Psalm 80

Psalm 80 is the 80th psalm in the biblical Book of Psalms, one of the Psalms of Asaph. In the slightly different numbering system used in the Greek Septuagint and Latin Vulgate translations of the Bible, this psalm is Psalm 79. The Jerusalem Bible describes it as "a prayer for the restoration of Israel".

Text

Hebrew Bible version

The following is the Hebrew text of Psalm 80:

King James Version

The following is the full English text of the Psalm from the King James Bible.
: To the chief Musician upon ShoshannimEduth, A Psalm of Asaph.
# Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, thou that leadest Joseph like a flock; thou that dwellest between the cherubims, shine forth.
# Before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh stir up thy strength, and come and save us.
# Turn us again, O God, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved.
# O LORD God of hosts, how long wilt thou be angry against the prayer of thy people?
# Thou feedest them with the bread of tears; and givest them tears to drink in great measure.
# Thou makest us a strife unto our neighbours: and our enemies laugh among themselves.
# Turn us again, O God of hosts, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved.
# Thou hast brought a vine out of Egypt: thou hast cast out the heathen, and planted it.
# Thou preparedst room before it, and didst cause it to take deep root, and it filled the land.
# The hills were covered with the shadow of it, and the boughs thereof were like the goodly cedars.
# She sent out her boughs unto the sea, and her branches unto the river.
# Why hast thou then broken down her hedges, so that all they which pass by the way do pluck her?
# The boar out of the wood doth waste it, and the wild beast of the field doth devour it.
# Return, we beseech thee, O God of hosts: look down from heaven, and behold, and visit this vine;
# And the vineyard which thy right hand hath planted, and the branch that thou madest strong for thyself.
# It is burned with fire, it is cut down: they perish at the rebuke of thy countenance.
# Let thy hand be upon the man of thy right hand, upon the son of man whom thou madest strong for thyself.
# So will not we go back from thee: quicken us, and we will call upon thy name.
# Turn us again, O LORD God of hosts, cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved.

Verse numbering

In the Hebrew Bible)
From then on verses 1–19 in English versions correspond to verses 2–20 in the Hebrew text.

Commentary

This psalm is classified as a 'communal lament'. Northern Israel is its main concern, so it may come from the period towards the end of the northern kingdom, although the Jerusalem Bible suggest that "it could apply equally well ... to Judah after the sack of Jerusalem in 586 BC".

Some links have been traced to Isaiah, with a 'similar image of a vineyard whose wall God breaks down' (Isaiah 5:1–7), also to Jeremiah and Ezekiel, who both refer to YHWH as shepherd, although the exact phrase 'Shepherd of Israel' is unique in this psalm.

The existence of a refrain (verses 3, 7, 19) is unusual, and the first two mark off the first two parts of the psalm, with the rest of the psalm forming a final section. The division is as follows:
# Verses 1–2: a call to God for help (refrain in verse 3)
# Verses 4–6: an urgent plea and complaint at God's treatment of his people (refrain in verse 7)
# Verses 8–13: a description of God's past care of Israel (with the figure of the vine alluding to the Exodus and conquest, and the present distress)
# Verses 14–17: a renewal of petition with a vow to return to God in verse 18, and a repetition of the refrain in verse 19.

Verse 17

:''Let Your hand be upon the man of Your right hand,
:''Upon the son of man whom You made strong for Yourself.''
This verse probably alludes to Zerubbabel, who returned to Jerusalem in the first wave of liberated exiles under the decree of Cyrus the Great in 538 BC.

Uses

Judaism

*This psalm is recited on the third day of Passover in some traditions,The Artscroll Tehillim, page 329 and on the second day of Sukkot in some traditions.

Christianity

*This psalm is recited some days during Lent, as part of Lauds (Morning Prayer) of the Divine Office.
*In the Church of England's ''Book of Common Prayer'', this psalm is appointed to be read on the morning of the 16th day of the month.

Musical Settings

Alan Hovhaness made an unpublished setting of this psalm in 1953 titled ''Shepherd of Israel'' for tenor, recorder (or flute), trumpet ad lib. & string quartet (or orchestra).

References

External links

* in Hebrew and English - Mechon-mamre
* King James Bible - Wikisource

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