As the fire burneth a wood, and as the flame setteth the mountains on fire;
Parallel translations
- WEB As the fire that burns the forest, as the flame that sets the mountains on fire,
- BSB As fire consumes a forest, as a flame sets the mountains ablaze,
- 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 is kindled in mine anger, and shall burn unto the lowest hell, and shall consume the earth with her increase, and set on fire the foundations of the mountains.
- Mal 4:1For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.
- Isa 9:18For wickedness burneth as the fire: it shall devour the briers and thorns, and shall kindle in the thickets of the forest, and they shall mount up like the lifting up of smoke.
- Nah 1:6Who can stand before his indignation? and who can abide in the fierceness of his anger? his fury is poured out like fire, and the rocks are thrown down by him.
- Nah 1:10For while they be folden together as thorns, and while they are drunken as drunkards, they shall be devoured as stubble fully dry.
- Isa 30:33For Tophet is ordained of old; yea, for the king it is prepared; he hath made it deep and large: the pile thereof is fire and much wood; the breath of the LORD, like a stream of brimstone, doth kindle it.
- Isa 64:1–2Oh that thou wouldest rend the heavens, that thou wouldest come down, that the mountains might flow down at thy presence,
- Ezek 20:47–48And say to the forest of the south, Hear the word of the LORD; Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall devour every green tree in thee, and every dry tree: the flaming flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from the south to the north shall be burned therein.
- Isa 33:11–12Ye shall conceive chaff, ye shall bring forth stubble: your breath, as fire, shall devour 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.