Like Psalm 74, this psalm was written after the sanctuary had already fallen — but where that earlier lament focused on the temple’s stones, this one turns to the bodies left unburied in the streets. Its real complaint is not only what has been destroyed, but what the destruction seems to be saying about God to everyone watching.
A study in Psalm 79 · Arthur Baldwin · StandUp4Jesus.Org · 10 min read
They Have Laid Jerusalem On Heaps
“O God, the heathen are come into thine inheritance; thy holy temple have they defiled; they have laid Jerusalem on heaps. The dead bodies of thy servants have they given to be meat unto the fowls of the heaven, the flesh of thy saints unto the beasts of the earth.”
Psalm 79:1-2
This is graphic, unflinching description — unburied bodies, deliberately named rather than softened into vaguer language. The psalm refuses to let the reader look away from exactly what happened.
“Their blood have they shed like water round about Jerusalem; and there was none to bury them. We are become a reproach to our neighbours, a scorn and derision to them that are round about us.”
Psalm 79:3-4
“There was none to bury them” adds a specific, painful detail beyond the deaths themselves — not even the basic dignity of burial remained possible, a whole society too devastated to perform its most basic duty to its own dead.
How Long, LORD?
“How long, LORD? wilt thou be angry for ever? shall thy jealousy burn like fire? Pour out thy wrath upon the heathen that have not known thee, and upon the kingdoms that have not called upon thy name.”
Psalm 79:5-6
The psalmist does not dispute that God’s anger was deserved — the question is only how long it will last. This is a plea for an end date, not an argument that the judgment itself was wrong.
Purge Away Our Sins, For Thy Name’s Sake
“O remember not against us former iniquities: let thy tender mercies speedily prevent us: for we are brought very low. Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of thy name: and deliver us, and purge away our sins, for thy name’s sake.”
Psalm 79:8-9
“For thy name’s sake” grounds this appeal outside the people’s own merit entirely — not a claim that Israel deserves rescue, but that God’s own reputation is now genuinely at stake in whatever happens next.
Where Is Their God?
“Wherefore should the heathen say, Where is their God? let him be known among the heathen in our sight by the revenging of the blood of thy servants which is shed.”
Psalm 79:10
This is the psalm’s real center of gravity — the surrounding nations reading Israel’s defeat as proof that Israel’s God either could not or would not act. The plea for justice doubles as a plea to correct that specific, false conclusion.
“Let the sighing of the prisoner come before thee; according to the greatness of thy power preserve thou those that are appointed to die.”
Psalm 79:11
“Sighing” is a quiet, almost wordless sound to bring before God — not a formal petition, but the involuntary noise of genuine suffering, treated here as prayer in its own right.
We Will Shew Forth Thy Praise
“So we thy people and sheep of thy pasture will give thee thanks for ever: we will shew forth thy praise to all generations.”
Psalm 79:13
The psalm’s closing promise looks past the immediate crisis toward “all generations” — a vow that whatever happens next, the people intend to still be here, still telling this story, long after the current devastation has become history rather than headline.
