Help Us, God of Our Salvation

God, the nations have come into your inheritance.They have defiled your holy temple.They have laid Jerusalem in heaps.

O God, the heathen are come into thine inheritance; thy holy temple have they defiled; they have laid Jerusalem on heaps.

The psalm opens with the disaster. The nations have entered God's inheritance, defiled his holy temple and laid Jerusalem in heaps. The loss is described in terms of what belongs to God.

Also read Ezekiel 7:20-21, Exodus 15:17, 2 Kings 25:4-10, 2 Chronicles 36:17

They have given the dead bodies of your servants to be food for the birds of the sky,the flesh of your saints to the animals of the earth.

The dead bodies of thy servants have they given to be meat unto the fowls of the heaven, the flesh of thy saints unto the beasts of the earth.

The bodies of God's servants have been left as food for birds and wild animals. The dead are called God's servants and saints, so their treatment is an insult to him.

Also read Jeremiah 34:20, Jeremiah 19:7, Jeremiah 7:33, Jeremiah 15:3

They have shed their blood like water around Jerusalem.There was no one to bury them.

Their blood have they shed like water round about Jerusalem; and there was none to bury them.

Blood has been shed like water around Jerusalem, and no one is left to bury the dead. That one detail shows the scale of the killing.

Also read Revelation 18:24, Psalm 141:7, Revelation 11:9, Psalm 79:10

We have become a reproach to our neighbors,a scoffing and derision to those who are around us.

We are become a reproach to our neighbours, a scorn and derision to them that are round about us.

The survivors have become a reproach to their neighbours and a target for scoffing. Shame is added to loss.

Also read Ezekiel 36:3, Ezekiel 35:12, Psalm 44:13-14, Ezekiel 36:15

How long, LORD?Will you be angry forever?Will your jealousy burn like fire?

How long, LORD? wilt thou be angry for ever? shall thy jealousy burn like fire?

The first question is how long. The people ask whether God will be angry forever and whether his jealousy will burn like fire. They read the disaster as connected to God's anger.

Also read Psalm 74:9-10, Psalm 74:1, Deuteronomy 32:16, Psalm 85:5

Pour out your wrath on the nations that don’t know you,on the kingdoms that don’t call on your name,

Pour out thy wrath upon the heathen that have not known thee, and upon the kingdoms that have not called upon thy name.

They ask God to turn his wrath on the nations that do not know him and the kingdoms that do not call on his name. The psalm draws a line between God's people and those who ignore him.

Also read Psalm 9:16-17, Isaiah 21:1-17, Psalm 14:4, Isaiah 45:4-5

for they have devoured Jacob,and destroyed his homeland.

For they have devoured Jacob, and laid waste his dwelling place.

Also read Jeremiah 50:7, Isaiah 9:12, Jeremiah 51:34-35, Psalm 80:13

Don’t hold the iniquities of our forefathers against us.Let your tender mercies speedily meet us,for we are in desperate need.

O remember not against us former iniquities: let thy tender mercies speedily prevent us: for we are brought very low.

They ask God not to hold their forefathers' iniquities against them, and for his tender mercies to meet them quickly. The reason is simple: they are in desperate need.

Also read Revelation 18:5, Hosea 9:9, Ezekiel 2:3, 1 Kings 17:18

Help us, God of our salvation, for the glory of your name.Deliver us, and forgive our sins, for your name’s sake.

Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of thy name: and deliver us, and purge away our sins, for thy name’s sake.

The prayer asks for help, deliverance and forgiveness. The reason given is not the people's merit but the glory of God's name. The King James Version has "purge away our sins, for thy name's sake".

Also read Malachi 2:2, Jeremiah 14:7, 2 Chronicles 14:11, Isaiah 43:25

Why should the nations say, “Where is their God?”Let it be known among the nations, before our eyes,that vengeance for your servants’ blood is being poured out.

Wherefore should the heathen say, Where is their God? let him be known among the heathen in our sight by the revenging of the blood of thy servants which is shed.

The nations are asking where Israel's God is. The people want the answer made visible, with vengeance for the blood of God's servants poured out before their eyes.

Also read Psalm 83:17-18, Micah 7:10, Ezekiel 36:23, Psalm 42:3

Let the sighing of the prisoner come before you.According to the greatness of your power, preserve those who are sentenced to death.

Let the sighing of the prisoner come before thee; according to the greatness of thy power preserve thou those that are appointed to die;

The prayer turns to prisoners and those sentenced to death. The people ask God to hear their sighing and preserve them by the greatness of his power.

Also read Matthew 6:13, Isaiah 42:7, Isaiah 33:2, Psalm 102:20

Pay back to our neighbors seven times into their bosomtheir reproach with which they have reproached you, Lord.

And render unto our neighbours sevenfold into their bosom their reproach, wherewith they have reproached thee, O Lord.

They ask God to pay back their neighbours seven times for the reproach those neighbours have thrown at God. The insult is treated as aimed at God, not only at the people.

Also read Leviticus 26:21, Psalm 74:10, Luke 6:38, Jeremiah 32:18

So we, your people and sheep of your pasture,will give you thanks forever.We will praise you forever, to all generations.

So we thy people and sheep of thy pasture will give thee thanks for ever: we will shew forth thy praise to all generations.

The psalm ends with a promise. As God's people and the sheep of his pasture, they will thank him forever and praise him to all generations.

Also read Psalm 145:4, Psalm 100:3, Isaiah 43:21, Psalm 74:1