There they are in great fear, For God is with the generation of the righteous.
Parallel translations
- WEB There they were in great fear, for God is in the generation of the righteous.
- KJV There were they in great fear: for God is in the generation of the righteous.
- BSB There they are, overwhelmed with dread, for God is in the company of the righteous.
- NASB There they are in great dread, For God is with a righteous generation.
- NLT Terror will grip them, for God is with those who obey him.
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
The wicked are seized with sudden terror because God stands with the righteous. It matters because God's presence among his people is their security and the dread of their enemies.
Overview
Those who scorned God are overtaken by great fear, for Yahweh dwells in the generation of the righteous. The very God they denied proves to be present and powerful on behalf of his own. This anticipates the gospel assurance that God is for those who are his, so that no opposition can finally stand.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 18
- Ps 112:2His offspring will be mighty in the land. The generation of the upright will be blessed.
- Ps 73:15If I had said, “I will speak thus”; behold, I would have betrayed the generation of your children.
- Ps 24:6This is the generation of those who seek Him, who seek your face — even Jacob. Selah.
- Isa 43:1–2But now Yahweh who created you, Jacob, and he who formed you, Israel says: “Don’t be afraid, for I have redeemed you. I have called you by your name. You are mine.
- Ps 22:30Posterity shall serve him. Future generations shall be told about the Lord.
- Matt 1:23“Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and shall give birth to a son. They shall call his name Immanuel”; which is, being interpreted, “God with us.”
- Esth 8:7Then King Ahasuerus said to Esther the queen and to Mordecai the Jew, “See, I have given Esther the house of Haman, and him they have hanged on the gallows, because he laid his hand on the Jews.
- Prov 28:1The wicked flee when no one pursues; but the righteous are as bold as a lion.
- Prov 1:26–27I also will laugh at your disaster. I will mock when calamity overtakes you;
- Ps 46:5God is within her. She shall not be moved. God will help her at dawn.
- Exod 15:16Terror and dread falls on them. By the greatness of your arm they are as still as a stone — until your people pass over, Yahweh, until the people pass over who you have purchased.
- 1 Pet 2:9But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, that you may proclaim the excellence of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light:
- Ps 53:5There they were in great fear, where no fear was, for God has scattered the bones of him who encamps against you. You have put them to shame, because God has rejected them.
- Isa 8:10Take counsel together, and it will be brought to nothing; speak the word, and it will not stand: for God is with us.”
- Isa 41:10Don’t you be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you. Yes, I will help you. Yes, I will uphold you with the right hand of my righteousness.
- Ps 46:7Yahweh of Armies is with us. The God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.
- Ps 46:11Yahweh of Armies is with us. The God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.
- Isa 12:6Cry aloud and shout, you inhabitant of Zion; for the Holy One of Israel is great among you!”
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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 14:5 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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