Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence: a fire shall devour before him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about him.
Parallel translations
- WEB Our God comes, and does not keep silent. A fire devours before him. It is very stormy around him.
- BSB Our God approaches and will not be silent! Consuming fire precedes Him, and a tempest rages around 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 there came out a fire from the LORD, and consumed the two hundred and fifty men that offered incense.
- Dan 7:10A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him: thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened.
- Lev 10:2And there went out fire from the LORD, and devoured them, and they died before the LORD.
- Matt 3:12Whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.
- Mal 4:1For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.
- Ps 97:3–5A fire goeth before him, and burneth up his enemies round about.
- Ps 68:20He that is our God is the God of salvation; and unto GOD the Lord belong the issues from death.
- Ps 48:14For this God is our God for ever and ever: he will be our guide even unto death.
- Isa 65:6–7Behold, it is written before me: I will not keep silence, but will recompense, even recompense into their bosom,
- Exod 19:18And mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the LORD descended upon it in fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly.
- Rev 22:20He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.
- Ps 18:7–15Then the earth shook and trembled; the foundations also of the hills moved and were shaken, because he was wroth.
- Deut 9:3Understand therefore this day, that the LORD thy God is he which goeth over before thee; as a consuming fire he shall destroy them, and he shall bring them down before thy face: so shalt thou drive them out, and destroy them quickly, as the LORD hath said unto thee.
- Mal 3:2–3But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner’s fire, and like fullers’ soap:
- Ps 96:13Before the LORD: for he cometh, for he cometh to judge the earth: he shall judge the world with righteousness, and the people with his truth.
- Heb 12:29For our God is a consuming fire.
- 2 Th 1:8–9In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ:
- Heb 10:28–29He that despised Moses’ law died without mercy under two or three witnesses:
- Ps 50:21These things hast thou done, and I kept silence; thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself: but I will reprove thee, and set them in order before thine eyes.
- Isa 42:13–14The LORD shall go forth as a mighty man, he shall stir up jealousy like a man of war: he shall cry, yea, roar; he shall prevail against his enemies.
- Nah 1:5–7The mountains quake at him, and the hills melt, and the earth is burned at his presence, yea, the world, and all that dwell therein.
- 1 Kgs 19:11–12And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the LORD. And, behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the LORD; but the LORD was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the LORD was not in the earthquake:
- Ps 83:1Keep not thou silence, O God: hold not thy peace, and be not still, O God.
- Hab 3:5Before him went the pestilence, and burning coals went forth at his feet.
- Heb 2:3How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him;
- Heb 12:18–21For ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest,
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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
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