The Holy Bible – Knox Translation
The Book of Psalms
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Psalm 79
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1
(To the choir-master. Melody: The Lily of the Law. Of Asaph. A psalm.)
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Give audience, thou that art the guide of Israel, that leadest Joseph with a shepherd’s care. Thou who art enthroned above the Cherubim,
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reveal thyself to Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasses; exert thy sovereign strength, and come to our aid.
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O God, restore us to our own; smile upon us, and we shall find deliverance.
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Lord God of hosts, wilt thou always turn away in anger from thy servants’ prayer;
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daily wilt thou allot us, for food, for drink, only the full measure of our tears?
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Thou hast made us a coveted prize to our neighbours, enemies mock at our ill fortune!
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O God of hosts, restore us to our own; smile upon us, and we shall find deliverance.
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Long ago, thou didst bring a vine out of Egypt, rooting out the heathen to plant it here;
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thou didst prepare the way for its spreading, and it took root where thou hadst planted it, filled the whole land.
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How it overshadowed the hills, how the cedars, divinely tall, were overtopped by its branches!
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It spread out its tendrils to the sea, its shoots as far as the great river.
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Why is it that in these days thou hast levelled its wall, for every passer-by to rob it of its fruit?
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See how the wild boar ravages it, how it gives pasture to every beast that roams!
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God of hosts, relent, look down from heaven, look to this vine, that needs thy care.
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Revive the stock which thy own hand has planted, branches that by thee throve, and throve for thee.
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Death be in thy frown for the men that have cut it down and burned it.
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Thy chosen friends, a race by thee thriving, and thriving for thee, O let thy hand protect them still!
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Henceforth we will never forsake thee; grant us life, and we will live only to invoke thy name.
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Lord God of hosts, restore us to our own; smile upon us, and we shall find deliverance.