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So the anger of the LORD burned against His people, and He abhorred His own inheritance.
Psalms 106:40 · Berean Standard Bible
Parallel translations
  • WEB Therefore Yahweh burned with anger against his people. He abhorred his inheritance.
  • KJV Therefore was the wrath of the LORD kindled against his people, insomuch that he abhorred his own inheritance.
  • NKJV Therefore the wrath of the Lord was kindled against His people, So that He abhorred His own inheritance.
  • NASB ¶Therefore the anger of the Lord was kindled against His people, And He loathed His inheritance.
  • NLT That is why the Lord’s anger burned against his people, and he abhorred his own special possession.

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

God's anger burned against Israel, and he abhorred the very people he had chosen as his inheritance.

Overview

After rehearsing Israel's repeated rebellions, the psalmist shows that their sin provoked the LORD's righteous wrath even against his own covenant people. The word 'inheritance' underscores the seriousness: God's chosen treasure had become loathsome through persistent idolatry. This is not divine fickleness but holy response to sin, and it sets the stage for the mercy that follows, anticipating the gospel truth that God's holiness and his love meet at the cross.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 11

  • Judg 2:14Then the anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and He delivered them into the hands of those who plundered them. He sold them into the hands of their enemies all around, whom they were no longer able to resist.
  • Deut 9:29But they are Your people, Your inheritance, whom You brought out by Your great power and outstretched arm.”
  • Judg 2:20So the anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and He said, “Because this nation has transgressed the covenant I laid down for their fathers and has not heeded My voice,
  • Deut 32:19When the LORD saw this, He rejected them, provoked to anger by His sons and daughters.
  • Judg 3:8Then the anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and He sold them into the hand of Cushan-rishathaim king of Aram-naharaim, and the Israelites served him eight years.
  • Neh 9:27–38So You delivered them into the hands of enemies who oppressed them, and in their time of distress they cried out to You. From heaven You heard them, and in Your great compassion You gave them deliverers who saved them from the hands of their enemies.
  • Lam 2:7The Lord has rejected His altar; He has abandoned His sanctuary; He has delivered the walls of her palaces into the hand of the enemy. They have raised a shout in the house of the LORD as on the day of an appointed feast.
  • Zech 11:8And in one month I dismissed three shepherds. My soul grew impatient with the flock, and their souls also detested me.
  • Lev 20:23You must not follow the statutes of the nations I am driving out before you. Because they did all these things, I abhorred them.
  • Ps 74:1A Maskil of Asaph. Why have You rejected us forever, O God? Why does Your anger smolder against the sheep of Your pasture?
  • Ps 78:59–62On hearing it, God was furious and rejected Israel completely.

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Psalms videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Psalms 106:40YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on PsalmsMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

Christ at the center

The Psalms are Christ's own prayer book and a gallery of his portraits — the suffering one of Psalm 22, the risen Lord of Psalm 16, the priest-king of Psalm 110, the Son to whom the nations are given.

How Psalms 106:40 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

Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.