as fire kindles the brushwood and causes the water to boil, to make Your name known to Your enemies, so that the nations will tremble at Your presence!
Parallel translations
- WEB As when fire kindles the brushwood, and the fire causes the water to boil; Make your name known to your adversaries, that the nations may tremble at your presence!
- KJV As when the melting fire burneth, the fire causeth the waters to boil, to make thy name known to thine adversaries, that the nations may tremble at thy presence!
- NKJV As fire burns brushwood, As fire causes water to boil— To make Your name known to Your adversaries, That the nations may tremble at Your presence!
- NASB As fire kindles brushwood, as fire causes water to boil— To make Your name known to Your adversaries, That the nations may tremble at Your presence!
- NLT As fire causes wood to burn and water to boil, your coming would make the nations tremble. Then your enemies would learn the reason for your fame!
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
They ask God to make His name known to His adversaries so the nations tremble before Him. It matters because it longs for God's glory to be revealed to all.
Overview
Using the image of fire that makes water boil, the prayer asks for a display of God's power that would cause even His enemies to recognize Him. The concern is for God's name and renown among the nations. This desire for God to be known and feared anticipates the day when every knee will bow at the name of Jesus (Philippians 2:10-11).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 27
- Ps 99:1The LORD reigns; let the nations tremble! He is enthroned above the cherubim; let the earth quake!
- Jer 33:9So this city will bring Me renown, joy, praise, and glory before all the nations of the earth, who will hear of all the good I do for it. They will tremble in awe because of all the goodness and prosperity that I will provide for it.
- Ps 102:15–16So the nations will fear the name of the LORD, and all the kings of the earth will fear Your glory.
- Jer 5:22Do you not fear Me?” declares the LORD. “Do you not tremble before Me, the One who set the sand as the boundary for the sea, an enduring barrier it cannot cross? The waves surge, but they cannot prevail. They roar but cannot cross it.
- Ps 46:10“Be still and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted over the earth.”
- Dan 4:32–37You will be driven away from mankind to live with the beasts of the field, and you will feed on grass like an ox. And seven times will pass you by, until you acknowledge that the Most High rules over the kingdom of mankind and gives it to whom He wishes.”
- Exod 14:4And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart so that he will pursue them. But I will gain honor by means of Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am the LORD.” So this is what the Israelites did.
- Dan 6:25–27Then King Darius wrote to the people of every nation and language throughout the land: “May your prosperity abound.
- Ezek 38:22–23I will execute judgment upon him with plague and bloodshed. I will pour out torrents of rain, hailstones, fire, and sulfur on him and on his troops and on the many nations with him.
- Isa 37:20And now, O LORD our God, save us from his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You alone, O LORD, are God.”
- Ps 98:1–2A Psalm. Sing to the LORD a new song, for He has done wonders; His right hand and holy arm have gained Him the victory.
- Exod 15:14–16The nations will hear and tremble; anguish will grip the dwellers of Philistia.
- Rev 11:11–13But after the three and a half days, the breath of life from God entered the two witnesses, and they stood on their feet, and great fear fell upon those who saw them.
- Dan 4:1–3King Nebuchadnezzar, To the people of every nation and language who dwell in all the earth: May your prosperity be multiplied.
- Ezek 39:27–28When I bring them back from the peoples and gather them out of the lands of their enemies, I will show My holiness in them in the sight of many nations.
- Ps 9:20Lay terror upon them, O LORD; let the nations know they are but men. Selah
- Ps 67:1–2For the choirmaster. With stringed instruments. A Psalm. A song. May God be gracious to us and bless us, and cause His face to shine upon us, Selah
- 1 Kgs 8:41–43And as for the foreigner who is not of Your people Israel but has come from a distant land because of Your name—
- 1 Sam 17:46–47This day the LORD will deliver you into my hand. This day I will strike you down, cut off your head, and give the carcasses of the Philistines to the birds of the air and the creatures of the earth. Then the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel.
- Ps 83:13Make them like tumbleweed, O my God, like chaff before the wind.
- Deut 2:25This very day I will begin to put the dread and fear of you upon all the nations under heaven. They will hear the reports of you and tremble in anguish because of you.”
- Mic 7:15–17As in the days when you came out of Egypt, I will show My wonders.
- Joel 3:16–17The LORD will roar from Zion and raise His voice from Jerusalem; heaven and earth will tremble. But the LORD will be a refuge for His people, a stronghold for the people of Israel.
- Isa 63:12who sent His glorious arm to lead them by the right hand of Moses, who divided the waters before them to gain for Himself everlasting renown,
- Ps 79:10Why should the nations ask, “Where is their God?” Before our eyes, make known among the nations Your vengeance for the bloodshed of Your servants.
- Ps 106:8Yet He saved them for the sake of His name, to make His power known.
- Ps 48:4–6For behold, the kings assembled; they all advanced together.
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Christ at the center
Isaiah sees him most clearly: the virgin's son Immanuel, the child on David's throne, the shoot from Jesse, the light to the nations, and above all the Suffering Servant pierced for our transgressions (ch. 53).
How Isaiah 64:2 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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