Psalms 85:5 · Bible study
Psalms 85:5 Commentary: Will You Be Angry Forever?
Hebrew · 9 what the commentators say
Meaning in one sentence
Psalm 85:5 asks whether God's anger lasts forever. This study explores the tension between divine wrath and covenantal restoration in post-exilic Israel.
Research Summary
- Meaning: A rhetorical plea expressing fear that God’s anger may be prolonged, asked from within trust that it will not be.
- Key words: ‘Angry’ (covenantal wrath, not caprice); ‘draw out’ (protract, as an extended hand or sword); ‘generations’ (compounded punishment feared).
- Main debate: Whether the anger is a new affliction after restoration or the lingering effect of earlier judgment.
- Theological theme: God’s anger toward His people is temporary and subordinate to His covenantal love.
- Best use: A model for honest lament in small groups, sermons, or personal prayer during prolonged suffering.
Translation Comparison
BSB Berean Standard Bible 2020
Will You be angry with us forever? Will You draw out Your anger to all generations?
WEB World English Bible 2000
Will you be angry with us forever? Will you draw out your anger to all generations?
KJV King James Version 1769
Wilt thou be angry with us for ever? wilt thou draw out thine anger to all generations?
ASV American Standard Version 1901
Wilt thou be angry with us for ever? Wilt thou draw out thine anger to all generations?
YLT Young's Literal Translation 1898
To the age art Thou angry against us? Dost Thou draw out Thine anger To generation and generation?
Darby Darby Bible 1890
Wilt thou be angry with us for ever? wilt thou draw out thine anger from generation to generation?
Douay-Rheims Douay-Rheims Bible 1899
For thou, O Lord, art sweet and mild: and plenteous in mercy to all that call upon thee.
Translations in other languages (10 available)
¿ Estarás enojado contra nosotros para siempre? ¿ extenderás tu ira de generación en generación?
Acaso estarás irado contra nós para sempre? Estenderás a tua ira de geração em geração?
Rétablis-nous, Dieu de notre salut!
Willst du denn ewiglich über uns zürnen und deinen Zorn gehen lassen für und für?
Breng ons weder, o God onzes heils! en doe te niet Uw toornigheid over ons.
Sarai tu adirato contro di noi in perpetuo? Farai tu durar l’ira tua d’età in età?
Przywróć nas, o Boże zbawienia naszego; a uczyń wstręt gniewowi swemu przeciwko nam.
ибо Ты, Господи, благ и милосерд и многомилостив ко всем, призывающим Тебя.
你要向我們 發怒 到永遠嗎？你要將你的怒氣 延留 到萬代嗎？
Will you go on being angry with us for ever? will you keep your wrath against us through all the long generations?
Verse in Context
Scholars' Consensus
Commentators agree this verse is a rhetorical plea, not a statement of belief that God’s anger is interminable. Barnes notes the question implies a ‘determined purpose’ that the anger would end. Clarke views the plea as born from extended suffering: the people have endured much, and the generation currently suffering inherited distress from their fathers. Gill adds a sharp distinction: God is ‘angry with the wicked every day’ and will be forever, but He does not retain anger forever with His own people, the plea is from the covenant community, not the impenitent. The consensus positions the verse as honest lament within trust: the psalmist expects God to relent, but the experience of prolonged affliction makes the wait feel endless.
How settled is the interpretation?
Interpretive difficulty: Low
What is clear: The verse is a rhetorical question from a suffering community that trusts God enough to ask whether His anger will last forever, and the surrounding context confirms that the expected answer is no.
What Scholars Agree and Debate
| Topic | Agreed | Debated |
|---|---|---|
| Duration of God's anger | God does not remain angry forever with His covenant people. The verse is a plea for the anger to cease, not a statement that it never will. | Some commentators (e.g., Gill) see the anger as ultimately eschatological, reserved for the wicked, while others (e.g., Calvin) view it as a present discipline that must run its course for the community. |
| Connection to past restoration | The verse comes after a confession that God has forgiven and restored (vv.1, 3), so the prayer is born from known grace. | Does the current anger represent a new sin and new punishment, or is it the incomplete phase of the same restoration? Calvin suggests new troubles after the return; others see a single extended period of affliction. |
| Interpretation of 'generations' | The phrase points to fear that punishment will affect not only the present generation but also the next. | Some read it as literal inherited punishment (the Jews still under judgment, per Gill); others as hyperbolic language expressing the depth of felt suffering. |
Historical & Cultural Context
The psalm belongs to the post-exilic period after the return from Babylon (c. 538, 515 BC). Calvin describes ‘new troubles and calamities’ after the return, crop failures, foreign pressure, and incomplete restoration of the land and temple. The community has experienced forgiveness (v.1, 3: ‘You have forgiven the iniquity of your people’) yet still lives under hardship. This tension fuels the question of v.5.
The phrase ‘draw out your anger’ (Barnes: ‘protract or prolong’) echoes a drawn sword or extended hand, an image of intentional, continuing judgment. The word ‘generations’ (Hebrew dor, implied in translation) reflects a fear that punishment compounds through families, a concern also found in lament psalms like Psalm 79:5 and Psalm 80:4. Keil and Delitzsch note that the psalm was written when the distance between temporal conditions and promised national restoration felt painfully wide. The community’s complaint is not unbelief; it is the prayer of a people who know God has acted before, and who ask why He does not act again with the same fullness.
Poole’s annotations connect this verse to 1 Maccabees 7:16, 17, where the first two verses of the psalm are quoted during Antiochus’s persecution. That second-century context shows how later generations reused the psalm in fresh crises, finding its pattern of lament and hope perpetually relevant.
Textual Notes
The supplied sources note no significant textual variants for this verse across the major manuscripts. The Hebrew text is stable. The Douay Rheims version supplied in the data does not match the verse; it appears to be a different Psalm numbering (possibly Vulgate 84:5). This does not affect the analysis of the Masoretic text.
Reception History
Jewish tradition, as cited by Hammond and Abarbanel through Calvin’s commentary, read the psalm through the lens of the scapegoat (Azazel) ceremony, interpreting the return from exile as the sins ‘borne away’ into a land of separation. The verse has been used in both synagogue and church as a prayer for times of national distress. In the Reformation era, Calvin and Matthew Henry treated it as a model for believers to argue from past grace to present petition. The psalm’s movement from lament to hope has made it a staple of liturgical penitence and morning prayer in many traditions.
Preaching This Verse
Three-point outline
- Remembering what God has done (vv. 1, 3). The prayer opens with thanks for past restoration, forgiveness, covered sin, withdrawn wrath. Past grace becomes the foundation for present petition.
- Honest lament before God (vv. 4, 5). The community does not pretend all is well. They feel God’s anger as present reality. The rhetorical question ‘Will you be angry forever?’ is raw, but it is still a question addressed to the covenant Lord, not a declaration of defeat.
- Hope that turns toward revival (vv. 6, 9). The same breath that laments asks for revival. The people expect God to speak peace. Lament is never the final word.
Five-point outline
- Past grace as petition’s ground, the psalmist begins with what God has done (v. 1, 3).
- Present trouble as honest cry, v. 4, 5 admit continued suffering after restoration.
- Plea for reversal, v. 6 asks for revival; the verb ‘turn us’ (Hebrew shuv) echoes the return from exile.
- Appeal to covenant attributes, v. 7: ‘Show us your loving kindness… grant us your salvation.’
- Confident expectation, v. 8, 9 announce God will speak peace; salvation is near.
Illustration hooks
- A family rebuilding after a wildfire: the house is rebuilt, but insurance delays, trauma lingers, and the question ‘are we still under judgment?’ haunts daily life.
- A church that experienced revival a decade ago now feels stagnant; members pray, ‘Won’t you revive us again?’
- A cancer survivor in remission who still fears the next scan, the past healing is real, but the present anxiety is also real.
Questions your congregation is asking
- ‘If God has forgiven us, why does life still feel so hard?’
- ‘Is God angry with me or my family? How long will this last?’
- ‘How do I hold onto hope when I’ve been praying for years with no change?’
Leading a Discussion
Psalm 85:5 captures the moment when a community that has experienced grace still aches under prolonged hardship. It is a prayer that does not hide the question, ‘Will you be angry forever?’, yet it asks that question within a relationship with God. The group can explore how honesty and trust coexist.
Discussion questions
- What does the verse tell us about how the people feel toward God? What does it not tell us?
- Why do the psalmists begin with past restoration (vv. 1, 3) before they lament present trouble (vv. 4, 5)?
- What might ‘draw out your anger to all generations’ have meant in a post-exilic community where children entered a world of unfinished restoration?
- How is this verse similar to or different from modern cries of ‘How long, O Lord?’ in times of personal or national suffering?
- Does this verse imply the people doubted God’s goodness? Why or why not?
- If you were to pray this verse honestly this week, what situation would come to mind?
- How does the immediate turn to hope in vv. 6, 9 shape the way we read v. 5?
Cross-References
Source: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (TSK, public domain)
| Psalms 74:1 | A contemplation by Asaph. God, why have you rejected us forever? Why does your anger smolder against the sheep of your pasture? |
| Psalms 77:9 | Has God forgotten to be gracious? Has he, in anger, withheld his compassion?” Selah. |
| Psalms 79:5 | How long, Yahweh? Will you be angry forever? Will your jealousy burn like fire? |
| Psalms 80:4 | Yahweh God of Armies, how long will you be angry against the prayer of your people? |
| Psalms 89:46 | How long, Yahweh? Will you hide yourself forever? Will your wrath burn like fire? |
| Isaiah 64:9 | Don’t be furious, Yahweh. Don’t remember iniquity forever. Look and see, we beg you, we are all your people. |
| Isaiah 64:12 | Will you hold yourself back for these things, Yahweh? Will you keep silent and punish us very severely? |
| Micah 7:18 | Who is a God like you, who pardons iniquity, and passes over the disobedience of the remnant of his heritage? He doesn’t retain his anger forever, because he delights in loving kindness. |
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
8 public-domain commentaries, condensed into plain language.
Adam Clarke's Commentary Methodist/Wesleyan 1826
Clarke highlights the phrase "draw out thine anger" as a plea against prolonged divine punishment. The speaker acknowledges that both they and their fathers have suffered deeply, and begs that this anger not be extended across further generations. The distress is inherited, and they ask for it to finally end.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible Protestant 1832
Barnes focuses on the phrase "draw out thine anger," which he says implies a deliberate, willful prolongation of God's wrath, as if it would not cease without a direct act of will. The plea asks that this judgment stop with the current generation and not continue to future ones.
Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges Anglican 1880
Even after forgiveness and restoration, much is still lacking. The prayer asks God to fully withdraw His wrath and grant complete salvation, appealing to His lovingkindness as something His beloved people have a claim upon.
Geneva Bible Notes Reformed 1599
Wilt thou be angry with vs for euer? and wilt thou prolong thy wrath from one generation to another?
Gill's Exposition of the Bible Baptist 1748
Gill distinguishes between God's eternal anger toward the wicked and His temporary anger toward His own people. He applies this to the Jewish nation: their long punishment will not last forever, because they will eventually repent and be saved.
Keil & Delitzsch OT Commentary Protestant 1876
Keil-Delitzsch argues that the prayer "restore us" actually means "turn again to us," a plea for God to manifest His former loving-kindness anew. The transition from past mercies to this petition arises from the people's present distress. The psalm reflects a time when Israel felt the painful gap between their condition and the promised national restoration.
Lange's Commentary Reformed 1857
Lange argues that the personified attributes—mercy, truth, righteousness, peace—are divine, not human virtues, acting as heavenly messengers in harmonious union.
Matthew Henry's Commentary Reformed/Presbyterian 1710
Matthew Henry observes that God is so eager to hear his people's prayers that he himself inspires their content, putting the very words into their mouths by his Spirit. He also notes that present distress should never erase grateful remembrance of past mercies; even in low times, the church must recall God's former favours.