Deus, venerunt gentes.
The church in time of persecution prayeth for relief. It seems to belong
to the time of the Machabees.
78:1. A psalm for Asaph. O God, the heathens are come into thy
inheritance, they have defiled thy holy temple: they have made Jerusalem
as a place to keep fruit.
78:2. They have given the dead bodies of thy servants to be meat for the
fowls of the air: the flesh of thy saints for the beasts of the earth.
78:3. They have poured out their blood as water, round about Jerusalem
and there was none to bury them.
78:4. We are become a reproach to our neighbours: a scorn and derision
to them that are round about us.
78:5. How long, O Lord, wilt thou be angry for ever: shall thy zeal be
kindled like a fire?
78:6. Pour out thy wrath upon the nations that have not known thee: and
upon the kingdoms that have not called upon thy name.
78:7. Because they have devoured Jacob; and have laid waste his place.
78:8. Remember not our former iniquities: let thy mercies speedily
prevent us, for we are become exceeding poor.
78:9. Help us, O God, our saviour: and for the glory of thy name, O
Lord, deliver us: and forgive us our sins for thy name's sake:
78:10. Lest they should say among the Gentiles: Where is their God? And
let him be made known among the nations before our eyes, By the
revenging the blood of thy servants, which hath been shed:
78:11. Let the sighing of the prisoners come in before thee. According
to the greatness of thy arm, take possession of the children of them
that have been put to death.
78:12. And render to our neighbours sevenfold in their bosom: the
reproach wherewith they have reproached thee, O Lord.
78:13. But we thy people, and the sheep of thy pasture, will give thanks
to thee for ever. We will shew forth thy praise, unto generation and
generation.