Return, we beseech thee, O God of hosts: look down from heaven, and behold, and visit this vine;
Parallel translations
- WEB Turn again, we beg you, God of Armies. Look down from heaven, and see, and visit this vine,
- BSB Return, O God of Hosts, we pray! Look down from heaven and see! Attend to this vine—
- NKJV Return, we beseech You, O God of hosts; Look down from heaven and see, And visit this vine
- NASB ¶God of armies, do turn back; Look down from heaven and see, and take care of this vine,
- NLT Come back, we beg you, O God of Heaven’s Armies. Look down from heaven and see our plight. Take care of this grapevine
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 psalmist begs the God of Armies to return, look down from heaven, and tend to His vine. It is a direct plea for God's renewed attention and care.
Overview
Here the lament turns to earnest petition, calling on God to turn, see, and visit the suffering nation. To ask God to look down is to plead for His active intervention, not mere observation. The appeal rests on God's prior ownership of the vine, confident that the Planter will not abandon His own planting.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Isa 63:15Look down from heaven, and behold from the habitation of thy holiness and of thy glory: where is thy zeal and thy strength, the sounding of thy bowels and of thy mercies toward me? are they restrained?
- Ps 90:13Return, O LORD, how long? and let it repent thee concerning thy servants.
- Dan 9:16–19O LORD, according to all thy righteousness, I beseech thee, let thine anger and thy fury be turned away from thy city Jerusalem, thy holy mountain: because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and thy people are become a reproach to all that are about us.
- Isa 63:17O LORD, why hast thou made us to err from thy ways, and hardened our heart from thy fear? Return for thy servants’ sake, the tribes of thine inheritance.
- Mal 3:7Even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from mine ordinances, and have not kept them. Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the LORD of hosts. But ye said, Wherein shall we return?
- Acts 15:16After this I will return, and will build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down; and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up:
- Ps 7:7So shall the congregation of the people compass thee about: for their sakes therefore return thou on high.
- Joel 2:14Who knoweth if he will return and repent, and leave a blessing behind him; even a meat offering and a drink offering unto the LORD your God?
- Ps 33:13The LORD looketh from heaven; he beholdeth all the sons of men.
- Lam 3:50Till the LORD look down, and behold from heaven.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 80:14 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.