Wilt thou be angry with us for ever? wilt thou draw out thine anger to all generations?
Parallel translations
- WEB Will you be angry with us forever? Will you draw out your anger to all generations?
- BSB Will You be angry with us forever? Will You draw out Your anger to all generations?
- NKJV Will You be angry with us forever? Will You prolong Your anger to all generations?
- NASB Will You be angry with us forever? Will You prolong Your anger to all generations?
- NLT Will you be angry with us always? Will you prolong your wrath to all generations?
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 people ask whether God's anger will last forever. The honest question expresses longing for mercy amid prolonged discipline.
Overview
These rhetorical questions voice the tension of a people still feeling God's displeasure, yet trusting His character is not finally wrathful. Scripture elsewhere assures that God's anger is for a moment but His favor for a lifetime. The cross answers this cry definitively, for in Christ God's anger against His people is forever spent.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Ps 79:5How long, LORD? wilt thou be angry for ever? shall thy jealousy burn like fire?
- Ps 80:4O LORD God of hosts, how long wilt thou be angry against the prayer of thy people?
- Ps 74:1O God, why hast thou cast us off for ever? why doth thine anger smoke against the sheep of thy pasture?
- Mic 7:18Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? he retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy.
- Rev 18:21–23And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all.
- Ps 77:9Hath God forgotten to be gracious? hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies? Selah.
- Isa 64:9–12Be not wroth very sore, O LORD, neither remember iniquity for ever: behold, see, we beseech thee, we are all thy people.
- Ps 89:46How long, LORD? wilt thou hide thyself for ever? shall thy wrath burn like fire?
- Luke 21:24And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
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 85:5 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.