Wherefore should the heathen say, Where _is_ their God? let him be known among the heathen in our sight, _by_ the revenging of the blood of thy servants _which is_ shed. Let the sighing of the prisoner come before thee; according to the greatness of thy power preserve thou those that are appointed to die: And render unto our neighbours seven-fold into their bosom their reproach, wherewith they have reproached thee, O LORD. So we thy people, and sheep of thy pasture, will give thee thanks for ever; we will shew forth thy praise to all generations. This Psalm is a prayer to God against that future national destruction, which was wrought by the Chaldeans and Antiochus Epiphanes; it is of the same subject-matter as Psalm lxxiv, and therefore it may be set forth by the explication there given. Isaiah has the same prayer against future devastations, chap. 63. PSALM LXXX. _The psalmist in his prayer complaineth of the miseries of the church.—God’s former favours are turned into judgments.—He prayeth for deliverance._ To the chief Musician upon Shoshannim-Eduth, A Psalm of Asaph. Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, thou that leadest Joseph like a flock; thou that dwellest _between_ the cherubims, shine forth. Before Ephraim, and Benjamin, and Manasseh, stir up thy strength, and come _and_ save us. Turn us again, O God, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved. O LORD God of hosts, how long wilt thou be angry against the prayer of thy people? Thou feedest them with the bread of tears; and givest them tears to drink in great measure. Thou makest us a strife unto our neighbours; and our enemies laugh among themselves. Turn us again, O God of hosts, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved. Thou hast brought a vine out of Egypt; thou hast cast out the heathen, and planted it. Thou preparedst _room_ before it, and didst cause it to take deep root, and it filled the land. The hills were covered with the shadow of it, and the boughs thereof _were like_ the goodly cedars. She sent out her boughs unto the sea, and her branches unto the river. Why hast thou _then_ broken down her hedges, so that all they which pass by the way do pluck her? The boar out of the wood doth waste it, and the wild beast of the field doth devour it. Return, we beseech thee, O God of hosts, look down from heaven, and behold, and visit this vine; And the vineyard which thy right hand hath planted, and the branch _that_ thou madest strong for thyself. _It is_ burned with fire; _it is_ cut down: they perish at the rebuke of thy countenance. Let thy hand be upon the man of thy right hand, upon the son of man _whom_ thou madest strong for thyself. So will not we go back from thee: quicken us, and we will call upon thy name. Turn us again, O LORD God of hosts; cause thy face to shine, and we shall be saved.