Mazmur 79:1-4

Psalm 79 ¹ 

A psalm of Asaph.

79:1 O God, foreigners ²  have invaded your chosen land; ³ 

they have polluted your holy temple

and turned Jerusalem ⁴  into a heap of ruins.

79:2 They have given the corpses of your servants

to the birds of the sky; ⁵ 

the flesh of your loyal followers

to the beasts of the earth.

79:3 They have made their blood flow like water

all around Jerusalem, and there is no one to bury them. ⁶ 

79:4 We have become an object of disdain to our neighbors;

those who live on our borders taunt and insult us. ⁷ 

Ratapan 1:5

ה (He)

1:5 Her foes subjugated her; ⁸ 

her enemies are at ease. ⁹ 

For the Lord afflicted her

because of her many acts of rebellion. ¹⁰ 

Her children went away

captive ¹¹  before the enemy.

[79:1]  ¹ sn Psalm 79. The author laments how the invading nations have destroyed the temple and city of Jerusalem. He asks God to forgive his people and to pour out his vengeance on those who have mistreated them.

[79:1]  ² tn Or “nations.”

[79:1]  ³ tn Heb “have come into your inheritance.”

[79:1]  ⁴ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[79:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “[as] food for the birds of the sky.”

[79:3]  ⁶ tn Heb “they have poured out their blood like water, all around Jerusalem, and there is no one burying.”

[79:4]  ⁷ tn Heb “an [object of] taunting and [of] mockery to those around us.” See Ps 44:13.

[1:5]  ⁸ tn Heb “her foes became [her] head” (הָיוּ צָרֶיהָ לְרֹאשׁ, hayu tsareha lÿro’sh) or more idiomatically “have come out on top.” This is a Semitic idiom for domination or subjugation, with “head” as a metaphor for leader.

[1:5]  ⁹ tn The nuance expressed in the LXX is that her enemies prosper (cf. KJV, NASB, NRSV, NLT).

[1:5]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “because of her many rebellions.” The plural פְּשָׁעֶיהָ (pÿsha’eha, “her rebellions”) is an example of the plural of repeated action or characteristic behavior (see IBHS 121 §7.4.2c). The 3rd person feminine singular suffix (“her”) probably functions as a subjective genitive: “her rebellions” = “she has rebelled.”

[1:5]  ¹¹ tn The singular noun שְׁבִי (shÿvi) is a collective singular, meaning “captives, prisoners.” It functions as an adverbial accusative of state: “[they] went away as captives.”