Psalms 79:7
in Psalms 79for they have devoured Jacob and devastated his homeland.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
For they have devoured Jacob, And laid waste his habitation.
KJV
For they have devoured Jacob, and laid waste his dwelling place.
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This verse in Psalms 79
Commentary
8 notes on this verseFor they have devoured Jacob,.... The posterity of Jacob, the people of the Jews, typical of the church of God, made havoc of by the Romish antichrist: and laid waste his dwelling place; both Jerusalem and the temple, which was done both by the Chaldeans and the Romans, and also in the times of Antiochus; see the Apocrypha: "38 Insomuch that the inhabitants of Jerusalem fled because of them: whereupon the city was made an habitation of strangers, and became strange to those that were born in her; and her own children left her.
This site's exposition
Will You be angry forever
on Psalms 79:5-7
Three questions press for an end without naming a date, and the last asks whether God's jealousy will burn like fire. The prayer of verse 6 turns outward, and Gill reads its target as named by conduct, the nations that never call on His name. They devoured Jacob and devastated his homeland.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
Lastly, there follows, "For they have eaten up Jacob, and his place they have made desolate" [Psalm 79:7]....How we should view "the place" of Jacob, must be understood. For rather the place of Jacob may be supposed to be that city, wherein was also the Temple, whither-unto the whole of that nation for the purpose of sacrifice and worship, and to celebrate the Passover, the Lord had commanded to assemble. For if the assemblies of Christians, letted and suppressed by persecutors, has been what the Prophet would have to be understood, it would seem that he should have said, places made desolate, not place. Still we may take the singular number as put for the plural number; as dress for clothes, soldiery for soldiers, cattle for beasts: for many words are usually spoken in this manner, and not only in the mouths of vulgar speakers, but even in the eloquence of the most approved authorities. Nor to divine Scripture herself is this form of speech foreign. For even she has put frog for frogs, locust for locusts, and countless expressions of the like kind. But that which has been said, "They have eaten up Jacob," the same is well understood, in that many men into their own evil-minded body, that is, into their own society, they have constrained to pass.
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
) and makes use of them in his prayer, Jer. x. Some think it was penned long before by the spirit of prophecy, prepared for the use of the church in that cloudy and dark day. Others think that it was penned then by the spirit of prayer, either by a prophet named Asaph or by some other prophet for the sons of Asaph.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
(3.) Their condemnation: " Pour out thy wrath upon them; do not only restrain them from doing further mischief, but reckon with them for the mischief they have done." II. They pray for the pardon of sin, which they own to be the procuring cause of all their calamities. How unrighteous soever men were, God was righteous in permitting them to do what they did.
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
"For they have devoured Jacob." The oppressor would quite eat up the saints if he could. If these lions do not swallow us, it is because the Lord has sent his angel and shut the lions' mouths. "And laid waste his dwelling place, " or his pasture. The invader left no food for man or beast, but devoured all as the locust. The tender mercies of the wicked are cruel.
Laid waste his dwelling-place - The Chaldee understands this of the temple. This, by way of eminence, was Jacob’s place. I have already remarked that these two verses are almost similar to Jer 10:25, which has led many to believe that Jeremiah was the author of this Psalm.
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
For they have devoured Jacob - literally, “They have eaten.” That is, they have eaten up what the land produced. And laid waste his dwelling-place - His home; his habitation; the residence of Jacob, or of the people of Israel.
The words behind it
7 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| כִּ֭י | ki | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| אָכַ֣ל | ʾakhal | it has consumed | H398 → | 810 times |
| אֶֽת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| יַעֲקֹ֑ב | yaako | Jacob | H3290 → | 350 times |
| וְֽאֶת־ | veet | and <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| נָוֵ֥הוּ | navehu | habitation its | H5116 → | |
| הֵשַֽׁמּוּ׃ | heshamu | they have devastated | H8074 → | 86 times |
כִּ֭יfor
kiH3588 →4482 times
אָכַ֣לit has consumed
ʾakhalH398 →810 times
אֶֽת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
יַעֲקֹ֑בJacob
yaakoH3290 →350 times
וְֽאֶת־and <obj.>
veetH853 →10935 times
נָוֵ֥הוּhabitation its
navehuH5116 →
הֵשַֽׁמּוּ׃they have devastated
heshamuH8074 →86 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Zechariah 1:15but I am fiercely angry with the nations that are at ease. For I was a little angry, but they have added to the calamity.’
it leads to
- Jeremiah 51:24
Before your very eyes I will repay Babylon and all the dwellers of Chaldea for all the evil they have done in Zion,” declares the LORD.
- Ezekiel 25:12–17
This is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Because Edom acted vengefully against the house of Judah, and in so doing incurred grievous guilt,
- Isaiah 54:8
In a surge of anger I hid My face from you for a moment, but with everlasting kindness I will have compassion on you,” says the LORD your Redeemer.
- Isaiah 47:6–9
I was angry with My people; I profaned My heritage, and I placed them under your control. You showed them no mercy; even on the elderly you laid a most heavy yoke.
- Jeremiah 51:24
Through
Jeremiah 50:7All who found them devoured them, and their enemies said, ‘We are not guilty, for they have sinned against the LORD, their true pasture, the LORD, the hope of their fathers.’
it leads to
- Jeremiah 2:3
Israel was holy to the LORD, the firstfruits of His harvest. All who devoured her found themselves guilty; disaster came upon them,’” declares the LORD.
- Jeremiah 14:8
O Hope of Israel, its Savior in times of distress, why are You like a stranger in the land, like a traveler who stays but a night?
- Jeremiah 31:23
This is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: “When I restore them from captivity, they will once again speak this word in the land of Judah and in its cities:…
- Zechariah 11:5
whose buyers slaughter them without remorse. Those who sell them say, ‘Blessed be the LORD, for I am rich!’ Even their own shepherds have no compassion on them.
- Jeremiah 2:3
About Psalms
Who and where
1 name in this verse with a page on the site.
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Augustine of Hippo, Exposition on Psalm 79; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, Vol. 4; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.