causeth him to eat of the fat of wheat, And [with] honey from a rock I satisfy thee!