Psalms 80 (MSG)

¹An Asaph psalm Listen, Shepherd, Israel's Shepherd— get all your Joseph sheep together. Throw beams of light from your dazzling throne

²So Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh can see where they're going. Get out of bed—you've slept long enough! Come on the run before it's too late.

³God, come back! Smile your blessing smile: That will be our salvation.

⁴God, God of the angel armies, how long will you smolder like a sleeping volcano while your people call for fire and brimstone?

⁵You put us on a diet of tears, bucket after bucket of salty tears to drink.

⁶You make us look ridiculous to our friends; our enemies poke fun day after day.

⁷God of the angel armies, come back! Smile your blessing smile: That will be our salvation.

⁸Remember how you brought a young vine from Egypt, cleared out the brambles and briers and planted your very own vineyard?

⁹You prepared the good earth, you planted her roots deep; the vineyard filled the land.

¹⁰Your vine soared high and shaded the mountains, even dwarfing the giant cedars.

¹¹Your vine ranged west to the Sea, east to the River.

¹²So why do you no longer protect your vine? Trespassers pick its grapes at will;

¹³Wild pigs crash through and crush it, and the mice nibble away at what's left.

¹⁴God of the angel armies, turn our way! Take a good look at what's happened and attend to this vine.

¹⁵Care for what you once tenderly planted— the vine you raised from a shoot.

¹⁶And those who dared to set it on fire— give them a look that will kill!

¹⁷Then take the hand of your once-favorite child, the child you raised to adulthood.

¹⁸We will never turn our back on you; breathe life into our lungs so we can shout your name!

¹⁹God, God of the angel armies, come back! Smile your blessing smile: That will be our salvation.