To execute vengeance upon the heathen, and punishments upon the people;
Parallel translations
- WEB To execute vengeance on the nations, and punishments on the peoples;
- BSB to inflict vengeance on the nations and punishment on the peoples,
- NKJV To execute vengeance on the nations, And punishments on the peoples;
- NASB To execute vengeance on the nations, And punishment on the peoples,
- NLT to execute vengeance on the nations and punishment on the peoples,
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 saints are called to execute God's vengeance and just punishments on the nations, carrying out His righteous judgment rather than personal revenge.
Overview
Within Israel's history this described God using His covenant people to enact His judgments against hostile nations. The vengeance in view is God's own, not human spite (Deuteronomy 32:35; Romans 12:19). In the New Testament era the church wages a spiritual rather than military campaign, advancing Christ's kingdom by the gospel, while final judgment of the nations belongs to the returning Christ (Revelation 19).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- Zech 14:17–19And it shall be, that whoso will not come up of all the families of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, even upon them shall be no rain.
- Rev 19:11–21And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war.
- 1 Sam 15:2–3Thus saith the LORD of hosts, I remember that which Amalek did to Israel, how he laid wait for him in the way, when he came up from Egypt.
- 1 Sam 15:18–23And the LORD sent thee on a journey, and said, Go and utterly destroy the sinners the Amalekites, and fight against them until they be consumed.
- Ps 137:8–9O daughter of Babylon, who art to be destroyed; happy shall he be, that rewardeth thee as thou hast served us.
- Judg 5:23Curse ye Meroz, said the angel of the LORD, curse ye bitterly the inhabitants thereof; because they came not to the help of the LORD, to the help of the LORD against the mighty.
- Num 31:2–3Avenge the children of Israel of the Midianites: afterward shalt thou be gathered unto thy people.
- Zech 9:13–16When I have bent Judah for me, filled the bow with Ephraim, and raised up thy sons, O Zion, against thy sons, O Greece, and made thee as the sword of a mighty man.
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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 149:7 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.