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Dhammapada · narration sample

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The Bible · 558 of 1189

Psalms 80

1.Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, thou that leadest Joseph like a flock; thou that dwellest between the cherubims, shine forth.

2.Before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh stir up thy strength, and come and save us.

3.Turn us again, O God, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved.

4.O LORD God of hosts, how long wilt thou be angry against the prayer of thy people?

5.Thou feedest them with the bread of tears; and givest them tears to drink in great measure.

6.Thou makest us a strife unto our neighbours: and our enemies laugh among themselves.

7.Turn us again, O God of hosts, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved.

8.Thou hast brought a vine out of Egypt: thou hast cast out the heathen, and planted it.

9.Thou preparedst room before it, and didst cause it to take deep root, and it filled the land.

10.The hills were covered with the shadow of it, and the boughs thereof were like the goodly cedars.

11.She sent out her boughs unto the sea, and her branches unto the river.

12.Why hast thou then broken down her hedges, so that all they which pass by the way do pluck her?

13.The boar out of the wood doth waste it, and the wild beast of the field doth devour it.

14.Return, we beseech thee, O God of hosts: look down from heaven, and behold, and visit this vine;

15.And the vineyard which thy right hand hath planted, and the branch that thou madest strong for thyself.

16.It is burned with fire, it is cut down: they perish at the rebuke of thy countenance.

17.Let thy hand be upon the man of thy right hand, upon the son of man whom thou madest strong for thyself.

18.So will not we go back from thee: quicken us, and we will call upon thy name.

19.Turn us again, O LORD God of hosts, cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved.

Asked of Guide

Why does the psalm compare Israel to a vine planted and now devastated?

The psalm uses the vine image to name Israel as God’s deliberate planting: “the vineyard which thy right hand hath planted” and “the branch that thou madest strong for thyself.” That image gathers history—God brings the vine out of Egypt, prepares room, and causes it to take deep root—so the devastation (hedges broken, boar wasting it) highlights a collapse of protection and favor.

The repeated plea “Turn us again, O God… and we shall be saved” links the ruined vine to exile or divine judgment and requests restoration of God’s presence and strength. This logic echoes Isaiah’s cultivation metaphors (see Isaiah 5) where vineyard failure provokes a call for divine rectification and return.

Guide is the guide inside the Gnosis app, where every book on these shelves is free to read. Guide is the part you pay for — your guide has read all of them, and answers about the passage you’re actually on. Ask your guide your own question.