Psalms 80:5

"LORD God of Armies, how long will you be angry against the prayer of your people?"

Key Reflection

Psalms 80:5 reflects a plea for mercy and forgiveness, invoking the LORD as the God of Armies—a title that emphasizes His sovereign power and divine judgment. The psalmist is questioning why God remains angry, even as His people continue to pray and seek His face, highlighting a tension between divine wrath and human supplication. This verse speaks to the ongoing interplay between God’s justice and mercy, a theme central to much of biblical literature where the faithful plead for relief from divine displeasure while maintaining hope in God's redemptive power.

From the Scholars: Barnes' Notes

Thou feedest them with the bread of tears -literally, “Thou causest them to eat the bread of tears,” or of weeping. That is, their food was accompanied with tears; even when they ate, they wept. Their tears seemed to moisten their bread, they flowed so copiously. See the notes atPsalms 42:3. And givest them tears to drink -So abundant were their tears that they might constitute their very drink. In great measure -Or rather by measure; that is, abundantly. The word here rendered “great measure” -שׁלישׁshâlı̂ysh- means properly a third, and is usually applied to a measure for grain - a third part of another measure - as, the third part of an ephah. See the notes atIsaiah 40:12.

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