Psalms 79:7 Explained in Context

Read It With

• Psalms 79:1–13

Read Psalms 79:7 with 79:1–13. Read alone, “For they have devoured Jacob, and laid waste his dwelling place” could lose the communal voice, the parallel line or movement it develops, and the psalm's outcome. The complete movement establishes: Within Psalms 79:1–13, the communal voice carries the movement “Jerusalem ruined and the community pleading” as part of “Jerusalem ruined and the community pleading.” Its communal-lament-imprecation form and poetic parallelism hold the petitions, images, memories, or praise together before any single line is applied.

Why This Verse Appears Here

Psalms 79:1–13 opens Psalm 79 with “O God, the heathen are come into thine inheritance; thy holy temple have they defiled; they have laid…” and establishes the communal voice and “Jerusalem ruined and the community pleading” movement before later lines develop or answer it. Within that relationship, Psalm 79:7 supplies a reason or consequence through “For they have devoured Jacob, and laid waste his dwelling place” and must be read with the claim it supports.