myBibleHistory

Journey of a Passage

Psalm 79:1

"Jerusalem on heaps" or "a fruit-guard's hut"

Hebrew: "they have laid Jerusalem in heaps" (le-'iyyim, "into ruins"). The library's Vulgate has "in pomorum custodiam" ("into a fruit-guard's hut") and Giguet's French of the Greek "une cabane de jardinier" ("a gardener's hut"). The Greek word behind them is reported to be opōrophylakion, "a shelter for guarding fruit."

Same letters, different readings: the consonants agree, but ancient readers vocalized or interpreted them differently

The family tree

Each row is a language or text tradition. Witnesses in the same row may share ancestry, revise one another, or have an uncertain relationship; the line under each box says which. A solid arrow appears only where direct copying or a documented revised edition is established. Order by date never implies copying. Scroll sideways on a phone.

✓ contains it · ✕ does not · ❝ quotes part of it · ⓘ reports on manuscripts · ▢ pages lost · – no copy survives

  • Same line, through lost copies
  • Translation
Hebrew
  1. The psalm as first composedPsalms composed over centuries (c. 10th–4th century BC; debated)
  2. Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)AD 1008Descends, through lost copies, from The psalm as first composed
Greek
  1. Greek Psalter (library: Giguet's French)Old Greek c. 2nd century BC; French 1872Translated from the Old Greek Psalter
Latin
  1. Jerome's Gallican Psalter (Clementine Vulgate)c. AD 386–392, revised from the GreekTranslated from the Greek Psalter (Origen's Hexapla)
English
  1. King James Bible1611Translated from printed Masoretic Hebrew
New Testament quotation

    Every witness, in order

    1. Psalms composed over centuries (c. 10th–4th century BC; debated)

      The psalm as first composed

      – No copy survives

      No original survives. About forty Psalms manuscripts from Qumran, Masada and Nahal Hever (c. 2nd century BC – 1st century AD) are the oldest copies.

    2. c. AD 386–392, revised from the Greek

      Jerome's Gallican Psalter (Clementine Vulgate)

      ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from the Greek Psalter (Origen's Hexapla)

      How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Clementine Vulgate (1592 edition).

      Psalmus Asaph. Deus, venerunt gentes in hæreditatem tuam; polluerunt templum sanctum tuum; posuerunt Jerusalem in pomorum custodiam.

      Latin numbering: Psalm 78:1. Jerome revised this Latin Psalter from the Greek, so it is a witness to the Greek, not to the Hebrew.

    3. AD 1008

      Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)

      ✓ Contains this passageDescends, through lost copies, from The psalm as first composed

      How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Westminster Leningrad Codex, a digital transcription of the Leningrad Codex.

      מִזְמ֗וֹר לְאָ֫סָ֥ף אֱ‍ֽלֹהִ֡ים בָּ֤אוּ גוֹיִ֨ם ׀ בְּֽנַחֲלָתֶ֗ךָ טִ֭מְּאוּ אֶת־הֵיכַ֣ל קָדְשֶׁ֑ךָ שָׂ֖מוּ אֶת־יְרוּשָׁלַ֣͏ִם לְעִיִּֽים׃

      A psalm of Asaph. O God, the nations have come into your inheritance; they have defiled your holy temple; they have laid Jerusalem in ruins

      Hebrew numbering: Psalm 79:1. The heading is part of verse 1.

    4. 1611

      King James Bible

      ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from printed Masoretic Hebrew

      How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: King James Version (1769 text).

      A Psalm of Asaph. O God, the heathen are come into thine inheritance; thy holy temple have they defiled; they have laid Jerusalem on heaps.

    5. Old Greek c. 2nd century BC; French 1872

      Greek Psalter (library: Giguet's French)

      ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from the Old Greek Psalter

      How the site knows this: Known here only through a translation.

      Ô Dieu, les gentils sont entrés en votre héritage; ils ont pollué votre temple saint. Ils ont fait de Jérusalem une cabane de jardinier.

      Greek numbering: Psalm 78:1. Giguet's 1872 French of a printed Greek text (D check); not checked against Rahlfs' critical edition (C check).

    What changed, and why

    Two different phenomena must be kept apart: a translator's metaphor or interpretation, and a different Hebrew text. Here the evidence points to the first. 'Iyyim is a rare word (also Micah 1:6; 3:12; Jeremiah 26:18). In Micah 3:12 the Greek is reported to render it with the same word, opōrophylakion, and Isaiah 1:8 uses that word for the flimsy "lodge in a garden of cucumbers." A consistent rendering of a rare word across books suggests the translators understood 'iyyim as a field shelter, or chose an image of desolation, rather than reading different Hebrew letters.

    The Greek word itself and its use in Micah and Isaiah are reported from scholarship; the library holds the Greek only through Giguet's French, so verifying the Greek vocabulary in Rahlfs and Ziegler is an open C check. The Vulgate and Giguet readings shown are D checks.

    What the evidence shows

    • Independently documentedThe library's Vulgate and Giguet render 79:1 as a fruit-guard's or gardener's hut.
    • Strongly supportedThe Greek word is opōrophylakion, as in Micah 3:12 LXX. Reported; not checked in a critical edition (C).
    • Not independently verifiedThe Greek translators read a different Hebrew word.

    Sources

      Related lessons

      • Psalm 79: The Nations Have Come into Your Inheritance →"O God, the heathen are come into thine inheritance; thy holy temple have they defiled; they have laid Jerusalem on heaps." The bodies of God's servants are food for birds and beasts, their blood shed like water, "and there was none to bury them." "How long, LORD?" "Pour out thy wrath upon the heathen that have not known thee." "Help us, O God of our salvation… So we thy people and sheep of thy pasture will give thee thanks for ever."