Psalm of David 79 in Russian and Church Slavonic languages

Text of prayer Psalm 79

The prayer can be read both in Church Slavonic and in Russian. The first option is read in church, the second can be used at home.

In Church Slavonic

In Russian

We read the Psalter. Psalm 79

Conversation with Archpriest Alexy Ladygin about the Psalter.
– Dear brothers and sisters, we continue to study the Psalter, and today we will talk about the 79th Psalm. The 79th Psalm has the inscription: at the end, about those who have changed, a testimony to Asaph, Psalm 79. He says how we should propitiate the Lord Christ in our prayers, how we should turn to Him and how the Lord gives forgiveness to those who change in life through repentance. The psalm also testifies to the salvation of all mankind by the Lord Christ. “He who shepherds Israel, take heed: instruct him as the sheep of Joseph, who mounts the Cherubim, and appears.” The psalmist speaks these beautiful words, prophesying, Who shepherds Israel, Who preserves the entire human race. This, of course, is the Lord Christ Himself. It is no coincidence that He says: “I am the good shepherd,” that is, the Lord Himself shepherds people. Just as He once shepherded the people of Israel, leading them out of Egyptian captivity, so now the Lord Christ Himself is the good Shepherd, preserving His faithful flock so that it would not be plundered by wolves. “Teach Joseph as a sheep” - here it is said about the height of spiritual life, and Joseph himself is offered, and through him the entire Israeli family, that is, the Lord shepherds Israel and shows that Israel is the chosen people. We are talking about both the Old and New Testaments: when talking about the Old Testament, we are talking about the chosen people of Israel; when talking about the New Testament times, we are, of course, talking about all Christians.

“Sit on the Cherubim, appear.” The Lord Himself spoke with Israel in ancient times, gave His commands to the Israeli people, whom He Himself commanded to build a tabernacle - the Ark of the Covenant, to install two cherubim, and between the cherubim the voice of God was heard (when Moses entered the tabernacle of meeting to speak with the Lord, he heard a voice speaking to him from the mercy seat, which was above the ark of the testimony between the two cherubim, and he spoke to him (Num. 7:89)). The Lord said what the people of Israel should do, how they should get out of this or that situation, whether they should go to war or not, how to enslave the pagan people, whom to leave (not to leave), what boundaries of the land to occupy, and so on. The Lord directly led the Israeli people, and His voice was heard from above above the cherubim that were installed in the tabernacle (see: Ex. 25, 17-22).

“Rise up Your power before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh, and come to save us.” Through the names of several tribes, through these names the entire people of Israel are indicated, who call on the Lord to come and raise up His power to save this people. Of course, here is the psalmist’s deep prayer for Christ, who must come and save the whole people from the work of the enemy, from the power of the devil, from the destruction that he prepared both for the chosen people and for others. After all, His appearance became saving not only for the chosen people, but also for all who accepted Christianity.

“God, turn us, and make Your face shine, and we will be saved” - the psalmist prophesies that the Lord will turn His Face, that is, would not turn away from the people, because if He turns away, there will be great trouble. But the Lord turned away from the Israeli people, which is why the Babylonian captivity took place, and they pray and ask that the Lord not turn away His Face, otherwise there will be the destruction of the entire people. Therefore, such a special prayer is that the Lord will be with the people - then the enemy will not be able to do anything, he will retreat from Jerusalem, the chosen people and the Promised Land.

We Christians also pray that the Lord does not turn His Face away from us: victory and success in the spiritual struggle are possible only when the Lord is with us. Then the enemy of the human race will be defeated, will not tempt us, and we will be able to completely calmly carry out our earthly service, which will lead us to eternity. We said that the psalmist prophesies here about the Babylonian captivity - the most terrible thing that visited the Israeli people, who before that lived in prosperity, enjoyed life and the fruits that the Promised Land gave - they were a very rich people. And when the Lord turned away His Face, Nebuchadnezzar captured Israel, Judea, took the people into captivity, and they lost not only their wealth, but most importantly, they lost the temple, Jerusalem and their homeland, the saint that the Lord gave them.

And then the psalmist draws our attention to how we should pray to the Lord: “Lord God of hosts, how long are you angry at the prayer of your servant?” The Lord does not accept prayer since the people have sinned. The Lord gave certain commandments, and the most important thing for all the people was to remain faithful to their God. Unfortunately, he did not remain faithful: there was a constant installation of pagan idols, worshiping them, making sacrifices to them - under Solomon, we know, such altars appeared. After all, there were women concubines from the pagan environment, they brought the worship of pagan gods to the chosen people, and in the place where the temple stood, on the heights, pagan statues, pagan altars were installed, and sacrifices were made to them there.

Over time, the pagan cult so captured the Jewish and Israeli people as a whole that they very often departed from true worship of God, which was an abomination to the Lord, and was the most terrible sin that the Israeli people committed. For this he received the strongest punishment: everything else was private, but for apostasy, for pagan worship, the people suffered. For this, the Lord allowed the destruction of the temple, the captivity of the Jews, and their further severe suffering.

“Feed us with the bread of tears, and give us tears in measure.” What condition are they in now? They are in excess of sorrows, and sorrows do not give them peace even when they are in a good mood, in consolation. And we are comforted when we eat food, we strengthen our body: a well-fed person is always in a good mood, through this he can come to a calm state. But even at this moment, when a person is consoled, he is still in tears. Why? Strong misfortune, strong sorrow torments the heart, the soul... So the psalmist says: feed us with bread of tears, and give us tears in moderation - that is: “And when we eat bread, we taste it with tears, and when we drink wine, it too dissolves with our tears - this is the kind of sorrow we are in, and You, Lord, still don’t hear us.”

“You have made us a quarrel with our neighbors, and have destroyed our imitators” - they say about them, they laugh at them to such an extent that there are some unpleasant moments that offend them, because they say: “Where is your greatness? Where is your God who was supposed to protect you? Where is your God, who brought you out of Israel?”

And then again the psalmist David repeats: “O Lord God of hosts, turn us and make Your face shine, and we will be saved.” That is: “Lord, turn Your attention to us, turn Your Face to us, and then the enemy will be afraid: he will see You behind us.” In war, when a commander appeared in his army, they saw him, the spirit of the soldiers was encouraged, and the enemies were embarrassed, seeing that the commander was victorious, had many merits, and was brave. This courage was passed on to all the soldiers; they boldly went into battle and always defeated the enemy. The enemy, seeing a strong commander, became embarrassed, many even fled. Therefore, if the Lord turns His Face to His people, it means that the people are encouraged in spirit, it means that the enemy is defeated, everything returns to its place. That is, “we will only be saved when You Yourself turn Your Face on us.”

“Thou hast brought grapes out of Egypt: thou hast driven out tongues, and thou hast planted them.” Here the people of Israel are called grapes - the Lord brought them as a precious seed, which he then planted in the Promised Land. “You drove out the tongues” - drove out the pagan peoples who had inhabited it before, planted it, that is, established it, and gave them this land for use by the Lord Himself.

“You made a way before him, and you planted his roots, and filled the land” - the Lord made a way before the Israeli people: we have already said that during the day there was a cloud, and at night the Lord illuminated the path for the Israeli people, and the people did not need anything, because the Lord Himself showed him the way. He Himself planted it in this land, and they filled (filled) this land with themselves.

“The mountains were covered with his shadow, and his branches were cedars of God.” Cedars are the name of the princes who ruled this people, and not only this people, but even ruled the pagan people: they were captured, and they had to pay a certain tribute, and the Israelite people were in charge over them.

“Stretch out its rods to the sea, and even to the rivers of its branches” - this is such a huge possession that the Lord gave to the people: “You yourself, Lord, gave us, and even to the sea we have our power, and even to the rivers of Egypt.” Large possessions included the Promised Land; it was divided among the 12 tribes of the Israeli people.

“Thou hast cast down his stronghold, and embrace all that pass by?” Again the psalmist says amazingly: “Lord, why did you bring down its stronghold, that is, remove the fence?” Of course, if the fence is removed from the vineyard, then everyone passing by (as the psalmist further talks about) harms this vineyard, breaks it off, throws it to the ground. Nebuchadnezzar came and caused evil to this people, since the Lord did not preserve them. And it’s the same with every Christian: if the Lord retreats from us, turns away His Face, then we will be available to the enemy of the human race, and to any enemy who takes pleasure in causing evil. If the Lord removes His stronghold from us, then we are subject to this evil.

“God of hosts, turn now, and look down from heaven and see, and visit these vineyards: and plant what Thy right hand has planted.” Here the psalmist turns to God and says: “Lord, we are Your grapes, we are Your heritage, look at us, see our sorrows, sufferings and visit these grapes, come to us. When You are with us, then we gain strength. When You are with us, then we can resist the enemy of the human race.” Indeed, when the Lord was with the Israeli people, no one could harm them, and whoever came against them very often left with nothing: if the will of God was, if the kings lived in truth, in holiness and did not worship pagan gods, then the Lord He himself said (they asked through the prophets and the prophets said): “Go and defeat the enemy.” And victory has always been for the people. And if the Lord turned His face away from this people, then they were persecuted more than once, and more than once they lost military clashes, and the Lord sent various sorrows and suffering to this people.

And then the psalmist continues very well: “And against the son of man, whom you have strengthened for yourself. Burnt by fire and dug up: by the rebuke of Thy face they will perish.” The Lord Himself calls Himself the Son of Man. Here it is said that Christ will come quickly, who will become the Deliverer for all mankind from the curse of the sin of death. There is also a prophecy here that Christ will come to this earth and preserve all the people as the property of God. Here the psalmist David wants to pity the Lord.

At the beginning we talked about what we should pay attention to when we pray and ask God: that we are God’s property, God’s people. Therefore, we ask that the Lord protect us from all evil, from the actions of the enemy of the human race. The psalmist David suggests: “Look, Lord, we are Your heritage, we are Your people. What happened? Burnt by fire and dug up...” He prophesies what will happen to Jerusalem: Nebuchadnezzar not only burned Jerusalem, but also dug it up (as evidenced by the 4th Book of Kings). Many died because the Lord turned away from this people.

“Let Thy hand be upon the man of Thy right hand, and upon the son of man whom Thou hast strengthened unto Thyself.” The people here are called the hand. And the right hand of God is our Lord Jesus Christ Himself: He came, He saved all humanity from sin. The Lord sends His Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life. And the right hand of God saves us. The right hand of the Heavenly Father is our Lord Jesus Christ Himself.

“And we will not depart from You: quicken us, and we will call on Your name.” Of course, we will never depart from You if You revive us, and we will call on Your name: the Lord gives life, the opportunity to remain in eternity through His Only Begotten Son, and everyone who eats the Body and Blood of Christ the Savior joins eternity. “He who eats My Flesh and drinks My Blood abides in Me, and I in him; I will also raise him up at the last day,” says the Lord. Therefore, we will not depart from You, and You will revive us, and we will call on Your name.

“O Lord God of hosts, turn us and make Your face shine, and we will be saved.” Here, for the third time, the psalmist repeats the phrase so that the Lord would not turn away His Face, that is, He would come, enlighten, teach the people, and then we would be saved. Who will save us? Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself will save us, Who came to this earth and gave salvation to the entire human race.

This is such an amazing psalm that gives us a lot. And we, in turn, must remember these wonderful words, this prayer of the psalmist and at the same time the prophecy about the terrible times that the chosen people experienced during the Babylonian capture and further captivity. All of humanity was in captivity by the enemy of the human race (the devil), who still does a lot of dirty tricks on us today. And we would have been struck very terribly in this life if the Lord had not saved us with His right hand, and with His hand would not have turned away from us the actions of the enemy of the human race.

Undoubtedly, it says here exactly why the Lord turns away from his people - for their apostasy. We must hold our faith very firmly. And when we do not have enough strength, and we still commit a sin, we must change, repent, ask God for forgiveness for what we have done wrong.

How to contact God? To say that we are God’s property, we are God’s grapes, we are the people that the Lord Himself chose, which are called Christians. It is no coincidence that the faith and righteousness of Joseph and the other people to whom the Lord promised the Promised Land is offered here. But, unfortunately, idolatry led to the punishment of this people.

Here is such a deep prayer with repeated moments that aggravate the request of the psalmist David: Lord God of hosts, turn us, and make your face shine, and we will be saved - these are very powerful words, because without God’s help, without God’s ability to change us, we cannot do anything. He can change us, He can protect us from falling, and then we will succeed in the work of salvation. And without Him, a person remains naked, accessible to the actions of both the external enemy and the enemy of the human race: anyone can do us harm, and the enemy of the human race, who wants evil for man and does not want our salvation, too.

I sincerely thank you, dear brothers and sisters, for studying the Psalms together. Until next time.

Recorded by Nina Kirsanova

Interpretation

• Verse 1. Asaph talks about himself. Events take place at a time when the country is completely destroyed and nothing can restore it.
• Poems 2.3. There is a traditional appeal to the Lord. The author carefully describes his image. Then he goes on to list the neighboring kingdoms - Ephraim, Benjamin, Manasseh. These states were important at the time of the events described.
• Verses 4-8. The author does not give up hope of restoring the city and again turns to the Lord in prayer. This clearly states why the Israelites were punished by God. All because they did not pray to Him and lost His mercy. And let the enemies mock the Jews, the Lord will save them.
• Verses 9-12. In verse, the author describes the Kingdom of Judah to the banks of the Euphrates. Like the vine, Israel lived and prospered until the enemy invaded. The kingdom grew stronger and stronger.
• Verses 13-15. In vivid comparisons, the author presents the enemies as beasts, the vine (Israel), although powerful, is so defenseless if the roots are devoured by a wild animal.
• Verses 16-17. The prayer to the Lord continues. The author reports that the lands and people are withering away under the yoke of punishment. Very soon, not only the land of Jerusalem will perish, but also its people.
• Verses 18-20. The author ultimately praises the Lord, pleading with him to bring the Jews back under his wing. People swear that they will no longer deviate from the Almighty, and prayer will be eternal until the end of time.

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In the Mastery of the Psalter there is

very powerful methods,

which give a quick and very serious effect.

One of these methods is working with

79 Psalm.

This psalm is of great help, even when

other methods no longer help.

Among the masters involved

Mastery of the Psalter

this psalm is called

"Psalm of Salvation".

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someone will get sick or find themselves in a difficult or serious situation

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sees hundreds of exits and a thousand paths for help.”

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light a candle and read

9 times "Our Father"

after that they read

Psalm 79 also 9 times ,

then again

9 times "Our Father"

after which they ask:

“O Lord, Holy and Mighty, From the Holy Throne of Your Glory, look mercifully and help (name what help is needed) for the Glory of Your Ineffable Name. Amen."

You will be very surprised when help comes and sometimes

in such a way that you could not expect it, and sometimes in such ways,

where they couldn’t wait for her.

Such is the power of this wonderful psalm.

PSALM 79

Shepherd of Israel! listen; leading Joseph like sheep, sitting on Cherubim, reveal Yourself. Arise Your power before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh, and come to save us. God! restore us; May Your face shine and we will be saved! Lord, God of strength! How long will you be angry at the prayers of your people? You have fed them with the bread of tears, and you have given them tears to drink in great measure; you have made us a quarrel with our neighbors, and our enemies mock us. God of strength! restore us; May Your face shine and we will be saved! You brought the vine from Egypt, drove out the nations and planted it; He cleared a place for it, and established its roots, and it filled the earth. The mountains were covered with its shadow, and its branches were like the cedars of God; she sent out her branches to the sea and her branches to the river. Why have You destroyed its fences, so that all who pass along the way tear it down? The boar of the forest blows it up, and the beast of the field devours it. God of strength! turn, look down from heaven, and behold, and visit these grapes; guard what Thy right hand has planted, and the branches which Thou hast strengthened for Thyself. He is burned by fire, cut off; They will perish from the rebuke of Your face. May Thy hand be upon the man of Thy right hand, upon the son of man whom Thou hast strengthened for Thyself, and we will not depart from Thee; quicken us, and we will call upon your name. Lord, God of strength! restore us; May Your face shine and we will be saved!

For execution. About those who have to change. Testimony of Asaph. Psalm.

1 Shepherd of Israel, hearken, leading like Joseph's sheep, sitting on Cherubim, appear! 2 Before Ephraim, and Benjamin, and Manasseh, raise up Your power and come to save us. 3 God, turn us and show us the light of Your face, and we will be saved. 4 Lord God of hosts, as long as you are angry at the prayer of your servants, 5 will you feed us with the bread of tears and water us with tears according to measure? 6 You have made us a reproach to our neighbors, and our enemies mocked us. 7 O Lord God of hosts, turn us and show us the light of Your face, and we will be saved. 8 You brought the vine out of Egypt, drove out the nations and planted it, 9 you made a way before it and planted its roots, and it filled the earth. 10 Her shadow covered the mountains, and her shoots entwined the cedars of God; 11 she stretched out her branches to the sea, and her branches to the river. 12 Why have you destroyed its fence, and all who pass by tear it down? 13 A boar from the oak forest damaged it, and a lone wild beast devoured it. 14 O God of hosts, turn now, and look down from heaven, and behold, and visit this vine, 15 and restore it, which Thy right hand has planted, and the son of man, whom Thou hast strengthened for Thyself. 16 It is burned with fire and dug up... At the threat of Your face they will perish! 17 Let Your hand be on the man of Your right hand and on the son of man whom You have strengthened for Yourself, 18 and we will not depart from You: You will revive us, and we will call on Your name. 19 O Lord, God of hosts, turn us and show us the light of Your face, and we will be saved.

At the end, about those who have changed, a testimony to Asaph, a psalm

1 Thou who shepherd Israel, behold: teach thou as Joseph's sheep, thou mountedst upon the Cherubim, appearing 2 before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh, raising up thy power, and come to save us. 3 O God, turn us and make Your face shine, and we will be saved. 4 O Lord God of hosts, how long are you angry at the prayer of your servant? 5 Feed us with the bread of tears, and give us tears in measure. 6 Thou hast made us a quarrel with our neighbors, and thou hast made us our enemies, our imitators. 7 O Lord God of hosts, turn us and make Your face shine, and we will be saved. 8 You brought grapes out of Egypt, you drove out tongues, and you planted them. 9 Thou didst make a path before him, and planted his roots, and filled the earth. 10 The mountains are covered with its shadow, and its branches are cedars of God; 11 His rod extends as far as the sea, and even to the rivers of his branch. 12 Thou hast cast down his stronghold, and embraceth all that pass by? 13 Ozoba and the boar from the oak grove, and the solitary divy from the oak forest. 14 God of hosts, turn now, and look down from heaven and see, and visit these vineyards, 15 and complete what Thy right hand has planted, even on the son of man, which Thou hast strengthened for Thyself. 16 Burnt with fire and dug up, they will perish at the rebuke of Your face. 17 Let Thy hand be upon the man of Thy right hand, and upon the son of man whom Thou hast strengthened for Thyself, 18 And we will not depart from Thee; revive us, and we will call on Your name. 19 O Lord God of hosts, turn us and make Your face shine, and we will be saved.

Asaph calls on God for the sons of Jacob from Rachel: Joseph (Ephraim, Manasseh) and Benjamin. Ephraim and Manasseh were rejected by God since the time of the capture of Israel by Assyria (740 BC), scattered throughout the territory of Samaria, and Benjamin turned out to be closest in territory to Judea and therefore remained part of Judea. But this time Benjamin also suffered destruction and ruin from Babylon, which is why the psalmist mourned all the sons of Rachel and Jacob.

Why exactly the psalmist is worried about them is difficult to say; one would think that he is grieving for the ten-tribe kingdom of Israel, which fell at the hands of Assyria, but his songs talk about the fall of Jerusalem, the fall of Judah and Benjamin. Perhaps Asaph is referring to the fact that it was Joseph who led all the descendants of Jacob to Egypt and provided them with prosperity there, which is why he speaks of the people of God as those whom Joseph led.

79:4-7 God! restore us; May Your face shine and we will be saved! 5 O Lord, God of hosts! How long will you be angry at the prayers of your people? 6 You have fed them with the bread of tears, and made them drink with tears in abundance, 7 You have made us a quarrel with our neighbors, and our enemies mock [us]..

Asaph asks God to restore the entire tribe of Jacob and have mercy on the prayers of His people. According to the singer, Israel has already suffered enough to continue to test his patience in great need, and the main thing is that everyone passing by mocked them, reproaching them for the fact that the vaunted people of God turned out to be nothing and fell below the plinth. The Jews were most offended by this disdainful attitude towards them.

79:8-12 God of strength! restore us; May Your face shine and we will be saved! 9 You brought the vine out of Egypt, drove out the nations and planted it; 10 He cleared a place for it, and established its roots, and it filled the earth. 11 The mountains were covered with its shadow, and its branches were like the cedars of God; 12 She sent out her branches to the sea and her branches to the river

Next, Asaph poetically sings the story of the birth of Israel using the example of a vine. It was brought from Egypt (Israel was freed from the slavery of Egypt, in which it remained for 400 years, but it came to Egypt thanks to Joseph) to the land of Canaan, from which the nations were expelled and a place was cleared in the Promised Land for the sake of this vine. God strengthened its roots in this place and it grew from sea to river (Israel filled the promised land with itself and became a strong state ruled by priests and kings of God).

79:13,14 Why have You destroyed its fences, so that all who pass along the way tear it down? 14 The boar of the forest tears it down, and the beast of the field devours it.

Asaph does not understand why God first planted a vine and multiplied it, and now has destroyed its fence (removed His protection) and allows everyone passing by to so mercilessly pluck and trample the berries of His grapes? And the boar undermines it and the forest beast eats up the grapes: the pagan nations trample on the people of God with impunity, and this is unbearable for Asaph to see.

79:15,16 God of strength! turn, look down from heaven, and behold, and visit these grapes; 16 Guard what Your right hand has planted, and the branches which You have strengthened for Yourself.

Therefore, he asks God to protect His planting and preserve His vineyard, meaning Israel.

79:17,18 He is burned by fire, cut off; They will perish from the rebuke of Your face. 18 Let Your hand be upon the man of Your right hand, upon the son of man whom You have strengthened for Yourself,

Asaph asks God to restore Israel's favor to Himself and not to be angry with them anymore, so that the vine of God's people does not burn out at all - an expression of Your hand over the son of man whom You have strengthened for Yourself.

79:19,20 And we will not depart from You;
quicken us, and we will call upon your name. 20 O Lord, God of hosts!
restore us; May Your face shine and we will be saved! Asaph is confident that this time, if God revives Israel again and gives them another chance to become His faithful worshipers, then Israel will certainly not miss this chance and will begin to call on the name of Jehovah not only with their lips, but also with righteous deeds.