1 God, heathen nations have invaded your land. They have defiled your holy Temple. They have turned Jerusalem into heaps of rubble.

2 They have given the dead bodies of your servants as food to the birds of the air, the flesh of your faithful people to the beasts of the earth.

3 They have poured out the blood of Jerusalem's people like water all through the city; no one remains to bury the dead.

4 We have been made a mockery before our neighbors, ridiculed and laughed at by those around us.

5 How long, Lord? Will you be angry with us forever? Will your jealousy always burn like fire?

6 Pour out your anger on the heathen nations that don't know you, and on those kingdoms that don't worship you!

7 For they have destroyed the descendants of Jacob, and turned our country into a wasteland.

8 Don't hold the sins of our forefathers against us! Come to us quickly for we desperately need your compassion.

9 Help us, God of our salvation, because of your wonderful character! Save us and forgive us our sins because that's the kind of person you are!* Literally, “for your name's sake.”

10 Why should the heathen nations be able to say, “Where is their God?” May they experience your punishment for shedding the blood of your servants, and may we see it.

11 Listen to the groans of the prisoners; with your great power save those condemned to die.

12 Pay each of these neighbors back seven times for the scorn and ridicule they directed against you, Lord.

13 Then we your people, the flock of your pasture, will praise you forever. We will thank you for all generations to come.