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Pour out your wrath on the nations that don’t know you; on the kingdoms that don’t call on your name;
Psalms 79:6 · World English Bible
Parallel translations
  • KJV Pour out thy wrath upon the heathen that have not known thee, and upon the kingdoms that have not called upon thy 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 your wrath on the nations that don’t know you, and on the families that don’t call on your name: for they have devoured Jacob. Yes, they have devoured him and consumed him, and have laid waste his habitation.
  • 2 Th 1:8giving vengeance to those who don’t know God, and to those who don’t obey the Good News of our Lord Jesus,
  • Ps 14:4Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge, who eat up my people as they eat bread, and don’t call on Yahweh?
  • Ps 69:24Pour out your indignation on them. Let the fierceness of your anger overtake them.
  • Ps 53:4Have the workers of iniquity no knowledge, who eat up my people as they eat bread, and don’t call on God?
  • Isa 45:4–5For Jacob my servant’s sake, and Israel my chosen, I have called you by your name. I have given you a title, though you have not known me.
  • Rom 1:28Even as they refused to have God in their knowledge, God gave them up to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not fitting;
  • Ps 9:16–17Yahweh has made himself known. He has executed judgment. The wicked is snared by the work of his own hands. Meditation. Selah.
  • Jer 46:1–28Yahweh’s word which came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the nations.
  • John 16:3They will do these things because they have not known the Father, nor me.
  • Isa 13:1–22The burden of Babylon, which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw:
  • 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.”
  • Rev 16:1–21I heard a loud voice out of the temple, saying to the seven angels, “Go and pour out the seven bowls of the wrath of God on the earth!”
  • 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.
  • Jer 25:29For, behold, I begin to work evil at the city which is called by my name; and should you be utterly unpunished? You shall not be unpunished; for I will call for a sword on all the inhabitants of the earth, says Yahweh of Armies.”’
  • Isa 21:1–17The burden of the wilderness of the sea. As whirlwinds in the South sweep through, it comes from the wilderness, from an awesome land.
  • Ps 145:18Yahweh is near to all those who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.
  • Acts 17:23For as I passed along, and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription: ‘TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.’ What therefore you worship in ignorance, this I announce to you.
  • Rom 10:12–14For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, and is rich to all who call on him.
  • Isa 23:1–18The burden of Tyre. Howl, you ships of Tarshish! For it is laid waste, so that there is no house, no entering in. From the land of Kittim it is revealed to them.
  • 1 Cor 1:2to the assembly of God which is at Corinth; those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ in every place, both theirs and ours:
  • John 17:25Righteous Father, the world hasn’t known you, but I knew you; and these knew that you sent me.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (2)

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 79:6YouTube · 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 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

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.