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III

You brought a vine[a] out of Egypt;
    you drove out nations and planted it.
10 You cleared out what was before it;
    it took deep root and filled the land.
11 The mountains were covered by its shadow,
    the cedars of God by its branches.
12 It sent out its boughs as far as the sea,[b]
    its shoots as far as the river.
13 Why have you broken down its walls,
    so that all who pass along the way pluck its fruit?(A)
14 The boar from the forest strips the vine;
    the beast of the field feeds upon it.(B)

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Footnotes

  1. 80:9 A vine: a frequent metaphor for Israel, cf. Is 5:1–7; 27:2–5; Jer 2:21; Hos 10:1; Mt 21:33.
  2. 80:12 The sea: the Mediterranean. The river: the Euphrates, cf. Gn 15:18; 1 Kgs 5:1. The terms may also have a mythic nuance—the seas that surround the earth; sea and river are sometimes paralleled in poetry.

You cleared the ground for it,
    and it took root and filled the land.
10 The mountains were covered with its shade,
    the mighty cedars with its branches.
11 Its branches reached as far as the Sea,[a]
    its shoots as far as the River.[b](A)

12 Why have you broken down its walls(B)
    so that all who pass by pick its grapes?
13 Boars from the forest ravage(C) it,
    and insects from the fields feed on it.
14 Return to us, God Almighty!
    Look down from heaven and see!(D)
Watch over this vine,

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Footnotes

  1. Psalm 80:11 Probably the Mediterranean
  2. Psalm 80:11 That is, the Euphrates