Show Don't Tell: Psalm 80

Instead of saying "Israel asked for restoration," watch the vine transplanted. A psalm of Asaph. "Hear us, Shepherd of Israel, you who lead Joseph like a flock. You who sit enthroned between the cherubim, shine forth before Ephraim, Benjamin and Manasseh. Awaken your might; come and save us." Shepherd throne, cherubim seat, northern tribes named. The refrain: "Restore us, O God; make your face shine on us, that we may be saved." Three times this refrain appears, each time with expanded divine titles. "You, LORD God Almighty, how long will your anger smolder against the prayers of your people? You have fed them with the bread of tears; you have made them drink tears by the bowlful." Tears for food, tears for drink—bowlfuls. "You have made us an object of derision to our neighbors, and our enemies mock us." Then the vine metaphor: "You transplanted a vine from Egypt; you drove out the nations and planted it. You cleared the ground for it, and it took root and filled the land. The mountains were covered with its shade, the mighty cedars with its branches. Its branches reached as far as the Sea, its shoots as far as the River." Mediterranean to Euphrates—vine covering everything. "Why have you broken down its walls so that all who pass by pick its grapes? Boars from the forest ravage it, and insects from the fields feed on it." Walls down, boars rooting, insects swarming. "Return to us, God Almighty! Look down from heaven and see! Watch over this vine, the root your right hand has planted, the son you have raised up for yourself."