Mazmur 79:9-13

79:9 Help us, O God, our deliverer!

For the sake of your glorious reputation, ¹  rescue us!

Forgive our sins for the sake of your reputation! ² 

79:10 Why should the nations say, “Where is their God?”

Before our very eyes may the shed blood of your servants

be avenged among the nations! ³ 

79:11 Listen to the painful cries of the prisoners! ⁴ 

Use your great strength to set free those condemned to die! ⁵ 

79:12 Pay back our neighbors in full! ⁶ 

May they be insulted the same way they insulted you, O Lord! ⁷ 

79:13 Then we, your people, the sheep of your pasture,

will continually thank you. ⁸ 

We will tell coming generations of your praiseworthy acts. ⁹ 

[79:9]  ¹ tn Heb “the glory of your name.” Here and in the following line “name” stands metonymically for God’s reputation.

[79:9]  ² tn Heb “your name.”

[79:10]  ³ tn Heb “may it be known among the nations, to our eyes, the vengeance of the shed blood of your servants.”

[79:11]  ⁴ tn Heb “may the painful cry of the prisoner come before you.”

[79:11]  ⁵ tn Heb “according to the greatness of your arm leave the sons of death.” God’s “arm” here symbolizes his strength to deliver. The verbal form הוֹתֵר (hoter) is a Hiphil imperative from יָתַר (yatar, “to remain; to be left over”). Here it must mean “to leave over; to preserve.” However, it is preferable to emend the form to הַתֵּר (hatter), a Hiphil imperative from נָתַר (natar, “be free”). The Hiphil form is used in Ps 105:20 of Pharaoh freeing Joseph from prison. The phrase “sons of death” (see also Ps 102:21) is idiomatic for those condemned to die.

[79:12]  ⁶ tn Heb “Return to our neighbors sevenfold into their lap.” The number seven is used rhetorically to express the thorough nature of the action. For other rhetorical/figurative uses of the Hebrew phrase שִׁבְעָתַיִם (shiv’atayim, “seven times”) see Gen 4:15, 24; Ps 12:6; Prov 6:31; Isa 30:26.

[79:12]  ⁷ tn Heb “their reproach with which they reproached you, O Lord.”

[79:13]  ⁸ tn Or (hyperbolically) “will thank you forever.”

[79:13]  ⁹ tn Heb “to a generation and a generation we will report your praise.” Here “praise” stands by metonymy for the mighty acts that prompt worship. Cf. Ps 9:14.