The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.
Parallel translations
- WEB The wicked shall be turned back to Sheol, even all the nations that forget God.
- BSB The wicked will return to Sheol—all the nations who forget God.
- NKJV The wicked shall be turned into hell, And all the nations that forget God.
- NASB ¶The wicked will return to Sheol, All the nations who forget God.
- NLT The wicked will go down to the grave. This is the fate of all the nations who ignore God.
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 wicked and the nations that forget God will be turned back to Sheol. Forgetting God leads to destruction.
Overview
David warns that persistent wickedness and the forgetting of God end in the grave and judgment. To 'forget God' is not mere absence of memory but a refusal to acknowledge and obey Him. The verse soberly affirms that there is a destiny of judgment for those who reject their Creator.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 19
- Ps 50:22Now consider this, ye that forget God, lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver.
- Rev 21:8But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.
- Job 8:13So are the paths of all that forget God; and the hypocrite’s hope shall perish:
- Rom 2:8–9But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath,
- 2 Th 1:7–9And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels,
- Jer 2:32Can a maid forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire? yet my people have forgotten me days without number.
- Jer 18:15Because my people hath forgotten me, they have burned incense to vanity, and they have caused them to stumble in their ways from the ancient paths, to walk in paths, in a way not cast up;
- Jer 13:25This is thy lot, the portion of thy measures from me, saith the LORD; because thou hast forgotten me, and trusted in falsehood.
- Isa 3:11Woe unto the wicked! it shall be ill with him: for the reward of his hands shall be given him.
- Rev 20:15And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.
- Isa 5:14Therefore hell hath enlarged herself, and opened her mouth without measure: and their glory, and their multitude, and their pomp, and he that rejoiceth, shall descend into it.
- Prov 14:32The wicked is driven away in his wickedness: but the righteous hath hope in his death.
- Matt 25:41–46Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:
- Ps 44:20If we have forgotten the name of our God, or stretched out our hands to a strange god;
- Ps 106:13They soon forgat his works; they waited not for his counsel:
- Jer 3:21A voice was heard upon the high places, weeping and supplications of the children of Israel: for they have perverted their way, and they have forgotten the LORD their God.
- Ps 44:17All this is come upon us; yet have we not forgotten thee, neither have we dealt falsely in thy covenant.
- Hos 2:13And I will visit upon her the days of Baalim, wherein she burned incense to them, and she decked herself with her earrings and her jewels, and she went after her lovers, and forgat me, saith the LORD.
- Ps 49:14Like sheep they are laid in the grave; death shall feed on them; and the upright shall have dominion over them in the morning; and their beauty shall consume in the grave from their dwelling.
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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 9:17 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.