Add parallel Print Page Options

They have poured out their blood like water
    all around Jerusalem,
    and no one is left to bury them.[a]
We have become the scorn of our neighbors,
    mocked and derided by those around us.[b]
[c]How long, O Lord?[d] Will you be angry forever?
    How long will your rage continue to blaze like a fire?

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. Psalm 79:3 They have given . . . the flesh . . . to bury them: these verses are cited freely in 1 Mac 7:17 in application to the massacre of sixty pious Jews in Jerusalem during the Maccabean wars.
  2. Psalm 79:4 A secular hostility opposed Israel to its neighbors, as is shown by the oracles of the Prophets against the nations (see Lam 3:45; Zep 2:8).
  3. Psalm 79:5 The divine justice cannot remain inactive in the case of such wickedness, which calls out for retribution.
  4. Psalm 79:5 How long . . . ?: see note on Ps 6:4. Rage: i.e., a jealous rage (see Ps 119:139; Nah 1:2). Blaze like a fire: see Deut 4:24; 6:15; Zep 1:18; 3:8.

They have poured out blood like water
    all around Jerusalem,
    and there is no one to bury(A) the dead.(B)
We are objects of contempt to our neighbors,
    of scorn(C) and derision to those around us.(D)

How long,(E) Lord? Will you be angry(F) forever?
    How long will your jealousy burn like fire?(G)

Read full chapter