Psalm 80 (79)
Let your face shine on us! God is our shepherd: has he forgotten his people? When the Church is discredited, the salvation of Christ seems to be a failure. Lord bring us back and convert us!
2 Listen, O shepherd of Israel, you who lead Joseph like a flock, you who sit enthroned between the che rubim.
3 Shine forth before Ephraim, Benjamin and Manasseh. Stir up your might and come to save us.
4 Restore us, O God of hosts; make your face shine upon us, that we may be saved.
5 O Lord of hosts, how long will your anger burn against the prayers of your people?
6 You have fed them with the bread of woe, and have given them tears to drink in their sorrow.
7 You have made us the scorn of our neighbors and the laughingstock of our oppressors.
8 Restore us, O God of hosts; make your face shine upon us, that we may be saved.
9 You had a vine you brought from Egypt. You drove nations out, to plant it in their land.
10 On the ground that you cleared, it took root, and filled the land.
11 Its shade covered the mountains, its shoots went through the mighty cedars,
12 its branches reached out to the sea and its shoots to the River.
13 Why, then, have you broken down its walls, so that all who pass by pluck its fruits?
14 The beasts of the forest ravage it and all creatures of the field feed on it.
15 Turn again, O Lord of hosts, look down from heaven and see; care for this vine,
16 and protect the stock your hand
has planted.
17 Let those who burned it down perish at your rebuke.
18 But lay your hand on your instrument, on the son of man whom you make strong for yourself.
19 Then we will never turn away from you; give us life, and we will call on your name.
20 Restore us, O Lord, God of hosts; make your face shine on us, that we may be saved.