What Does Psalms 79:3 Mean?

Their blood have they shed like water round about Jerusalem; and there was none to bury them. The simile "like water" (כַּמַּיִם, kamayim) indicates blood poured out abundantly, carelessly, without value—as common and cheap as water. The Hebrew verb shaphak (שָׁפַךְ, "shed/poured out") appears frequently in contexts of violence and murder, especially innocent bloodshed that cries to God for vengeance (Genesis 9:6; Ezekiel 22:3-4).

"Round about Jerusalem" emphasizes the geographic scope—the holy city itself surrounded by carnage. Jerusalem, the city of shalom (peace), becomes encircled by bloodshed. The irony is devastating: the place where God's presence dwelt, where sacrificial blood was carefully regulated according to Levitical law, now witnesses unregulated slaughter of God's people. Their blood mingles with dust rather than being properly handled as sacred.

"There was none to bury them" (ein qover, אֵין קוֹבֵר) compounds the tragedy. Normal burial required family members performing ritual acts of love and duty. The phrase suggests complete social breakdown—either the living were too few, too traumatized, or themselves threatened with death. This recalls Jeremiah 14:16 and anticipates the mass graves and abandoned bodies following ancient sieges. To die without burial meant being cut off from ancestral rest and communal memory.