Turn us again, God. Cause your face to shine, and we will be saved.
Yahweh God of Armies, how long will you be angry against the prayer of your people?
You have fed them with the bread of tears, and given them tears to drink in large measure.
Parallel Translations
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Turn us again, God. Cause your face to shine, and we will be saved.
Yahweh God of Armies, how long will you be angry against the prayer of your people?
You have fed them with the bread of tears, and given them tears to drink in large measure.
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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.
Show all 3 translations
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(80-4) O God, restore us; and cause Thy face to shine, and we shall be saved.
(80-5) O LORD God of hosts, how long wilt Thou be angry against the prayer of Thy people?
(80-6) Thou hast fed them with the bread of tears, and given them tears to drink in large measure.
Cross-references (27)
- Lamentations 5:21 (v3) Turn us to yourself, Yahweh, and we will be turned. Renew our days as of old.
- Numbers 6:25-26 (v3) Yahweh make his face to shine on you, and be gracious to you. Yahweh lift up his face toward you, and give you peace.’
- Psalms 85:4 (v3) Turn us, God of our salvation, and cause your indignation toward us to cease.
- Psalms 4:6 (v3) Many say, “Who will show us any good?” Yahweh, let the light of your face shine on us.
- Psalms 80:7 (v3) Turn us again, God of Armies. Cause your face to shine, and we will be saved.
Show all 27 cross-references
- Psalms 80:19 (v3) Turn us again, Yahweh God of Armies. Cause your face to shine, and we will be saved.
- 1 Kings 18:37 (v3) Hear me, Yahweh, hear me, that this people may know that you, Yahweh, are God, and that you have turned their heart back again.”
- Psalms 42:3 (v5) My tears have been my food day and night, while they continually ask me, “Where is your God?”
- Isaiah 30:20 (v5) Though the Lord may give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your teachers won’t be hidden any more, but your eyes…
- Psalms 85:5 (v4) Will you be angry with us forever? Will you draw out your anger to all generations?
- Psalms 102:9 (v5) For I have eaten ashes like bread, and mixed my drink with tears,
- Psalms 67:1 (v3) May God be merciful to us, bless us, and cause his face to shine on us.
- Psalms 80:1 (v3) Hear us, Shepherd of Israel, you who lead Joseph like a flock, you who sit above the cherubim, shine out.
- Psalms 119:135 (v3) Make your face shine on your servant. Teach me your statutes.
- Job 6:7 (v5) My soul refuses to touch them. They are as loathsome food to me.
- Psalms 60:1 (v3) God, you have rejected us. You have broken us down. You have been angry. Restore us, again.
- Ezekiel 4:16-17 (v5) Moreover he said to me, “Son of man, behold, I will break the staff of bread in Jerusalem. They will eat bread by weight, and with…
- Deuteronomy 29:20 (v4) Yahweh will not pardon him, but then Yahweh’s anger and his jealousy will smoke against that man, and all the curse that is written in this…
- Psalms 59:5 (v4) You, Yahweh God of Armies, the God of Israel, rouse yourself to punish the nations. Show no mercy to the wicked traitors.
- Psalms 74:1 (v4) God, why have you rejected us forever? Why does your anger smolder against the sheep of your pasture?
- Psalms 79:5 (v4) How long, Yahweh? Will you be angry forever? Will your jealousy burn like fire?
- Isaiah 58:2-3 (v4) Yet they seek me daily, and delight to know my ways. As a nation that did righteousness, and didn’t forsake the ordinance of their God,…
- Isaiah 58:6-9 (v4) “Isn’t this the fast that I have chosen: to release the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free,…
- Jeremiah 31:18-19 (v3) “I have surely heard Ephraim grieving thus, ‘You have chastised me, and I was chastised, as an untrained calf. Turn me, and I will be…
- Lamentations 3:44 (v4) You have covered yourself with a cloud, so that no prayer can pass through.
- Matthew 15:22-28 (v4) Behold, a Canaanite woman came out from those borders, and cried, saying, “Have mercy on me, Lord, you son of David! My daughter is…
- Luke 18:1-8 (v4) He also spoke a parable to them that they must always pray, and not give up, saying, “There was a judge in a certain city who didn’t fear…
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (17 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv3–5 3 Turn us again, O God! The meaning of…
3 Turn us again, O God! The meaning of this prayer is, Restore us to our former state. They had petitioned, in the preceding verse, that God would stir up his strength in the sight of Ephraim and Manasseh; and now they complain that they are but castaways until God succor them, and remedy their miserable dispersion. Some understand the words, turn us again, in a different way; namely, as a prayer that God would bestow upon them the spirit of regeneration. But this interpretation being too refined, it will be better, adhering to the former sense, to view the expression as meaning that the faithful, under the adversity with which they were afflicted, betake themselves to God, whose peculiar work it is to restore life to the dead. They acknowledge, on the one hand, that all their miseries were to be traced to this as their cause, that God, being angry on account of their sins, hid his face from them; and, on the other hand, they expect to obtain complete salvation solely through the Divine favor. It will be to us, they say, a resurrection indeed, if once thy countenance shine upon us. Their language implies, that provided God extended his mercy and favor to them, they would be happy, and all their affairs would prosper.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv3–4 Join thy whole people, and all thy tribes together…
Join thy whole people, and all thy tribes together again.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv3–5 Psa 80:3 Turn us again, O God, and cause…
Psa 80:3 Turn us again, O God, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved.
Ver. 3. Turn us again] Turn again our captivity, or show thyself reconciled unto us in Christ, who is here called the face of God, as some conceive.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv3–5 Turn us again; either,
Turn us again; either,
l. To our former quiet and flourishing estate; or,
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2. To thyself, from whom Ephraim and Manasseh with the rest of the ten tribes have apostatized. See the like prayer of Elijah for them, 1Ki 18:37.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv3–5 Turn us again, O God,.... From our captivity, as…
Turn us again, O God,.... From our captivity, as the Targum, into our own land; or return us backsliding sinners to thyself by repentance; turn us, and we shall be turned; for the prayer shows it was not in their power, but must be effected by the grace of God; or restore our souls, which have been wandering, and them to their former flourishing and comfortable condition:
and cause thy face to shine; grant thy gracious presence, lift up the light of thy countenance; favour with the manifestations of thyself, the enjoyment of thee, and communion with thee through Christ; indulge us with the discoveries of thy love, the joys of salvation, the comforts of the Spirit, and larger measures of grace:
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and we shall be saved; be in a very happy and comfortable condition; see Psa 4:6.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On v3 Turn us - To thy self.
Turn us - To thy self.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv3, 5 Verse 3. Turn us again] השיבנו hashibenu, convert or…
Verse 3. Turn us again] השיבנו hashibenu, convert or restore us. There are four parts in this Psalm, three of which end with the above words; see the third, seventh, and nineteenth verses; and one with words similar, Ps 80:14.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv3–4 Psa 80:3. Turn us again — He means, either…
Psa 80:3. Turn us again — He means, either to our former quiet and flourishing state; or, to thyself, from whom Ephraim and Manasseh, with the rest of the ten tribes, have apostatized. See a similar prayer of Elijah for them, 1Ki 18:37. Instead of, Turn us, Mudge reads, Restore us, which is equally agreeable to the original word, השׁיבנו, hashibenu. “There are evidently four parts in this Psalm; all of which conclude with this verse, or with one varying very little from it. In the first, the psalmist entreats God to assist them, as he formerly did their forefathers. In the second, he beseeches him to have compassion upon their miserable condition. In the third, not to forsake those now for whom he had already done so much; and in the fourth, concludes with a prayer for their king, and a promise of future obedience, as a grateful return for God’s favours.” — Dodd.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv3–5 Turn us again - This phrase in our translation…
Turn us again - This phrase in our translation would seem to mean, “Turn us again from our sins,” or, “Bring us back to our duty, and to thy love;” and this idea is commonly attached to the phrase probably by the readers of the Bible. But this, though in itself an appropriate prayer, is not the idea here. It is simply, Bring us back; cause us to return; restore us. The idea thus suggested would be either
(a) restore us to our former state of prosperity; that is, Cause these desolations to cease; or
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(b) bring us back, as from captivity, to our own land; restore us to our country and our homes, from which we have been driven out.
Thus understood, it would be properly the language of those who were in captivity or exile, praying that they might be restored again to their own land.
And cause thy face to shine - Be favorable or propitious to us. Let the frown on thy countenance disappear. See the notes at Psa 4:6.
And we shall be saved - Saved from our dangers; saved from our troubles. It is also true that when God causes his face to shine upon us, we shall be saved from our sins; saved from ruin. It is only by his smile and favor that we can be saved in any sense, or from any danger.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv3–5 3. Turn us again—Bring us back, or, cause us…
3. Turn us again—Bring us back, or, cause us to return. Here, again, is the office of the “Shepherd of Israel.” In Psa_80:1, he “leads Joseph like a flock;” now he is called to bring back the strayed ones. Thus the same word Psa_23:3, “He restoreth [bringeth back] my soul.” It was the first want of the nation, and the first specified act of that saving strength invoked in the previous verse. Unquestionably the word שׁוב, (shoobh,) “turn,” is to be taken in the fullest sense of restoration, politically and spiritually. Nothing less than this would be equal to the national want or the impassioned language of the psalm. The word is often used spiritually in the sense of convert, as Psa_19:7; Psa_51:13; Isaiah 4:7; Eze_18:21; Eze_18:28; Mal_2:6
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv3–5 3. Turn us again] Usually taken to mean bring…
3. Turn us again] Usually taken to mean bring us back from exile, or more generally, restore us: repair our broken fortunes. Cp. Psa_60:1. But is it not rather an allusion to Ephraim’s prayer in Jer_31:18, interpreted in Lam_5:21 in a spiritual sense? National repentance is the condition of national restoration; and it must be God’s own work. Make us return to Thee, and return to us (Psa_80:14) with Thy favour as of old; then and not till then shall we be saved.
cause thy face to shine] Shew us Thy favour as of old: words borrowed from the great Aaronic benediction, Num_6:25. Cp. Psa_4:6.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv3–5 (3) Turn us again—i.e., “restore us,” not necessarily with…
(3) Turn us again—i.e., “restore us,” not necessarily with reference to the Captivity, but generally, restore us to our pristine prosperity.
Cause thy face to shine.—The desert encampment and march is still in the poet’s thought. As in Psa_67:1 (see Note) we have here a reminiscence of the priestly benediction.
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Saved.—Or, helped. This verse constitutes the refrain.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv3–5 Turn us again, O God; or, restore us us…
Turn us again, O God; or, restore us us back i.e. bring those of us who are in exile (2Ki_15:29) back to our country. And cause thy face to shine. (comp. Num_6:25 Psa_31:16 Psa_67:1) The metaphor scarcely needs explanation. And we shall be saved. If thou lookest upon us with favour, our salvation is assured.
Vers. 3, 7, 18. A cry of weakness, a prayer of faith.
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"Turn us... we shall be turned." The life of the individual, of the Church, of the nation, depends not on means, methods, forms, institutions. With God is the fountain of life. These words are a cry of weakness, helplessness, humiliation; but also a prayer of faith, hope, joyful expectancy.
I A CONFESSION OF WEAKNESS, DANGER, SIN.
1. In ordinary affairs a sense of weakness, helplessness, despondency, is the forerunner of failure, often its cause. Rash over boldness, conceit of ability and good luck, though dangerous, are more apt to ensure success than timid self-distrust. Strange, then, that the "glad tidings," calling us to the grandest, most hopeful of all enterprises, begins by bidding us despair of ourselves! for true repentance is nothing less. The reason is precisely the grandeur of the mark set before us. In undertakings and tasks within our reach, calm self-reliance is the winning temper; but when the task is altogether too vast, the aim too high, for our strength and wisdom, self-confidence becomes folly, humility our safety. Further, the reason lies in the original greatness of mans nature, and his undestroyed capacity. The height measures the fall. If a temple or a pyramid be overthrown, what hands have built, hands can rebuild; but if a landslip carries down half a mountain, God"s hand alone can rebuild.
2. A confession, not only of weakness, but of sin. The soul has turned away from God, and in so doing destroyed itself. (Hos_13:9) No sense of helplessness more absolute than conscious guilt. The past is irrevocable. Tears cannot wash the memory. Prayer cannot undo the deed ("Macbeth," act 2. sc. 2, "Wake, Duncan," etc.!). I cannot sever today from yesterday, my present self from my past. This is the sting and burden of remorse ("Macbeth," act 5. sc. 1, "Here"s the smell of the blood"). He whom we have forsaken alone can restore us. (Lam_5:21)
II A PRAYER FOR FORGIVENESS AND FULL FAVOUR. "Cause thy face to shine," etc. Salvation can be nothing less than full restoration to God"s favour, childlike trust; no middle ground between condemnation and acceptance. (Rom_5:1) When the storm cloud is blown away, what comes in its place is not mere daylight, but sunshine. Our sins are the cloud that hides God"s face. (Isa_59:1) The sort of half-and-half condition in which many seem contented to live between hope that they shall be saved, and fear that they shall be lost has no warrant in Scripture. "We shall be saved," not "We hope we may be." Salvation is God"s free, full gift in Christ, if not rejected or neglected, to be accepted fully, and wrought out with all our might. (Php_2:12, 13 Eph_2:10) "He that hath the Son hath life". (1Jn_5:12) The true Christian temper, therefore, is the perfect, habitual union of these two profound humility because of our sin and sinfulness; joyful trust and thankfulness because of "the salvation which is in Christ Jesus". (2Ti_2:10)
Real salvation.
1. Three times is this prayer repeated, but with slight, though noticeable, difference. Here, in its first utterance, it is addressed only to God. But the second time (ver. 7) it calls on God as "God of hosts." The eye of faith saw the ministers of God"s power around him, the hosts of the holy angels who waited to do his will. Then the third time (ver. 19) it is the "Lord God of hosts" on whom he calls, making mention of the covenant name by which God was known in Israel as especially their God. Hence our argument for faith. If God be our God, then he will help us. Thus "Faith"s clay grows brighter as the hours roll on; and her prayers grow more full and mighty." Prayer warms to its work, and in it. Often we begin with but scant store of trust, but as we pray on our hope and confidence grow. Therefore be instant in prayer.
2. Note the opening words of this prayer. It is "turn us," not our circumstances and conditions. Many people think that if these were right they would be right; but the truth is far more often just the other way: it is toe who want changing; if the Lord turn us, then all the rest will be of small import, and will be turned as much as will be for our good. And it is not a mere improvement, a patch on the old. garment, that is wanted just a partial reformation here and there, but a complete change. "Ye must be born again." God must "turn us." An old sea captain replied to a faithful minister who, in seeking to lead him to God, told him that he had better sail from henceforth under another flag, "No," said the sailor, "that won"t do; I mean to scuttle the ship, and get a new one altogether; there"s nothing else to be done. I"ve tried to mend the other often enough." He was right. No partial amendment will save any soul. And God must turn us. There is a human side in man"s salvation, but there is still more a Divine side, and the first work is of God. He ever seeks us before we seek him. And when he fully saves a man, it is along the lines suggested by our text. There are three stages in the work.
I GOD TURNS US. And he does this:
1. By giving us repentance. Too many keep calling on men to "only believe." Christ and his apostles never bade men "only believe," when they sought salvation. But Christ commanded that "repentance and faith" should be preached, not faith only. Where, as with the Philippian gaoler, the apostle said, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ," etc., it was because repentance had already taken place, the man was really repentant at that moment. And whenever God turns a soul to himself, it is by way of repentance. This means that the soul sees its sin, feels and grieves over it, renounces it before God and man.
2. My leading us to faith. Not the mere belief of any doctrine about Christ, but more than that the actual committal of himself to Christ for salvation; actually trusting him to pardon, accept, and save. Now, this is the complete spiritual change which the word "turn" implies. It is the first great step in the soul"s salvation. Then
II GOD TURNS US AGAIN. The prayer is, "Turn us again. " Now, what does this mean?
1. It may be the prayer of a penitent backslider. This psalm contemplates Israel as such. And unless the backslider is turned again, he cannot be saved. He must come back to God. But:
2. It is the prayer of one who seeks full salvation. After repentance and faith, which constituted the great first step in salvation, and which do save a man if he abide therein, there is given a higher gift to him who heartily desires it. It is called in Ac 8 Ac 18 Ac 19, speaking of the Samaritan converts, of Apollos, and of the twelve disciples of John at Ephesus, "the receiving of the Holy Ghost" It is a distinct and further and most blessed gift, qualifying for service, and uplifting the soul to a stage of experience which it has not known as yet. It separates the soul from sin, secures the clean heart, and wins the fulfilment of that glorious promise in Eze_36:25, and the many others like unto it. The believer is made "pure in heart," and the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses him from all sin. This comes from the receiving of the Holy Ghost. We are delivered from that miserable round of sinning and repenting, which the mass of professing Christians wearily travel, and, instead thereof, a life is lived in which the "whole spirit, soul, and body is preserved blameless." It is the "abundant life" which our Lord came to give.
III GOD CAUSES HIS FACE TO SHINE. This tells of "the joy" of God"s salvation, that walking in the light which ensures that here and now the days of our mourning are ended. It is that holy, happy, joyful, winsome religion which is what our God intended us to have, which not a few have enjoyed, and which waits for all those who truly seek it. Then, when all this is, then "we shall be saved." God will be glorified, we ourselves filled with the love of God, and our fellow men will be blessed through us as otherwise they cannot be. Then will our religious life answer to the beautiful description given in vers. 8-11. "Amen, even so, come, Lord Jesus. S.C.
The turnings and returnings of God.
"Turn us again, O God, and cause thy face to shine." The expression, "turn us," seems to have been used in the prayers of the captives in Babylon; they are represented as saying, "Turn again our captivity, O Lord, as the streams in the south!" The exiles are not praying for repentance, but for a change in their circumstances a change in the evident relations of God to them. Their captivity seemed to them God"s turning them away from him. What they asked was a gracious returning to them. Putting the sentence in modern form, it would read, "Turn to us again, O God, and cause thy face to shine, and we shall be saved." Some render, "O God, restore us!" which conveys the same idea.
I GOD"S TURNING AWAY DECLARES THE NEED FOR DIVINE JUDGMENTS. If we estimated life aright, we should think more of the presence and working of God in our life, as the Overruler, Restrainer, Guide, who is ever moulding and moderating our impulse, ever putting straight what we bend awry. And then we should regard aright God"s holding aloof, turning away, "drawing up into a cloud," and leaving us to the miseries of our own self-ordering; which miseries would become his correcting judgments. This point may be effectively illustrated by God"s word to Moses when Moses was interceding in the matter of the golden calf. God proposed to withdraw his own Presence as Guide, Restrainer, and Overruler; and Moses knew well that would prove the severest of judgments. The same thing may be shown in the case of King Saul. It is figured as the withdrawal of God"s Spirit from him. Left without Divine restrainings and overrulings, Saul runs down into woes that are Divine judgments. So with Israel in captivity. They had so grieved God that he had "turned away," and left them to follow their own political devices. They sought Assyria, or they sought Egypt, and they would not seek Jehovah. They must come under Divine judgments, and learn through them; but they brought the judgments on themselves. And God"s turning and leaving them alone was at once the necessary thing, and the most merciful thing. When men are wilful, Divine severities are Divinest mercies.
II GOD"S TURNING TOWARDS SHOWS THE TIME HAS COME FOR DIVINE RESTORINGS. It is the sign that men have learned the lesson of their judgments and calamities, and have come to a better mind. They have began to realize what God turned away means and involves; they have begun to want the sight of God"s face again, and the cheer of the shine or smile on his face. And when that is mans mood, God can turn round, and can enter again on those guiding, overruling, and restraining relations, which then are rightly esteemed. Bunyan illustrates, in his "Holy War," very effectively the turning away of Emmanuel, the consequent misery of Mansoul, the awakening desire for Emmanuel, and his gracious return. R.T.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Charles H. Spurgeon 1885 · Public Domain On vv3–5 Ver. 3. "Turn us again, O God." It is…
Ver. 3. "Turn us again, O God." It is not so much said, "turn our captivity, "but "turn us." All will come right if we are right. The best turn is not that of circumstances but of character. When the Lord turns his people he will soon turn their condition. It needs the Lord himself to do this, for conversion is as divine a work as creation; and those who have been once turned unto God, if they at any time backslide, as much need the Lord to turn them again as to turn them at the first. The word may be read, "restore us; "verily, it is a choice mercy that "he restoreth my soul."
"And cause thy face to shine." Be favourable to us, smile upon us. This was the high priest's blessing upon Israel: what the Lord has already given us by our High Priest and Mediator we may right confidently ask of him.
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"And we shall be saved." All that is wanted for salvation is the Lord's favour. One glance of his gracious eye would transform Tophet into Paradise. No matter how fierce the foe, or dire the captivity, the shining face of God ensures both victory and liberty. This verse is a very useful prayer. Since we too often turn aside, let us often with our lips and heart cry, "Turn us again, O God, and cause thy face to shine, and we shall be saved."
Ver. 3. "Turn us, and cause thy face to shine." To thyself convert us, from the earthly to the heavenly; convert our rebellious wills to thee, and when we are converted, show thy countenance that we may know thee; show thy power that we may fear thee; show thy wisdom that we may reverence thee; show thy goodness that we may love thee; show them once, show them a second time, show them always, that through tribulation we may pass with a happy face, and be saved. When thou dost save, we shall be saved; when thou withdrawest thy hand, we cannot be saved. Savonarola.
Ver. 3. The double work in salvation, (1) Turn us; (2) Turn to us.
Psalms 80:4*
Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On v4 O Lord God of hosts, how long wilt thou…
Psa_80:4
O Lord God of hosts, how long wilt thou be angry against the prayer of Thy people?
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Gods anger
The Lord God of hosts is not properly a title of creation, but of providence. All creatures have their existence from God as their Maker; but so have they also their order from Him as their Governor. So that here, God would be respected, not as a creator, but as a general. His anger, therefore, seems so much the more fearful, as it is presented to us under so great a title, The Lord God of hosts is angry. They talk of Tamerlane, that he could daunt his enemies with the very look of his countenance. Oh! then what terror dwells in the countenance of the offended God!
I. God may be angry; and sin the cause of His anger. He hath scourged some in very mercy, till they have smarted under His rod (Job_6:4; Psa_88:15-16). If He will do thus much in love, what shall be the terrors of His wrath? If the sun were wanting, it would be night for all the stare; and if God frown upon a man, for all the glittering honours of this world, he sits in the shadow of death. Thus terrible is the anger of God; now, what is He angry withal but sin? That is the perpetual make-bate between God and us; the fuel of the fire of His indignation (Isa_59:2; Isa_63:10).
II. God may be long angry. It is some favour when we have the respite to cry, How long, Lord, wilt thou be angry with us? There is some hope of remedy when we once complain of our sickness. Yet God may be long angry, and long continue sensible testimonies of His anger (Psa_95:10). But how, then, doth the prophet say that he retaineth not anger? Well enough; for He never retaineth it one moment longer than we retain the cause of it. So soon as we ever cease sinning against Him, He ceaseth to be angry with us.
III. God may be angry with the whole people. The universality of sin calls for the universality of repentance, or else it will provoke Gods anger to strike us with universal judgments. If the whole people be guilty, the whole people must fall to deprecation. Such was the Ninevites repentance, every man turning from his evil ways.
IV. God may be angry with His own people. Yea, their sins anger Him most of all, because, together with wickedness, there is unkindness. As dearly as He loves them, their sins may provoke Him. Our interest in God is so far from excusing our iniquities, that it aggravates them. The nearer we are to Him, the nearer do our offences torch Him; as a man more takes to heart a discourtesy done by a friend than a great injury by a stranger.
V. God may be angry with His people that prayeth.
1. There may be infirmities enough in our very prayers to make them unacceptable.
2. But such is the mercy of our God, that He will wink at many infirmities in our devotions, and will not reject the prayer of an honest heart because of some weakness in the petitioner. It must be a greater cause than all this that makes God angry at our prayers. In general, it is sin (Joh_9:31; Psa_66:18; Isa_1:15). God will have none of those petitions that are presented to Him with bloody hands.
3. In particular, it is the hypocrisy of sin, or the sin of hypocrisy, that makes God so angry with our prayers. (T. Adams.)
Obstructed prayer
I. In what sense God may be said to be angry with our prayers.
1. When He denies our requests.
2. When He delays His answers.
3. When He bestows blessings under a different form, and in a different manner from what we expected.
II. Some of the causes for this.
1. Our desires may be, and no doubt often are, improper.
2. Desires, not in themselves improper, may be unsuitable to us, such as would not, if granted, become our case or circumstances.
3. Prayers may be ill-timed.
4. They may be polluted and spoiled by sins.
5. They may be incompatible with the plans of infinite wisdom.
III. Improvement.
1. Instead of restraining prayer, this should make us more importunate.
2. Though we should not give over praying, we ought to give over sinning.
3. Acquiesce in all the Divine proceedings.
4. Be thankful that whatever favours God may see fit to withhold or suspend, He bestows far more than we have deserved. (Essex Remembrancer.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v4 your people
your people
Israel
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You have fed them with the bread of tears and given them tears to drink in great quantities
The words "bread of tears" and "tears to drink" are metaphors for continual sadness. AT: "You have made sure that they are very sad all the time" (See: Metaphor and Parallelism)
translationWords
Yahweh
Yahweh of hosts
anger
people of God
pray
bread
neighbor
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv3–4 80:3 This verse is repeated (with an increasing crescendo)…
80:3 This verse is repeated (with an increasing crescendo) in 80:7, 19.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.