For they have devoured Jacob, and destroyed his homeland.
Parallel translations
- KJV For they have devoured Jacob, and laid waste his dwelling place.
- BSB for they have devoured Jacob and devastated his homeland.
- NKJV For they have devoured Jacob, And laid waste his dwelling place.
- NASB For they have devoured Jacob And laid waste his settlement.
- NLT For they have devoured your people Israel, making the land a desolate wilderness.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The nations had devoured Jacob and laid waste his homeland. Their cruelty justified the appeal for God's justice.
Overview
The enemy 'devoured Jacob' and destroyed the land, the basis for the preceding plea. The psalmist grounds his prayer in the genuine wickedness inflicted on God's people. Such laments anticipate the final judgment when God will set all wrongs right and establish perfect justice.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- Jer 51:34–35“Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon has devoured me. He has crushed me. He has made me an empty vessel. He has, like a monster, swallowed me up. He has filled his mouth with my delicacies. He has cast me out.
- Zech 1:15I am very angry with the nations that are at ease; for I was but a little displeased, but they added to the calamity.”
- Isa 64:10–11Your holy cities have become a wilderness. Zion has become a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation.
- Isa 24:1–12Behold, Yahweh makes the earth empty, makes it waste, turns it upside down, and scatters its inhabitants.
- Jer 50:7All who found them have devoured them; and their adversaries said, ‘We are not guilty, because they have sinned against Yahweh, the habitation of righteousness, even Yahweh, the hope of their fathers.’
- Ps 80:13The boar out of the wood ravages it. The wild animals of the field feed on it.
- 2 Chr 36:21to fulfill Yahweh’s word by Jeremiah’s mouth, until the land had enjoyed its Sabbaths. As long as it lay desolate, it kept Sabbath, to fulfill seventy years.
- Isa 9:12The Syrians in front, and the Philistines behind; and they will devour Israel with open mouth. For all this, his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.
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Christ at the center
The Psalms are Christ's own prayer book and a gallery of his portraits — the suffering one of Psalm 22, the risen Lord of Psalm 16, the priest-king of Psalm 110, the Son to whom the nations are given.
How Psalms 79:7 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.