Psa 79:8-13 | Clarke | STEP | Verse 8 Remember not against us former iniquities - Visit us not for the sins of our forefathers. Speedily prevent us - Let them go before us, and turn us out of the path of destruction; for there is no help for us but in thee. We are brought very low - Literally, "We are greatly thinned." Few of us remain.

Psalms 79:8-13

Verse 8

Remember not against us former iniquities - Visit us not for the sins of our forefathers.

Speedily prevent us - Let them go before us, and turn us out of the path of destruction; for there is no help for us but in thee.

We are brought very low - Literally, "We are greatly thinned." Few of us remain. Verse 9

Purge away our sins - כפר capper, be propitiated, or receive an atonement (על חטאתינו al chattotheynu) on account of our sins. Verse 10

Where is their God? - Show where thou art by rising up for our redemption, and the infliction of deserved punishment upon our enemies. Verse 11

The sighing of the prisoner - The poor captive Israelites in Babylon, who sigh and cry because of their bondage.

Those that are appointed to die - בני תמותה beney themuthah, "sons of death." Either those who were condemned to death because of their crimes, or condemned to be destroyed by their oppressors. Both these senses apply to the Israelites: they were sons of death, i.e., worthy of death because of their sins against God; they were condemned to death or utter destruction, by their Babylonish enemies. Verse 12

Sevenfold into their bosom - That is, Let them get in this world what they deserve for the cruelties they have inflicted on us. Let them suffer in captivity, who now have us in bondage. Probably this is a prediction. Verse 13

We thy people - Whom thou hast chosen from among all the people of the earth.

And sheep of thy pasture - Of whom thou thyself art the Shepherd. Let us not be destroyed by those who are thy enemies; and we, in all our generations, will give thanks unto thee for ever.