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Gustave Doré’s engraving of David standing crowned and bowed as he mourns Absalom

Psalm 79

What St Athanasius said to pray when Christians are killed and churches destroyed, in a letter from the 300s.

  • 13Verses
  • 1Situation

St Athanasius, Letter to Marcellinus

When to pray it

In the 300s, St Athanasius of Alexandria wrote a letter to his friend Marcellinus about praying the Psalms. In it he matched psalms to what people go through. This is what he gave this one for.

Christians are being killed and their churches destroyed, and it's tearing at you.

When enemies break in, defile God's house, kill His saints and leave their bodies to the birds, don't let their cruelty cow you. Suffer with those who suffer, and plead with God in the words of Psalm 79.

Letter to Marcellinus

Psalm 79:9

Where it turns

Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of Your name; deliver us and atone for our sins, for the sake of Your name.

13 verses, Berean Standard Bible

The whole psalm

Psalm 79

Its own heading A Psalm of Asaph.

  1. 1The nations, O God, have invaded Your inheritance; they have defiled Your holy temple and reduced Jerusalem to rubble.
  2. 2They have given the corpses of Your servants as food to the birds of the air, the flesh of Your saints to the beasts of the earth.
  3. 3They have poured out their blood like water all around Jerusalem, and there is no one to bury the dead.
  4. 4We have become a reproach to our neighbors, a scorn and derision to those around us.
  5. 5How long, O LORD? Will You be angry forever? Will Your jealousy burn like fire?
  6. 6Pour out Your wrath on the nations that do not acknowledge You, on the kingdoms that refuse to call on Your name,
  7. 7for they have devoured Jacob and devastated his homeland.
  8. 8Do not hold past sins against us; let Your compassion come quickly, for we are brought low.
  9. 9Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of Your name; deliver us and atone for our sins, for the sake of Your name.
  10. 10Why should the nations ask, “Where is their God?” Before our eyes, make known among the nations Your vengeance for the bloodshed of Your servants.
  11. 11May the groans of the captives reach You; by the strength of Your arm preserve those condemned to death.
  12. 12Pay back into the laps of our neighbors sevenfold the reproach they hurled at You, O Lord.
  13. 13Then we Your people, the sheep of Your pasture, will thank You forever; from generation to generation we will declare Your praise.

Psalm 79 is 78 in the Greek numbering Athanasius used, which Orthodox Bibles and some older Catholic ones still follow.

When the world seems upside down

Close to this

All 53 situations, in one guide.

Your turn

Which Psalm are you living right now?

A few honest taps about your life right now, and the psalm an early Church Father gave for exactly that.

  • 3 min
  • 7 questions
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Bible text: Berean Standard Bible, public domain. Athanasius’s advice is paraphrased from his Greek.