Our God approaches and will not be silent! Consuming fire precedes Him, and a tempest rages around Him.
Parallel translations
- WEB Our God comes, and does not keep silent. A fire devours before him. It is very stormy around him.
- KJV Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence: a fire shall devour before him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about him.
- NKJV Our God shall come, and shall not keep silent; A fire shall devour before Him, And it shall be very tempestuous all around Him.
- NASB May our God come and not keep silent; Fire devours before Him, And a storm is violently raging around Him.
- NLT Our God approaches, and he is not silent. Fire devours everything in his way, and a great storm rages around 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
God comes openly, not silently, surrounded by fire and storm. His coming for judgment is awesome and unmistakable.
Overview
Echoing the theophany at Sinai, God arrives with devouring fire and tempest, signaling that He will no longer remain silent about His people's conduct. The imagery conveys both His holiness and the seriousness of the judgment to follow. Such language anticipates the day when Christ returns 'in flaming fire' to judge (2 Thessalonians 1:7-8).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 26
- Num 16:35And fire came forth from the LORD and consumed the 250 men who were offering the incense.
- Dan 7:10A river of fire was flowing, coming out from His presence. Thousands upon thousands attended Him, and myriads upon myriads stood before Him. The court was convened, and the books were opened.
- Lev 10:2So fire came out from the presence of the LORD and consumed them, and they died in the presence of the LORD.
- Matt 3:12His winnowing fork is in His hand to clear His threshing floor and to gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”
- Mal 4:1“For behold, the day is coming, burning like a furnace, when all the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble; the day is coming when I will set them ablaze,” says the LORD of Hosts. “Not a root or branch will be left to them.”
- Ps 97:3–5Fire goes before Him and consumes His foes on every side.
- Ps 68:20Our God is a God of deliverance; the Lord GOD is our rescuer from death.
- Ps 48:14For this God is our God forever and ever; He will be our guide even till death.
- Isa 65:6–7Behold, it is written before Me: I will not keep silent, but I will repay; I will pay it back into their laps,
- Exod 19:18Mount Sinai was completely enveloped in smoke, because the LORD had descended on it in fire. And the smoke rose like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked violently.
- Rev 22:20He who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!
- Ps 18:7–15Then the earth shook and quaked, and the foundations of the mountains trembled; they were shaken because He burned with anger.
- Deut 9:3But understand that today the LORD your God goes across ahead of you as a consuming fire; He will destroy them and subdue them before you. And you will drive them out and annihilate them swiftly, as the LORD has promised you.
- Mal 3:2–3But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He will be like a refiner’s fire, like a launderer’s soap.
- Ps 96:13before the LORD, for He is coming—He is coming to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples in His faithfulness.
- Heb 12:29“For our God is a consuming fire.”
- 2 Th 1:8–9in blazing fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.
- Heb 10:28–29Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses.
- Ps 50:21You have done these things, and I kept silent; you thought I was just like you. But now I rebuke you and accuse you to your face.
- Isa 42:13–14The LORD goes forth like a mighty one; He stirs up His zeal like a warrior. He shouts; yes, He roars in triumph over His enemies:
- Nah 1:5–7The mountains quake before Him, and the hills melt away; the earth trembles at His presence—the world and all its dwellers.
- 1 Kgs 19:11–12Then the LORD said, “Go out and stand on the mountain before the LORD. Behold, the LORD is about to pass by.” And a great and mighty wind tore into the mountains and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake.
- Ps 83:1A song. A Psalm of Asaph. O God, be not silent; be not speechless; be not still, O God.
- Hab 3:5Plague went before Him, and fever followed in His steps.
- Heb 2:3how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? This salvation was first announced by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard Him,
- Heb 12:18–21For you have not come to a mountain that can be touched and that is burning with fire; to darkness, gloom, and storm;
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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 50:3 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.