How long, LORD? wilt thou hide thyself for ever? shall thy wrath burn like fire?
Parallel translations
- WEB How long, Yahweh? Will you hide yourself forever? Will your wrath burn like fire?
- BSB How long, O LORD? Will You hide Yourself forever? Will Your wrath keep burning like fire?
- NKJV How long, Lord? Will You hide Yourself forever? Will Your wrath burn like fire?
- NASB ¶How long, Lord? Will You hide Yourself forever? Will Your wrath burn like fire?
- NLT O Lord, how long will this go on? Will you hide yourself forever? How long will your anger burn like fire?
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 cries out, asking how long God will hide Himself and let His wrath burn.
Overview
The lament becomes urgent petition: "How long, Yahweh?" The hiddenness of God and the burning of His wrath feel unbearable. This honest cry, common in the Psalms, trusts that God hears even when He seems absent, and looks for the day His face will again shine on His people in Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 15
- Ps 79:5How long, LORD? wilt thou be angry for ever? shall thy jealousy burn like fire?
- Ps 78:63The fire consumed their young men; and their maidens were not given to marriage.
- Ps 88:14LORD, why castest thou off my soul? why hidest thou thy face from me?
- Ps 90:13Return, O LORD, how long? and let it repent thee concerning thy servants.
- Heb 12:29For our God is a consuming fire.
- Job 23:9On the left hand, where he doth work, but I cannot behold him: he hideth himself on the right hand, that I cannot see him:
- Hos 5:15I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offence, and seek my face: in their affliction they will seek me early.
- Jer 21:12O house of David, thus saith the LORD; Execute judgment in the morning, and deliver him that is spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor, lest my fury go out like fire, and burn that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.
- Isa 45:15Verily thou art a God that hidest thyself, O God of Israel, the Saviour.
- 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:
- Isa 8:17And I will wait upon the LORD, that hideth his face from the house of Jacob, and I will look for him.
- Ps 10:1Why standest thou afar off, O LORD? why hidest thou thyself in times of trouble?
- Ps 13:1–2How long wilt thou forget me, O LORD? for ever? how long wilt thou hide thy face from me?
- Ps 85:5Wilt thou be angry with us for ever? wilt thou draw out thine anger to all generations?
- Jer 4:4Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, and take away the foreskins of your heart, ye men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem: lest my fury come forth like fire, and burn that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.
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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 89:46 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.