Bible Strands
Psalms 79:1
A Psalm of Asaph. The nations, O God, have invaded Your inheritance; they have defiled Your holy temple and reduced Jerusalem to rubble.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Asaph addresses God regarding the moment foreign armies breached Jerusalem and destroyed the temple.
The words — The Hebrew בָּ֤אוּ (Ba.'u) translates literally to "they have come" or invaded, while טִ֭מְּאוּ (Ti.me.'u) means "they have made unclean" or defiled.
The thread — The desecration of the sanctuary and invasion by nations parallels the accounts in 2 Chronicles 36:19 and Lamentations 1:10, while echoing the communal lament structure of Psalms 74:1.
Why it lands — The text demands acknowledgment of divine judgment executed through foreign armies and the urgent plea for God to address the violation of His consecrated space.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
A Psalm of Asaph. O God, the heathen are come into thine inheritance; thy holy temple have they defiled; they have laid Jerusalem on heaps.
Cross-references
- 2 Chronicles 36:19 Then the Chaldeans set fire to the house of God and broke down the wall of Jerusalem. They burned down all the palaces and destroyed every article of value.
- Lamentations 1:10 The adversary has seized all her treasures. For she has seen the nations enter her sanctuary—those You had forbidden to enter Your assembly.
- Psalms 74:1 A Maskil of Asaph. Why have You rejected us forever, O God? Why does Your anger smolder against the sheep of Your pasture?
- Micah 3:12 Therefore, because of you, Zion will be plowed like a field, Jerusalem will become a heap of rubble, and the temple mount a wooded ridge.
- Psalms 74:7 They have burned Your sanctuary to the ground; they have defiled the dwelling place of Your Name.
- Jeremiah 26:18 “Micah the Moreshite prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah and told all the people of Judah that this is what the LORD of Hosts says: ‘Zion will be plowed like a field, Jerusalem will become a heap of rubble, and the temple mount a wooded ridge.’
- 2 Kings 21:12 this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘Behold, I am bringing such calamity upon Jerusalem and Judah that the news will reverberate in the ears of all who hear it.
- 2 Kings 24:13 As the LORD had declared, Nebuchadnezzar also carried off all the treasures from the house of the LORD and the royal palace, and he cut into pieces all the gold articles that Solomon king of Israel had made in the temple of the LORD.
- 2 Kings 25:4 Then the city was breached; and though the Chaldeans had surrounded the city, all the men of war fled by night by way of the gate between the two walls near the king’s garden. They headed toward the Arabah,
- 2 Chronicles 36:3 And the king of Egypt dethroned him in Jerusalem and imposed on Judah a levy of a hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold.