As fire consumes a forest, as a flame sets the mountains ablaze,
Parallel translations
- WEB As the fire that burns the forest, as the flame that sets the mountains on fire,
- KJV As the fire burneth a wood, and as the flame setteth the mountains on fire;
- NKJV As the fire burns the woods, And as the flame sets the mountains on fire,
- NASB Like fire that burns the forest, And like a flame that sets the mountains on fire,
- NLT As a fire burns a forest and as a flame sets mountains ablaze,
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
As fire consumes a forest and flame sets mountains ablaze, so the psalmist invokes God's consuming power. He prays for thorough, sweeping judgment.
Overview
The imagery of an unstoppable wildfire pictures the comprehensive judgment the psalmist asks God to bring upon the enemies. Fire often symbolizes God's purifying and judging presence in Scripture. The prayer leans into God's holy power to consume all that opposes Him and His people.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Deut 32:22For a fire has been kindled by My anger, and it burns to the depths of Sheol; it consumes the earth and its produce, and scorches the foundations of the mountains.
- Mal 4:1“For behold, the day is coming, burning like a furnace, when all the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble; the day is coming when I will set them ablaze,” says the LORD of Hosts. “Not a root or branch will be left to them.”
- Isa 9:18For wickedness burns like a fire that consumes the thorns and briers and kindles the forest thickets which roll upward in billows of smoke.
- Nah 1:6Who can withstand His indignation? Who can endure His burning anger? His wrath is poured out like fire; even rocks are shattered before Him.
- Nah 1:10For they will be entangled as with thorns and consumed like the drink of a drunkard—like stubble that is fully dry.
- Isa 30:33For Topheth has long been prepared; it has been made ready for the king. Its funeral pyre is deep and wide, with plenty of fire and wood. The breath of the LORD, like a torrent of burning sulfur, sets it ablaze.
- Isa 64:1–2If only You would rend the heavens and come down, so that mountains would quake at Your presence,
- Ezek 20:47–48Say to the forest of the Negev: Hear the word of the LORD! This is what the Lord GOD says: I am about to ignite in you a fire, and it will devour all your trees, both green and dry. The blazing flame will not be quenched, and by it every face from south to north will be scorched.
- Isa 33:11–12You conceive chaff; you give birth to stubble. Your breath is a fire that will consume you.
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 83:14 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.