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80. Psalm 80

¹ Hear us, Shepherd of Israel,
   you who lead Joseph like a flock.
You who sit enthroned between the cherubim,
   shine forth ² before Ephraim, Benjamin and Manasseh.
Awaken your might;
   come and save us.

    ³ Restore us, O God;
   make your face shine on us,
   that we may be saved.

    ⁴ How long, LORD God Almighty,
   will your anger smolder
   against the prayers of your people?
⁵ You have fed them with the bread of tears;
   you have made them drink tears by the bowlful.
⁶ You have made us an object of derision Probable reading of the original Hebrew text; Masoretic Text contention to our neighbors,
   and our enemies mock us.

    ⁷ Restore us, God Almighty;
   make your face shine on us,
   that we may be saved.

    ⁸ You transplanted a vine from Egypt;
   you drove out the nations and planted it.
⁹ You cleared the ground for it,
   and it took root and filled the land.
¹⁰ The mountains were covered with its shade,
   the mighty cedars with its branches.
¹¹ Its branches reached as far as the Sea, Probably the Mediterranean
   its shoots as far as the River. That is, the Euphrates

    ¹² Why have you broken down its walls
   so that all who pass by pick its grapes?
¹³ Boars from the forest ravage it,
   and insects from the fields feed on it.
¹⁴ Return to us, God Almighty!
   Look down from heaven and see!
Watch over this vine,
    ¹⁵ the root your right hand has planted,
   the son Or branch you have raised up for yourself.

    ¹⁶ Your vine is cut down, it is burned with fire;
   at your rebuke your people perish.
¹⁷ Let your hand rest on the man at your right hand,
   the son of man you have raised up for yourself.
¹⁸ Then we will not turn away from you;
   revive us, and we will call on your name.

    ¹⁹ Restore us, LORD God Almighty;
   make your face shine on us,
   that we may be saved.

As to the word כנה, cannah, ³⁹⁸³⁹⁸ “Surely, כנה, should not be translated vineyard, but plant: and probably ו should be translated, or understood to mean, even See Noldius, Sign. 38.” — Arcbishop Secker “Michaelis and Gesenius derive it from כנן, texit, with the suffix ה. Bochart considers it an Egyptian word. ‘כנה, verto plantam ex sententia Bocharti (in Phaleg. lib. 1, cap. 15 and 16, edit. Leusd.) qui putat vocem esse Ægyptiacam. Nam, auctore Plutarcho in Iside, hederam Ægyptii χενόιριν, h. e. φυτὸν Οσιριδος, plantam Osiridis vocabant.’ Dathe. De Rossi concurs.” — Rogers’ Book of Psalms, etc., volume 2, 231. in the beginning of the 15th verse, I readily acquiesce in the sense given of it by some who translate it, a place prepared; but as some think that there is a change in the Hebrew word of the letter ג, gimel, into כ, caph, so that the reading should be גנה, gannah, a garden or vineyard, we leave the reader to judge for himself. It is, however, certain that this is a metaphor akin to the former, by which is denoted the singular liberality of God in advancing this people, and causing them to prosper. The vine-branch which was planted by the hand of God is also called the Man of his right hand.