Psalm 79 explained: A Cry After Jerusalem Falls

The city in ruins (vv. 1-4)

Foreign armies have overrun the land, defiled the temple and left the dead lying unburied, which in that world was a deep horror and disgrace. Most scholars connect this with Babylon's destruction of Jerusalem in 587 BC, though the psalm itself does not name the event.

How long, and turn it on them (vv. 5-7)

The speakers see God's anger behind the disaster and ask whether it will ever end. Then they ask him plainly to pour that anger out on the nations who attacked them, a raw prayer for revenge that the psalm does not soften.

A plea for forgiveness (vv. 8-9)

They admit their own wrongs and the sins of earlier generations, and beg for mercy to come quickly. They appeal to God's own reputation, asking him to act for the sake of his name, rather than to anything they deserve.

"Where is their God?" (vv. 10-12)

The neighbors' mocking makes God look powerless, so the speakers ask him to show he will answer for the blood that was spilled, and to protect prisoners facing death. Asking for payback sevenfold into the enemies' laps pictures payment poured into the fold of a robe, meaning repaid in full.

A promise of praise (v. 13)

The psalm ends by calling the people God's sheep and promising to keep thanking him from one generation to the next. It closes on hope, even though nothing has changed yet.

Key verse: Psalm 79:9

Where Christians differ

Christians differ on how to read the prayers for vengeance here: some see them as honest grief that hands justice over to God instead of taking it into their own hands, while others see them as falling short of Jesus' later teaching to love enemies.

Something to think about

When something terrible is done to people you love, is it more honest to say out loud that you want payback, or to keep that feeling to yourself?