Psalms 79:11-13

79:11 Listen to the painful cries of the prisoners! ¹ 

Use your great strength to set free those condemned to die! ² 

79:12 Pay back our neighbors in full! ³ 

May they be insulted the same way they insulted you, O Lord! ⁴ 

79:13 Then we, your people, the sheep of your pasture,

will continually thank you. ⁵ 

We will tell coming generations of your praiseworthy acts. ⁶ 

[79:11]  ¹ tn Heb “may the painful cry of the prisoner come before you.”

[79:11]  ² tn Heb “according to the greatness of your arm leave the sons of death.” God’s “arm” here symbolizes his strength to deliver. The verbal form הוֹתֵר (hoter) is a Hiphil imperative from יָתַר (yatar, “to remain; to be left over”). Here it must mean “to leave over; to preserve.” However, it is preferable to emend the form to הַתֵּר (hatter), a Hiphil imperative from נָתַר (natar, “be free”). The Hiphil form is used in Ps 105:20 of Pharaoh freeing Joseph from prison. The phrase “sons of death” (see also Ps 102:21) is idiomatic for those condemned to die.

[79:12]  ³ tn Heb “Return to our neighbors sevenfold into their lap.” The number seven is used rhetorically to express the thorough nature of the action. For other rhetorical/figurative uses of the Hebrew phrase שִׁבְעָתַיִם (shiv’atayim, “seven times”) see Gen 4:15, 24; Ps 12:6; Prov 6:31; Isa 30:26.

[79:12]  ⁴ tn Heb “their reproach with which they reproached you, O Lord.”

[79:13]  ⁵ tn Or (hyperbolically) “will thank you forever.”

[79:13]  ⁶ tn Heb “to a generation and a generation we will report your praise.” Here “praise” stands by metonymy for the mighty acts that prompt worship. Cf. Ps 9:14.