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How they are suddenly destroyed! They are completely swept away with terrors.
Psalms 73:19 · World English Bible
Parallel translations
  • KJV How are they brought into desolation, as in a moment! they are utterly consumed with terrors.
  • BSB How suddenly they are laid waste, completely swept away by terrors!
  • ESV How they are destroyed in a moment, swept away utterly by terrors!
  • NKJV Oh, how they are brought to desolation, as in a moment! They are utterly consumed with terrors.
  • NASB How they are destroyed in a moment! They are utterly swept away by sudden terrors!
  • NLT In an instant they are destroyed, completely swept away by terrors.

Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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 destroyed in a moment, utterly swept away by terrors.

Overview

What looked like lasting security collapses suddenly and completely. Their downfall is swift and final. This certainty of judgment answers Asaph's envy and warns that earthly prosperity apart from God offers no safety against the day of reckoning.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 16

  • Isa 47:11Therefore disaster will come on you. You won’t know when it dawns. Mischief will fall on you. You won’t be able to put it away. Desolation will come on you suddenly, which you don’t understand.
  • Prov 28:1The wicked flee when no one pursues; but the righteous are as bold as a lion.
  • Dan 5:6Then the king’s face was changed in him, and his thoughts troubled him; and the joints of his thighs were loosened, and his knees struck one against another.
  • Job 20:5that the triumphing of the wicked is short, the joy of the godless but for a moment?
  • 1 Th 5:3For when they are saying, “Peace and safety,” then sudden destruction will come on them, like birth pains on a pregnant woman; and they will in no way escape.
  • Rev 18:10standing far away for the fear of her torment, saying, ‘Woe, woe, the great city, Babylon, the strong city! For your judgment has come in one hour.’
  • Job 15:21A sound of terrors is in his ears. In prosperity the destroyer shall come on him.
  • Isa 30:13therefore this iniquity shall be to you like a breach ready to fall, swelling out in a high wall, whose breaking comes suddenly in an instant.
  • Num 17:12–13The children of Israel spoke to Moses, saying, “Behold, we perish! We are undone! We are all undone!
  • Job 20:23–25When he is about to fill his belly, God will cast the fierceness of his wrath on him. It will rain on him while he is eating.
  • Acts 2:23him, being delivered up by the determined counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by the hand of lawless men, crucified and killed;
  • Ps 58:9Before your pots can feel the heat of the thorns, he will sweep away the green and the burning alike.
  • Num 16:21“Separate yourselves from among this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment!”
  • Isa 21:3–4Therefore my thighs are filled with anguish. Pains have taken hold on me, like the pains of a woman in labor. I am in so much pain that I can’t hear. I so am dismayed that I can’t see.
  • Job 18:11Terrors shall make him afraid on every side, and shall chase him at his heels.
  • 1 Sam 28:20Then Saul fell immediately his full length on the earth, and was terrified, because of Samuel’s words. There was no strength in him; for he had eaten no bread all day long or all night long.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (10)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Psalms videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Psalms 73:19YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on PsalmsMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    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 73:19 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.