Pour out thy wrath upon the heathen that have not known thee, and upon the kingdoms that have not called upon thy name.
Parallel translations
- WEB Pour out your wrath on the nations that don’t know you; on the kingdoms that don’t call on your name;
- BSB Pour out Your wrath on the nations that do not acknowledge You, on the kingdoms that refuse to call on Your name,
- NKJV Pour out Your wrath on the nations that do not know You, And on the kingdoms that do not call on Your name.
- NASB Pour out Your wrath upon the nations which do not know You, And upon the kingdoms which do not call upon Your name.
- NLT Pour out your wrath on the nations that refuse to acknowledge you— on kingdoms that do not call upon your name.
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 pour out wrath on the nations that reject Him. He appeals for justice against those who defy God.
Overview
The prayer turns to God's judgment on 'the nations that don't know you' and refuse to call on His name. This is not personal vengeance but an appeal for God's righteous justice against those who oppose Him. Paul cites a similar reality, leaving vengeance to God (Romans 12:19), while the gospel also invites the nations to come to know Him and be saved.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 22
- Jer 10:25Pour out thy fury upon the heathen that know thee not, and upon the families that call not on thy name: for they have eaten up Jacob, and devoured him, and consumed him, and have made his habitation desolate.
- 2 Th 1:8In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ:
- Ps 14:4Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge? who eat up my people as they eat bread, and call not upon the LORD.
- Ps 69:24Pour out thine indignation upon them, and let thy wrathful anger take hold of them.
- Ps 53:4Have the workers of iniquity no knowledge? who eat up my people as they eat bread: they have not called upon God.
- Isa 45:4–5For Jacob my servant’s sake, and Israel mine elect, I have even called thee by thy name: I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known me.
- Rom 1:28And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;
- Ps 9:16–17The LORD is known by the judgment which he executeth: the wicked is snared in the work of his own hands. Higgaion. Selah.
- Jer 46:1–28The word of the LORD which came to Jeremiah the prophet against the Gentiles;
- John 16:3And these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor me.
- Isa 13:1–22The burden of Babylon, which Isaiah the son of Amoz did see.
- Isa 42:25Therefore he hath poured upon him the fury of his anger, and the strength of battle: and it hath set him on fire round about, yet he knew not; and it burned him, yet he laid it not to heart.
- Rev 16:1–21And I heard a great voice out of the temple saying to the seven angels, Go your ways, and pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth.
- Zeph 3:8Therefore wait ye upon me, saith the LORD, 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 upon them mine indignation, even all my fierce anger: for all the earth shall be devoured with the fire of my jealousy.
- Jer 25:29For, lo, I begin to bring evil on the city which is called by my name, and should ye be utterly unpunished? Ye shall not be unpunished: for I will call for a sword upon all the inhabitants of the earth, saith the LORD of hosts.
- Isa 21:1–17The burden of the desert of the sea. As whirlwinds in the south pass through; so it cometh from the desert, from a terrible land.
- Ps 145:18The LORD is nigh unto all them that call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth.
- Acts 17:23For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you.
- Rom 10:12–14For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him.
- Isa 23:1–18The burden of Tyre. Howl, ye ships of Tarshish; for it is laid waste, so that there is no house, no entering in: from the land of Chittim it is revealed to them.
- 1 Cor 1:2Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours:
- John 17:25O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me.
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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 79:6 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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