Psalms 79:9,10 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Help us, O God of our salvation From whom we have often received, and from whom alone we now expect salvation, that is, deliverance, or protection; for the glory of thy name Which is now obscured by the insolence and blasphemy of thine enemies, who ascribe their conquest to their idols, and triumph over thee, no less than over thy people, as one unable to deliver them out of their hands: see Daniel 3:15. Wherefore should the heathen say, Where is their God He whom they served, and of whom they boasted? He is lost and gone, or grown impotent or idle. Let him be known among the heathen By the execution of his judgments upon them, according to Psalms 9:16; in our sight That we may live to see it, and praise thy name for it; by the revenging of the blood of thy servants which is shed Or, rather, Let the vengeance (Hebrew, נקנת דם, nikmath dam) of thy servants' blood which is shed be known among the heathen that are in our sight. “It is for the glory of God's name to deliver his church; because, while she is in trouble, that name is blasphemed by the enemy, as if he wanted either power or will to prevent or remove the calamities of his servants. Prayer is therefore here made by the faithful, that God, not to gratify any vindictive spirit of theirs, but to vindicate his own attributes, would break the teeth of the oppressor, and work a public and glorious salvation for his chosen; at beholding which the very adversaries themselves might possibly be converted.” Horne.