Therefore was the wrath of the LORD kindled against his people, insomuch that he abhorred his own inheritance.
Parallel translations
- WEB Therefore Yahweh burned with anger against his people. He abhorred his inheritance.
- BSB So the anger of the LORD burned against His people, and 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 2:14And the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel, and he delivered them into the hands of spoilers that spoiled them, and he sold them into the hands of their enemies round about, so that they could not any longer stand before their enemies.
- Deut 9:29Yet they are thy people and thine inheritance, which thou broughtest out by thy mighty power and by thy stretched out arm.
- Judg 2:20And the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel; and he said, Because that this people hath transgressed my covenant which I commanded their fathers, and have not hearkened unto my voice;
- Deut 32:19And when the LORD saw it, he abhorred them, because of the provoking of his sons, and of his daughters.
- Judg 3:8Therefore the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of Chushanrishathaim king of Mesopotamia: and the children of Israel served Chushanrishathaim eight years.
- Neh 9:27–38Therefore thou deliveredst them into the hand of their enemies, who vexed them: and in the time of their trouble, when they cried unto thee, thou heardest them from heaven; and according to thy manifold mercies thou gavest them saviours, who saved them out of the hand of their enemies.
- Lam 2:7The LORD hath cast off his altar, he hath abhorred his sanctuary, he hath given up into the hand of the enemy the walls of her palaces; they have made a noise in the house of the LORD, as in the day of a solemn feast.
- Zech 11:8Three shepherds also I cut off in one month; and my soul lothed them, and their soul also abhorred me.
- Lev 20:23And ye shall not walk in the manners of the nation, which I cast out before you: for they committed all these things, and therefore I abhorred them.
- Ps 74:1O God, why hast thou cast us off for ever? why doth thine anger smoke against the sheep of thy pasture?
- Ps 78:59–62When God heard this, he was wroth, and greatly abhorred Israel:
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
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.