for they have devoured Jacob and devastated his homeland.
Parallel translations
- WEB For they have devoured Jacob, and destroyed his homeland.
- KJV For they have devoured Jacob, and laid waste his dwelling place.
- 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 king of Babylon has devoured me; he has crushed me. He has set me aside like an empty vessel; he has swallowed me like a monster; he filled his belly with my delicacies and vomited me out.
- Zech 1:15but I am fiercely angry with the nations that are at ease. For I was a little angry, but they have added to the calamity.’
- Isa 64:10–11Your holy cities have become a wilderness. Zion has become a wasteland and Jerusalem a desolation.
- Isa 24:1–12Behold, the LORD lays waste the earth and leaves it in ruins. He will twist its surface and scatter its inhabitants—
- Jer 50:7All who found them devoured them, and their enemies said, ‘We are not guilty, for they have sinned against the LORD, their true pasture, the LORD, the hope of their fathers.’
- Ps 80:13The boar from the forest ravages it, and the creatures of the field feed upon it.
- 2 Chr 36:21So the land enjoyed its Sabbath rest all the days of the desolation, until seventy years were completed, in fulfillment of the word of the LORD through Jeremiah.
- Isa 9:12Aram from the east and Philistia from the west have devoured Israel with open mouths. Despite all this, His anger is not turned away; His hand is still upraised.
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
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.