He loosed on them his fierce anger— all his fury, rage, and hostility. He dispatched against them a band of destroying angels.
Parallel translations
- WEB He threw on them the fierceness of his anger, wrath, indignation, and trouble, and a band of angels of evil.
- KJV He cast upon them the fierceness of his anger, wrath, and indignation, and trouble, by sending evil angels among them.
- BSB He unleashed His fury against them, wrath, indignation, and calamity—a band of destroying angels.
- NKJV He cast on them the fierceness of His anger, Wrath, indignation, and trouble, By sending angels of destruction among them.
- NASB He sent His burning anger upon them, Fury and indignation and trouble, A band of destroying angels.
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 unleashed the fierceness of His anger through agents of judgment. His wrath fell heavily upon Egypt.
Overview
The verse piles up terms, 'wrath, indignation, and trouble,' to convey the intensity of God's anger, dispatched by 'a band of angels of evil' (messengers of judgment). It underscores the seriousness of divine wrath against persistent oppression and sin. Such wrath makes the mercy of the gospel, which delivers from coming judgment, all the more precious.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- 1 Kgs 22:21–22A spirit came out and stood before Yahweh, and said, ‘I will entice him.’
- Ps 11:6On the wicked he will rain blazing coals; fire, sulfur, and scorching wind shall be the portion of their cup.
- Exod 15:7In the greatness of your excellency, you overthrow those who rise up against you. You send out your wrath. It consumes them as stubble.
- Exod 12:13The blood shall be to you for a token on the houses where you are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and there shall no plague be on you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt.
- Lam 4:11Yahweh has accomplished his wrath, he has poured out his fierce anger; He has kindled a fire in Zion, which has devoured its foundations.
- 2 Sam 24:16When the angel stretched out his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it, Yahweh relented of the disaster, and said to the angel who destroyed the people, “It is enough. Now withdraw your hand.” Yahweh’s angel was by the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.
- Job 20:23When 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.
- Isa 42:25Therefore he poured the fierceness of his anger on him, and the strength of battle; and it set him on fire all around, but he didn’t know; and it burned him, but he didn’t take it to heart.”
- Rom 2:8–9but to those who are self-seeking, and don’t obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, will be wrath and indignation,
- Job 2:6–7Yahweh said to Satan, “Behold, he is in your hand. Only spare his life.”
- Zeph 3:8“Therefore wait for me”, says Yahweh, “until the day that I rise up to the prey, for my determination is to gather the nations, that I may assemble the kingdoms, to pour on them my indignation, even all my fierce anger, for all the earth will be devoured with the fire of my jealousy.
- Job 1:12Yahweh said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your power. Only on himself don’t stretch out your hand.” So Satan went out from the presence of Yahweh.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 78:49 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.