Salmos 79

VBL · Chapter 79/150

1Un Salmo de Asaf. Dios, las naciones infieles han invadido tu tierra y han profanado tu Santo Templo. Ha convertido a Jerusalén en montañas de escombros.

2Han dado los cadáveres de tus siervos a las aves, Señor. La carne de tu pueblo fiel fue dada a las bestias de la tierra.

3Han derramado la sangre del pueblo de Jerusalén como agua en toda la ciudad y no queda nadie que pueda sepultar a los muertos.

4Hemos sido el hazmerreír de nuestros vecinos. Ridiculizados por quienes nos rodean.

5¿Hasta cuándo, Señor? ¿Acaso estarás enojado con nosotros para siempre? ¿Hasta cuándo arderá tu ira?

6¡Derrama tu ira sobre las naciones infieles que no te conocen, y sobre los reyes que no te adoran!

7Porque ellos han destruido a los descendientes de Jacob y convirtieron nuestra nación en un desierto.

8¡No nos hagas pagar por los pecados de nuestros padres! Apresúrate a venir a nosotros porque necesitamos desesperadamente tu compasión.

9¡Ayúdanos, Dios de nuestra salvación, por tu maravilloso nombre! ¡Sálvanos y perdona nuestros pecados por causa de quien tú eres!

10¿Por qué tendrían que preguntarse las naciones dónde está nuestro Dios? Castígalos por derramar la sangre de tus siervos, que permítenos ser testigos de su castigo.

11Escucha la agonía de los prisioneros, y con tu gran poder salva a los que han sido condenados a la muerte.

12Paga a casa uno de nuestros vecinos siete veces por el escarnio y ridículo que te han causado, Señor.

13Entonces seremos tu pueblo, el rebaño de tus pasos, y te alabaremos por siempre. Todas las futuras generaciones te agradecerán.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

A national lament after the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple: the bodies of God's servants were left unburied, and the people cry out for help and just vengeance against the invaders.

Explanation

This is a communal lament psalm, a literary genre used after great national tragedies — many scholars associate this text with the fall of Jerusalem to the Babylonians in 586 BC. Leaving the dead unburied was considered an extreme dishonor in ancient culture, which is why verse 3 emphasizes this shocking detail. The psalm does not hide the pain or pretend acceptance; it cries out to God asking for justice, but ends with a vow of continual praise. Today's application is that biblical faith allows for openly lamenting before God without that being a lack of faith.

Fun facts

  • Communal lament psalms like this one (also 74 and 137) form their own genre within the book of Psalms, used in moments of national crisis.
  • The request for 'sevenfold' retribution (v. 12) reflects a common principle of proportional justice in ancient Near Eastern culture, not a call for excessive personal revenge.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. Salmos 79:1Describes, without literary exaggeration, the real destruction of the city and the temple — likely by the Babylonians in 586 BC — the historical backdrop explaining the tone of mourning and outrage in the whole psalm.
  2. Salmos 79:2Leaving bodies unburied, becoming food for birds and beasts, was the worst possible dishonor in the ancient world: denying a fallen warrior even the basic right to burial.
  3. Salmos 79:3Blood “like water” is an image of mass slaughter, lives treated as worthless. No one being left to bury the dead repeats the same ultimate dishonor already mentioned in the previous verse.
  4. Salmos 79:4Being a source of ridicule to neighboring peoples was an added humiliation on top of the military defeat: the fall of Jerusalem became a joke among nations that had long rivaled Israel.
  5. Salmos 79:5“How long” is a cry of anguish repeated in several lament psalms, not a calculated question about deadlines — it is the poetic way of saying the suffering already feels too long to bear.
  6. Salmos 79:6The request is not for Israel to escape all divine wrath, but for that wrath to turn against the nations that attacked the people, sparing those who suffered the invasion.
  7. Salmos 79:7“Jacob” functions here as a poetic name for the whole people of Israel, recalling the patriarch from whom the twelve tribes descend — a device common in the Psalms for speaking of the entire nation.
  8. Salmos 79:8The request is not for exemption from all guilt, but that God not punish based on accumulated sins of past generations: the people are already so beaten down that they beg for immediate help.
  9. Salmos 79:9“Purge” here carries the old sense of wiping away, that is, blotting out: the request is not based on personal merit, but that God act for the sake of His own reputation — delivering the people also protects the honor of His name.
  10. Salmos 79:10If Jerusalem is destroyed without response, the neighboring nations will mock, asking where the God of Israel is: behind the plea for help lies concern for God’s reputation before the world.
  11. Salmos 79:11“Thy power” is a common image of God’s strength. “The prisoner” and those “appointed to die” are probably the captives taken by the invaders, whose only hope now is divine intervention.
  12. Salmos 79:12This is an imprecation using an image of measure: the bosom, the fold of a garment used as a pocket, was where grain or objects were carried. To “render into their bosom” means paying back the harm received multiplied, fully and visibly.
  13. Salmos 79:13The psalm ends like many Hebrew laments: despite the pain described, it closes with a vow of continual praise, using the image of the shepherd and the flock to describe the relationship between God and the people.

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