Psalms 80:16 · Bible study
Psalms 80:16 Commentary: Judgment and Rebuke
Hebrew · 9 what the commentators say
Meaning in one sentence
Explore the burning and cutting of Israel as a vine, and the debate over who perishes at God's rebuke: Israel or its enemies.
Research Summary
- Meaning: The vine (Israel) is burned and cut as judgment; the people perish under God's angry rebuke.
- Key words: Burn (consumed by divine fire), cut down (fit for nothing but fuel), rebuke (angry look of God), perish (complete destruction).
- Main debate: Whether 'they' who perish are the nation of Israel or its enemies who destroy the vine.
- Theological theme: Divine judgment as covenant discipline, and the plea for restoration when God hides his face.
- Best use: As a lament for communities experiencing suffering or discipline, leading them to pray for revival and the return of God's favor.
Translation Comparison
BSB Berean Standard Bible 2020
Your vine has been cut down and burned; they perish at the rebuke of Your countenance.
WEB World English Bible 2000
It’s burned with fire. It’s cut down. They perish at your rebuke.
KJV King James Version 1769
It is burned with fire, it is cut down: they perish at the rebuke of thy countenance.
ASV American Standard Version 1901
It is burned with fire, it is cut down: They perish at the rebuke of thy countenance.
YLT Young's Literal Translation 1898
Burnt with fire--cut down, From the rebuke of Thy face they perish.
Darby Darby Bible 1890
It is burned with fire, it is cut down; they perish at the rebuke of thy countenance.
Douay-Rheims Douay-Rheims Bible 1899
The enemies of the Lord have lied to him: and their time shall be for ever.
Translations in other languages (10 available)
Quemada á fuego está, asolada: perezcan por la reprensión de tu rostro.
Ela está queimada pelo fogo, e cortada; perecem pela repreensão de tua face.
Protège ce que ta droite a planté,
Siehe drein und schilt, daß des Brennens und Reißens ein Ende werde.
En den stam, dien Uw rechterhand geplant heeft, en dat om den zoon, dien Gij U gesterkt hebt!
Essa è arsa dal fuoco, è recisa; il popolo perisce alla minaccia del tuo volto.
Tę winnicę, którą szczepiła prawica twoja, i latorosłki, któreś sobie zmocnił.
ненавидящие Господа раболепствовали бы им, а их благоденствие продолжалось бы навсегда;
這樹已經被火 焚燒，被刀砍伐；他們因你臉上 的怒容 就滅亡了。
It is burned with fire; it is cut down: they are made waste by the wrath of your face.
Verse in Context
Scholars' Consensus
Commentators agree that verse 16 pictures the vine of Israel, planted by God, now burned and cut down as judgment. Barnes notes this describes the nation's desolation, as if consumed by fire and the axe. The second clause shifts from the vine to the people: 'They perish at the rebuke of thy countenance.' Gill and Wesley explain that 'they' refers to the Israelites signified by the vine. The rebuke is God's angry look, Calvin speaks of God frowning on the people. Yet some, like the Targum and Gill's alternate reading, understand 'they' as the enemies who cut down the vine and should themselves perish. The Cambridge Bible notes possible textual displacement, suggesting verse 16 might originally refer to Israel's enemies. Despite this interpretive fork, all see the verse as a cry of a people under divine wrath, pleading for restoration.
How settled is the interpretation?
Interpretive difficulty: Medium
Main views:
- Israel perishes: The immediate context uses the vine to represent Israel; verse 16b switches to 'they' for the people, matching the lament over God's discipline (Gill, Wesley, Barnes).
- Enemies perish: The shift from 'it' (the vine) to 'they' lets some read verse 16b as a prayer that the destroyers themselves be judged (Targum, alternative in Gill, Cambridge Bible conjecture).
What is clear: God’s rebuke brings destruction; the vine (God’s people) is burned and cut, and the community cries out for restoration.
What Scholars Agree and Debate
| Topic | Agreed | Debated |
|---|---|---|
| Identity of 'they' in verse 16b | The verse describes a destruction that comes when God rebukes: ’they perish at the rebuke of thy countenance.’ | Most commentators (Barnes, Gill, Wesley) take ’they’ as the people of Israel, the vine itself. Others, including the Targum and some readings cited by Gill, see it as a wish that the enemies who burned the vine would perish. |
| Historical setting of Psalm 80 | The psalm comes from a time of national crisis, likely military invasion or exile, with the northern tribes especially in view. | Calvin and Hengstenberg favor the Assyrian oppression; Olshausen and Hitzig argue for the Syrian (Maccabean) period; Michaelis suggests the Philistine era. Lange notes the LXX superscription alludes to the Philistines. |
| Vine metaphor: Church or nation | The vine represents God’s chosen people, planted and tended by him. | Historic Christian interpretation often applies the vine to the Old Testament people of God, while some (Matthew Henry, Gill) see it as a type of Christ or the church. The ’man of your right hand’ in verse 17 is often read as a messianic figure. |
| Textual integrity of verses 15-17 | The verse as received describes destruction and judgment. | The Cambridge Bible notes that Cheyne and others propose rearranging the verses, moving 16 to refer to enemies, to resolve the shift from ’it’ to ’they.’ No major version follows this, but it shows the interpretive difficulty. |
Historical & Cultural Context
Psalm 80 is a national lament, likely from the period of the divided kingdom or the Assyrian crisis. The psalmist addresses the 'Shepherd of Israel,' evoking the exodus and the planting of Israel as a vine in Canaan (verses 8-11). This vine imagery recalls Isaiah 5:1-7, where God's vineyard yields wild grapes. Here the walls are broken, the boar ravages, and the vine is burned and cut, a picture of military invasion and exile. The refrain 'Turn us again, O God of hosts; cause your face to shine, and we will be saved' (v.19) frames the plea. Verse 16 reaches the low point: the vine is destroyed, and 'they perish at the rebuke of thy countenance.' In ancient Near Eastern thought, a god's angry look could bring calamity (see Psalms 39:11, 76:6-7). The 'rebuke of your face' is an idiom for direct, withering judgment. The psalm moves from describing ruin to crying for restoration, naming Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh, tribes of the northern kingdom, suggesting the crisis hit the north especially hard. The historical setting remains debated (Syrian or Assyrian oppression), but the liturgical purpose is clear: a community in distress calls on God to remember his vine.
Textual Notes
The supplied commentaries note no significant textual variants for Psalm 80:16 itself. The KJV, ASV, WEB, and Darby all render similarly. The Douay-Rheims differs sharply, reading: 'The enemies of the Lord have lied to him: and their time shall be for ever.' The Cambridge Bible mentions a conjecture by Cheyne that verses have been displaced (suggesting an order of 11, 14, 15, 12, 13, 16) to make 16 refer to enemies. This is a scholarly proposal, not represented in any standard edition. The verse stands as printed in the Hebrew text and major translations.
Reception History
Psalm 80 has been read in Christian tradition as a prayer of the church in times of affliction, with the vine interpreted as the people of God under discipline. The image of the vine burned and cut down has been linked to Christ’s words in John 15:6, where branches that bear no fruit are thrown into the fire. In synagogue worship, this psalm is part of the lament tradition, often recited on fast days. Medieval commentators like Thomas Aquinas saw the rebuke of God’s face as the withdrawal of grace, leading to spiritual desolation. The verse has been used in hymns of penitence and restoration, sung by communities seeking revival.
Preaching This Verse
Three-point outline
- God's planting, human ruin. Israel as a vine brought from Egypt, carefully tended, now burned and cut. Sin and rebellion led to judgment.
- The rebuke that destroys. God's face turned in anger is enough to make a nation perish. His wrath is not arbitrary but just response to covenant breaking.
- Despair that drives to prayer. The verse sits between ruin and plea. The community does not stay silent; they cry for the face to shine again.
Five-point outline
- Hope remembered: The vine was planted by God's own hand (v.8-11).
- Hope shattered: Walls broken, boar ravages, vine burned (v.12-16a).
- Wrath revealed: 'They perish at the rebuke of your countenance' (v.16b).
- Plea for mercy: 'Let your hand be on the man of your right hand' (v.17), a messianic turn.
- Restoration promised: 'Revive us, and we will call on your name' (v.18-19).
Illustration hooks
- A garden after neglect: A once-thriving vegetable patch overtaken by weeds and pests, the fence broken, the plants shriveled. The gardener's discipline: pulling out the dead vines to start again.
- A business that lost its purpose: A company founded with vision and care, but over time corner-cutting and greed led to failure. The market's 'rebuke' is swift, but the founders can rebuild with new focus.
- Personal consequence: A relationship strained by repeated broken trust. The 'rebuke' of a parent's or friend's disappointed face can feel like a fire burning what was good.
Questions your congregation is asking
- Does God still judge his people today, or is that only an Old Testament concept?
- When my life feels like it's burned and cut down, is God angry with me?
- How do I pray when I've brought trouble on myself through sin?
Leading a Discussion
Psalm 80:16 sits at the darkest point of a lament, where the vine of Israel is consumed by fire and cut down. The verse forces us to ask: Who is perishing, God's own people or their enemies? The answer shapes how we understand divine discipline and mercy. Read Psalm 80 together, paying attention to the vine metaphor and the repeated refrain. Let the words land before you discuss.
Discussion questions
- Observation: What images does the psalmist use to describe the nation's condition in verses 12-16? What senses do they engage?
- Interpretation: The verse switches from 'it' (the vine) to 'they' (the ones perishing). In your reading, who are 'they', Israel or the attackers? What clues in the psalm support your view?
- Interpretation: What does it mean to 'perish at the rebuke of your countenance'? How does this phrase connect with the refrain 'cause your face to shine' (v.19)?
- Theological reflection: This psalm names God's anger as the cause of ruin. How do you reconcile a loving God with a God whose look can destroy?
- Application: Have you ever felt like a 'vine' that was planted with care then left to burn? How might this psalm give words for that experience?
- Application: The community prays 'Turn us again' and 'revive us.' What does it look like for a person or church today to 'turn' after a time of discipline or failure?
- Hope: Verse 17 asks God's hand to be on 'the son of man whom you made strong for yourself.' How does the New Testament's connection of this 'son of man' to Jesus (John 15:1-8) reframe the vine's story?
Cross-References
Source: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (TSK, public domain)
| Psalms 39:11 | When you rebuke and correct man for iniquity, you consume his wealth like a moth. Surely every man is but a breath.” Selah. |
| Psalms 76:6 | At your rebuke, God of Jacob, both chariot and horse are cast into a dead sleep. |
| Psalms 76:7 | You, even you, are to be feared. Who can stand in your sight when you are angry? |
| Psalms 79:5 | How long, Yahweh? Will you be angry forever? Will your jealousy burn like fire? |
| Psalms 90:7 | For we are consumed in your anger. We are troubled in your wrath. |
| Isaiah 27:11 | When its boughs are withered, they will be broken off. The women will come and set them on fire, for they are a people of no understanding. Therefore he who made them will not have compassion on them, and he who formed them will show them no favor. |
| Ezekiel 20:47 | Tell the forest of the south, ‘Hear Yahweh’s word: The Lord Yahweh says, “Behold, I will kindle a fire in you, and it will devour every green tree in you, and every dry tree. The burning flame will not be quenched, and all faces from the south to the north will be burned by it. |
| Ezekiel 20:48 | All flesh will see that I, Yahweh, have kindled it. It will not be quenched.”’” |
Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0). Commentaries are public domain.
For personal reflection
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What the Commentators Say
8 public-domain commentaries, condensed into plain language.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible Protestant 1832
Barnes stresses that the destruction described comes not from prolonged effort but from a single look of divine anger. The vineyard is consumed and cut down, and the people perish simply at the rebuke of God's countenance, as though His frown alone is enough to bring them to ruin.
Calvin's Commentaries Reformed 1564
Calvin reads this psalm as a sorrowful prayer composed specifically for the ten northern tribes of Israel, not for Judah. He points to the mention of Joseph, Ephraim, and Manasseh as evidence that the faithful are pleading for God to restore his favor to a kingdom now wasted by calamities, contrasting their present misery with the Church's earlier blessings.
Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges Anglican 1880
The Cambridge Bible notes a possible textual displacement in this passage, where the reference to the vine being cut down for fuel may belong to a different order of verses. Cheyne proposes rearranging the verses so that the phrase "Let them perish" applies to Israel's enemies rather than to Israel itself, resolving a confusion between similar phrases.
Geneva Bible Notes Reformed 1599
The Geneva note highlights the completeness of destruction: the vine is burned and cut down, and the people perish solely by the rebuke of God's face. The commentator emphasizes that God's direct displeasure, not merely human action, brings this total ruin.
Gill's Exposition of the Bible Baptist 1748
Gill sees the vine's burning and cutting as a picture of Israel's judgment, with God's rebuke as the true cause of their ruin. Human armies were merely instruments in His hand. He also notes that some read this as a prayer for God to destroy those who harmed His people.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Commentary Protestant 1871
jamieson, fausset and brown note that the ambiguous "it" in this verse refers either to the vine or to the people, but the meaning is the same: both are suffering because of God's displeasure. The source of their affliction is divine discipline, not mere misfortune.
Matthew Henry's Commentary Reformed/Presbyterian 1710
Henry draws attention to the vine metaphor for the church: weak, needing support, outwardly unimpressive yet spreading and bearing excellent fruit. He identifies Christ as the root of this vine and believers as its branches, and marvels that God planted such a choice vine in the wilderness of this world and preserved it.
Wesley's Explanatory Notes Methodist/Wesleyan 1754
Wesley notes that the pronoun "they" refers to the people themselves, not the vine image. The psalmist is shifting from the metaphor to the actual reality it represents.