Why should the nations ask, “Where is their God?” Before our eyes, make known among the nations Your vengeance for the bloodshed of Your servants.
Parallel translations
- WEB Why should the nations say, “Where is their God?” Let it be known among the nations, before our eyes, that vengeance for your servants’ blood is being poured out.
- KJV Wherefore should the heathen say, Where is their God? let him be known among the heathen in our sight by the revenging of the blood of thy servants which is shed.
- NKJV Why should the nations say, “Where is their God?” Let there be known among the nations in our sight The avenging of the blood of Your servants which has been shed.
- NASB Why should the nations say, “Where is their God?” Let vengeance for the blood of Your servants which has been shed Be known among the nations in our sight.
- NLT Why should pagan nations be allowed to scoff, asking, “Where is their God?” Show us your vengeance against the nations, for they have spilled the blood of your servants.
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 psalmist asks God to vindicate Himself so the nations cannot taunt 'Where is their God?' He longs for God's justice to be visibly displayed.
Overview
The taunt 'Where is their God?' challenged God's reputation, so the prayer seeks vengeance for shed blood to be made known among the nations. The chief concern is God's honor before a watching world. God ultimately answers such cries through Christ, vindicating His name and one day judging the earth in righteousness.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 16
- Ps 42:10Like the crushing of my bones, my enemies taunt me, while they say to me all day long, “Where is your God?”
- Ps 94:1O LORD, God of vengeance, O God of vengeance, shine forth.
- Rev 18:20Rejoice over her, O heaven, O saints and apostles and prophets, because God has pronounced for you His judgment against her.
- Exod 7:5And the Egyptians will know that I am the LORD, when I stretch out My hand against Egypt and bring the Israelites out from among them.”
- Mic 7:10Then my enemy will see and will be covered with shame—she who said to me, “Where is the LORD your God?” My eyes will see her; at that time she will be trampled like mud in the streets.
- Ezek 39:21–22I will display My glory among the nations, and all the nations will see the judgment that I execute and the hand that I lay upon them.
- Ps 115:2Why should the nations say, “Where is their God?”
- Ps 42:3My tears have been my food both day and night, while men ask me all day long, “Where is your God?”
- Exod 6:7I will take you as My own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the LORD your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians.
- Ps 83:17–18May they be ever ashamed and terrified; may they perish in disgrace.
- Jer 51:35May the violence done to me and to my flesh be upon Babylon,” says the dweller of Zion. “May my blood be on the dwellers of Chaldea,” says Jerusalem.
- Ps 9:16The LORD is known by the justice He brings; the wicked are ensnared by the work of their hands. Higgaion Selah
- Ps 58:11Then men will say, “There is surely a reward for the righteous! There is surely a God who judges the earth!”
- Ezek 36:23I will show the holiness of My great name, which has been profaned among the nations—the name you have profaned among them. Then the nations will know that I am the LORD, declares the Lord GOD, when I show My holiness in you before their eyes.
- Joel 2:17Let the priests who minister before the LORD weep between the portico and the altar, saying, “Spare Your people, O LORD, and do not make Your heritage a reproach, an object of scorn among the nations. Why should they say among the peoples, ‘Where is their God?’”
- Rom 12:19Do not avenge yourselves, beloved, but leave room for God’s wrath. For it is written: “Vengeance is Mine; I will repay, says the Lord.”
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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 79:10 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.