Psalm 79 (78)
How long will your anger last? Let God do justice to his people. The Lord owes us nothing since we are sinners.
72 O God, the pagans have invaded your inheritance; they have defiled your holy temple and reduced Jerusalem to rubble.
2 They have given your servants’ corpses to the birds, and the flesh of your saints to the beasts of the earth.
3 They have poured out the blood of your faithful like water around Jerusalem, and there was no one to bury them.
4 Mocked and reviled by those around us, we are scorned by our neigh bors.
5 How long will this last, O Lord? Will you be angry forever? Will your wrath always burn to avenge your rights?
6 Pour out your anger on the nations that do not acknowledge you; on the kingdoms that do not call on your name.
7 For they have devoured Jacob and laid waste his homeland.
8 Do not remember against us the sins of our fathers.
Let your compassion hurry to us, for we have been brought very low.
9 Help us, God, our savior, for the glory of your name; forgive us for the sake of your name.
10 Give not the nations a chance to say, “Where is their God?” Before our eyes let them know that you avenge the blood of your servants.
11 Listen to the groans of the prisoners; by the strength of your arm, deliver those doomed to die.
12 Return our neighbors sevenfold, O Lord, the taunts with which they have taunted you.
13 Then we, your people, the flock of your pasture, will thank you forever. We will recount your praise from generation to generation.