The Blood of Your Servants

Psalm 79 is a lament over the destruction of the First Temple: nations in the inheritance of the Lord, the holy temple defiled, Jerusalem in heaps of stones — from the days when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon destroyed the House, in 586 BCE. It is read each year on Tisha B'Av beside the Scroll of Lamentations, and from it come the words said on Seder night, when the door is opened for Elijah. Part 1 was the wound. Part 2 is the turn: mercy, justice, and a vow of praise.

The central verse, chosen as the name of the song, is:

"Why should the nations say, 'Where is their God?' Let the avenging of the outpoured blood of your servants be known among the nations before our eyes"

This is not private revenge. Asaph points to the question asked all around him — where is their God — and asks that the world see there is justice, and blood poured out not swallowed in silence.