Table of Contents
Psalm 79
Psalm 79
1 O god, the heathen are come into thine inheritance; thy holy temple have they defiled; they have laid Jerusalem on heaps.
2 The dead bodies of thy servants have they given to be meat unto the fowls of the heaven, 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 scorn and derision to them that are round about us.
5 How long, Lord? wilt thou be angry for ever? shall thy jealousy burn like fire?
6 Pour out thy wrath upon the heathen that have not known thee, and upon the kingdoms that have not called upon thy name.
7 For they have devoured Jacob, and laid waste his dwelling place.
8 O remember not against us former iniquities: let thy tender mercies speedily prevent us: for we are brought very low.
9 Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of thy name: and deliver us, and purge away our sins, for thy name's sake.
10 Wherefore should the heathen say, Where is their God? let him be known among the heathen in our sight by the revenging of the blood of thy servants which is shed.
11 Let the sighing of the prisoner come before thee; according to the greatness of thy power preserve thou 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 So we thy people and sheep of thy pasture will give thee thanks for ever: we will shew forth thy praise to all generations.
Notes
Cross Reference
Concordance
Commentary
Rashi
Verse 1
<html><b>into heaps</b> Now what is this song? Is it not a lamentation? But because it says (Lam. 4:11): “The Lord has spent His fury.” With what has He spent it? “He has kindled a fire in Zion.” This is a song and an occasion for singing, for He poured out His fury on the wood and stones and did not utterly destroy His children.</html>
Verse 2
<html><b>the flesh of Your pious ones</b> Now were they not wicked? But since they received their punishment, they are accounted as pious men. Similarly, Scripture states (Deut. 25:3): “your brother would be degraded before your eyes.” As soon as he is lashed, he is your brother. It is explained in this manner in the Aggadah (Mid. Ps. 79:4).</html>
Verse 4
<html><b>and derision</b> Heb. וקלס, an expression of speech, to speak of them as for a byword.</html>
Verse 5
<html><b>How long</b> Heb. עד מה [lit. until what.] Until when? <b>Your jealousy</b> Your wrath, <b>that You are jealous</b> to wreak vengeance, an expression of (Exod. 20:5): “a jealous (קנא) God,” emportement or enprenemant in Old French, zealous anger.</html>
Verse 11
<html><b>set free</b> Heb. הותר, release the prisoners from their prison, as (below 105:20): “A king sent and released him (ויתירהו)”; (146:7), “sets loose (מתיר) the bound.” <b>the children of the mother who died</b> The children of her who was killed because of You; enmorinede in Old French, doomed to die. There is an example in the Sages’ language: “It is better that Jews eat the flesh of slaughtered dying beasts rather than eat the flesh of the carcasses of dying animals.” That means the flesh of a dying animal that was slaughtered, in tractate Kiddushin (21b).</html>