Psalms 79:6 · Bible study
Psalms 79:6 Commentary: The Cry for Divine Justice
Hebrew · 10 what the commentators say
Meaning in one sentence
Psalm 79:6 asks if believers can pray for God's wrath on enemies.
Research Summary
- Meaning: A plea for God to execute judgment on hostile nations that reject Him and oppress His people, entrusting justice to God alone.
- Key words: “Pour out” (שְׁפֹךְ, Qal imperative of shaphakh); “wrath” (חֵמָה, burning anger); “know” (יָדַע, covenantal relationship); “call on your name” (קָרָא בְשִׁמְךָ, invoke in worship).
- Main debate: Whether this imprecatory prayer is appropriate for Christians today, given Jesus’ command to love enemies.
- Theological theme: Divine justice as an expression of God’s covenant faithfulness and His concern for His own glory.
- Best use: A model for honest lament and for trusting God to act righteously when human systems fail.
Translation Comparison
BSB Berean Standard Bible 2020
Pour out Your wrath on the nations that do not acknowledge You, on the kingdoms that refuse to call on Your name,
WEB World English Bible 2000
Pour out your wrath on the nations that don’t know you, on the kingdoms that don’t call on your name,
KJV King James Version 1769
Pour out thy wrath upon the heathen that have not known thee, and upon the kingdoms that have not called upon thy name.
ASV American Standard Version 1901
Pour out thy wrath upon the nations that know thee not, And upon the kingdoms that call not upon thy name.
YLT Young's Literal Translation 1898
Pour Thy fury on the nations who have not known Thee, And on kingdoms that have not called in Thy name.
Darby Darby Bible 1890
Pour out thy fury upon the nations that have not known thee, and upon the kingdoms that call not upon thy name:
Douay-Rheims Douay-Rheims Bible 1899
How long wilt thou feed us with the bread of tears: and give us for our drink tears in measure?
Translations in other languages (10 available)
Derrama tu ira sobre las gentes que no te conocen, y sobre los reinos que no invocan tu nombre.
Derrama o teu furor sobre as nações que não te conhecem, sobre os reinos que não clamam pelo teu nome;
Répands ta fureur sur les nations qui ne te connaissent pas,
Schütte deinen Grimm auf die Heiden, die dich nicht kennen, und auf die Königreiche, die deinen Namen nicht anrufen.
Stort Uw grimmigheid uit over de heidenen, die U niet kennen, en over de koninkrijken, die Uw Naam niet aanroepen.
Spandi l’ira tua sulle nazioni che non ti conoscono, e sopra i regni che non invocano il tuo nome.
Wylij gniew twój na pogan, którzy cię nie znają, i na królestwa, które imienia twego nie wzywają.
Ты напитал их хлебом слезным, и напоил их слезами в большой мере,
願你將你的忿怒 倒 在 那 不 認識你 的外邦 和 那 不 求告 你名 的國度。
Let your wrath be on the nations who have no knowledge of you, and on the kingdoms who have not made prayer to your name.
Verse in Context
Original Language (Biblical Hebrew)
Old Testament · Biblical Hebrew · Psalms 79:6
Source: STEPBible TAGNT/TEHB (CC-BY 4.0). Click or tap a morphology code to see the full parsing.
Scholars' Consensus
Commentators across traditions agree that this verse is not a personal vendetta but a plea for divine justice. The nations targeted are defined by their refusal to know God (yada‘) and to call on His name (qara’), a relational and religious estrangement, not mere ignorance. Barnes notes that the verb “pour out” (shaphakh) evokes a cup of judgment, a metaphor for God’s righteous wrath. Calvin places the prayer within the Church’s lament under severe oppression, where the faithful appeal to God’s honor. Gill adds that the imprecation regards public justice and God’s glory, not private revenge. Keil and Delitzsch observe that the prayer grows out of the question “How long?” and turns God’s anger toward the enemies He has used as a rod. The commentators caution against using this verse as a proof-text for the condemnation of the unevangelized; it is a cry for covenant vindication.
How settled is the interpretation?
Interpretive difficulty: High
Main views:
- Prayer for covenant vengeance: God is obligated by covenant to defend His people and judge their enemies; the prayer aligns with Old Testament justice (Deuteronomy 32:35–36).
- Prophetic pronouncement: The imperative functions as a prediction of inevitable judgment (borrowed by Jeremiah 10:25 in a similar context).
- Expression of raw lament: The psalm gives voice to human anger and grief, which is brought before God; it is not prescriptive but descriptive of a stage in the process of lament.
- Transformed through Christ: Christians must reinterpret this cry through Jesus' command to love enemies and pray for persecutors, possibly praying for conversion even while desiring justice.
What is clear: The verse is a plea for God to act in judgment against those who have violently opposed His people and refuse to acknowledge Him.
What Scholars Agree and Debate
| Topic | Agreed | Debated |
|---|---|---|
| Nature of the prayer | The prayer is a petition for divine justice against those who have violently oppressed God's people. | Some see it as a model for Christian prayer; others believe it remains within the old covenant context and must be reinterpreted through Christ. |
| Identity of 'the nations' | They are specific historical enemies of Israel (e.g., Babylon, Syria). | Some extend the principle to all who oppose God's kingdom; others limit it to the immediate historical opponents. |
| Relationship to the New Testament | There is a clear tension between the imprecation and Jesus' command to love enemies. | Some argue the prayer is vindicated as a cry for justice that can coexist with love; others say the Christian must repent of such prayers and pray only for conversion. |
| Theological basis for the petition | The request is grounded in God's covenant and His concern for His name. | Reformed traditions emphasize God's sovereignty and justice; some Arminian traditions focus on human free will and the need for evangelism. |
Historical & Cultural Context
Psalm 79 is a communal lament, likely written after the destruction of Jerusalem, either by the Babylonians (586 BC) or during the persecution under Antiochus Epiphanes (2nd century BC). The opening verses describe the temple defiled, Jerusalem in ruins, and the bodies of God’s servants left unburied (vv. 2, 3). The psalmist cries, “How long, Yahweh? Will you be angry forever?” (v. 5). Then comes the imperative: “Pour out your wrath on the nations that don’t know you.”
The Hebrew verb shaphakh (pour out) is used elsewhere for pouring out a cup of poison or judgment (Psalm 75:8, Jeremiah 25:15). The noun chemah (wrath) means “heat” or “burning anger,” often describing God’s judgment against covenant breakers. The phrase “nations that don’t know you” uses the verb yada‘, which in the Old Testament often describes intimate, covenantal knowledge, not mere facts (Amos 3:2). “Call on your name” (qara’ beshem) means to invoke God in worship and dependence (Psalm 145:18). These are not generic pagans but the specific nations that have violently invaded God’s inheritance (v. 1).
The prayer reflects the covenant worldview: God will defend His people and punish their oppressors. The psalmist does not take revenge but entrusts justice to the righteous Judge. The surrounding verses make clear that the ultimate motivation is God’s glory: “Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of your name” (v. 9). This is a plea for God to act consistently with His own character and promises.
Textual Notes
The consulted sources note no significant textual variants for Psalm 79:6. The Masoretic Text is stable; the verse is quoted in Jeremiah 10:25 with minor differences in phrasing (“pour out your fury on the nations that do not know you, and on the families that do not call on your name”). The Greek Septuagint and Latin Vulgate follow the Hebrew closely.
Reception History
In the early church, Augustine and others often allegorized imprecatory psalms, interpreting the enemies as spiritual forces rather than human opponents. During the Reformation, Calvin and Luther saw these prayers as legitimate pleas for God to defend the gospel against its persecutors. In the modern period, many Christians struggle with the imprecatory elements, viewing them as human expressions of anger that can be brought honestly to God but must be transformed by Christ's teaching on forgiveness and love for enemies. The verse has also been used in contexts of persecution, where believers find in it a voice for their desire for justice.
Preaching This Verse
Three-point outline
- The character of the oppressor: The nations are marked by not knowing God and not calling on His name.
- The cry for justice: The psalmist asks God to pour out His wrath, not for personal vengeance but for covenant vindication.
- The confidence in God’s response: The prayer trusts that God will act for His own name’s sake and for the protection of His people.
Five-point outline
- Context: devastation of Jerusalem and the temple (vv. 1, 4).
- The “How long?” lament (v. 5).
- The specific plea: pour wrath on the nations that do not know God (v. 6).
- The reason: they have devoured Jacob (v. 7).
- The larger request for mercy and deliverance (vv. 8, 13).
Illustration hooks
- A congregation in a region of persecution prays for the downfall of an oppressive regime. How does this verse give them language to cry out for justice without taking revenge themselves?
- A victim of violent crime struggles with feelings of anger and the command to forgive. Psalm 79 shows that bringing the desire for justice to God can be an honest part of lament.
- A Christian living among hostile neighbors wonders if it is wrong to ask God to “do something.” This verse models entrusting ultimate judgment to God.
Questions your congregation is asking
- Is it okay for me to pray for bad things to happen to people who hurt me?
- How do I reconcile Psalm 79:6 with Jesus’ command to love my enemies?
- Does this verse mean God will condemn everyone who doesn’t know Him?
Leading a Discussion
Psalm 79 rises from the ashes of a destroyed city. The people have seen their temple defiled and their loved ones killed. In that raw grief, the psalmist cries out for God’s wrath on the enemy nations. As you discuss this passage, consider the difference between personal vengeance and a plea for divine justice, and how both can be brought honestly before God.
Discussion questions
- Read Psalm 79:1, 5. What emotions do you hear in this opening? How does the psalmist describe the situation?
- In verse 6, what defines the nations the psalmist prays against? What does it mean “not to know” God and “not to call on His name”?
- Why does the psalmist ask God to pour out His wrath? What is the basis for this request?
- How does this prayer compare with Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 5:43, 48 to love our enemies? Are they contradictory, or can they both be valid in different contexts?
- When you have been wronged, have you ever felt like praying this way? What held you back? What does it mean to bring both the desire for justice and the command to forgive to God?
- Verse 9 says, “Help us…for the glory of your name.” How does God’s honor shape the prayer for justice? What does that teach us about the ultimate goal of our petitions?
- How can a church community today use this psalm to pray for the persecuted church around the world?
Word Study
The key original-language words in this verse. Select any word for its full lexicon entry — meaning, every occurrence in Scripture, and related words.
Cross-References
Source: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (TSK, public domain)
| Psalms 9:16 | Yahweh has made himself known. He has executed judgment. The wicked is snared by the work of his own hands. Meditation. Selah. |
| Psalms 9:17 | The wicked shall be turned back to Sheol, even all the nations that forget God. |
| Psalms 14:4 | Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge, who eat up my people as they eat bread, and don’t call on Yahweh? |
| Psalms 53:4 | Have the workers of iniquity no knowledge, who eat up my people as they eat bread, and don’t call on God? |
| Psalms 69:24 | Pour out your indignation on them. Let the fierceness of your anger overtake them. |
| Psalms 145:18 | Yahweh is near to all those who call on him, to all who call on him in truth. |
| Isaiah 13:1 | The burden of Babylon, which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw. |
| Isaiah 13:22 | Hyenas will cry in their fortresses, and jackals in the pleasant palaces. Her time is near to come, and her days will not be prolonged. |
Interlinear and lexical data from STEPBible (CC BY 4.0). Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0). Commentaries are public domain.
For personal reflection
Read the devotional page — prayer, application, and "for families"
What the Commentators Say
9 public-domain commentaries, condensed into plain language.
Adam Clarke's Commentary Methodist/Wesleyan 1826
Clarke argues that the community's rebellion is less severe than their enemies' because the enemies never knew God at all and are completely given to idolatry. The community was unfaithful to a God they knew, but the enemies remain in total spiritual ignorance. This contrast softens the plea for judgment.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible Protestant 1832
Barnes clarifies that this prayer is not a blanket plea against all who do not know God, but a request for justice against those who have actively persecuted God's people. He warns against using this verse to support any doctrine about the eternal fate of pagans, since the text addresses specific enemies of Israel, not the unevangelized.
Calvin's Commentaries Reformed 1564
Calvin highlights that the faithful in this psalm hold two truths together: they accept their suffering as just discipline from God, yet they also see it as undeserved cruelty from enemies. Their plea for mercy rests on God's honor being attacked when the ungodly blasp
Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges Anglican 1880
The commentator notes that the prayer for punishment targets not all nations but only those that refuse to know God and ravage His people. The Revised Version’s wording is preferred: nations that do not acknowledge Jehovah and do not call on His name.
Geneva Bible Notes Reformed 1599
The Geneva Bible notes emphasize that the heathen are judged for not knowing God and for not calling on His name. Their ignorance and neglect of prayer are the specific grounds for the outpouring of wrath upon whole kingdoms.
Gill's Exposition of the Bible Baptist 1748
Gill reads the imprecation not as personal vengeance but as a prophecy of God's public justice against nations that act like heathens. He applies it specifically to antichristian kingdoms that profess Christianity yet practice idolatry, such as invoking Mary, angels, and departed saints instead of calling on Christ.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Commentary Protestant 1871
JFB notes that while the people admit they deserve punishment, they argue the pagan nations deserve even more for their violence. The singular form points to the chief power, while the plural indicates the combined confederates. Calling on Gods name means proclaiming His attributes and professing allegiance to Him.
Keil & Delitzsch OT Commentary Protestant 1876
Keil-Delitzsch notes that the poet does not claim innocence for his generation. Though they suffer for the sins of their forefathers, they have now turned from that apostasy. Their prayer asks for mercy not because they deserve it, but because they depend on God's forgiving and redeeming grace.
Matthew Henry's Commentary Reformed/Presbyterian 1710
Matthew Henry treats the plea for God to pour out his wrath on enemies not simply as a prayer but as a prophecy—a declaration of divine judgment already revealed from heaven. For him, the enemies' ignorance of God and neglect of prayer mark them as ungodly people who live without God in the world.