Psalms 106:40
in Psalms 106So the anger of the LORD burned against His people, and He abhorred His own inheritance.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Therefore was the wrath of Jehovah kindled against his people, And he abhorred his inheritance.
KJV
Therefore was the wrath of the Lord kindled against his people, insomuch that he abhorred his own inheritance.
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This verse in Psalms 106
Commentary
8 notes on this verseTherefore was the wrath of the Lord kindled against his people, in so much that he abhorred his own inheritance. Not that even then he broke his covenant or utterly cast off his offending people, but he felt the deepest indignation, and even looked upon them with abhorrence. The feeling described is like to that of a husband who still loves his guilty wife, and yet when he thinks of her lewdness feels his whole nature rising in righteous anger at her, so that the very sight of her afflicts his soul.
This site's exposition
the anger of the LORD burned
on Psalms 106:40-46
The anger of the LORD burned, and He abhorred His own inheritance. He handed them to nations that hated them, and verse 43 puts the cycle in one line, many rescues and a people bent on rebellion. He heard their cry, remembered His covenant, and relented.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
"Therefore was the wrath of the Lord kindled against His own people" [Psalm 106:40]. Our translators have been unwilling to use the word anger, for the Greek θυμὸς; though some have used it; while others translate by "indignation" or "mind." Whichever of these terms be adopted, passion does not affect God; but the power of punishing has assumed this name metaphorically from custom.
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Nay, he was sick of them: He abhorred his own inheritance, which once he had taken pleasure in; yet the change was not in him, but in them. This is the worst thing in sin, that it makes us loathsome to God; and the nearer any are to God in profession the more loathsome are they if they rebel against him, like a dunghill at our door.
Therefore was the wrath of the Lord kindled against his people,.... Sin is the cause of wrath, which is compared to fire kindled by the breath of the Almighty, and is intolerable; this shows that the offence must be very great, as to incense the Lord against a people he had chosen above all others to be his peculiar people; as well as it was an aggravation, of their sin, so highly to provoke the Lord, whom they had vouched to be their God.
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
Therefore was the wrath of the Lord kindled against his people, in so much that he abhorred his own inheritance. Not that even then he broke his covenant or utterly cast off his offending people, but he felt the deepest indignation, and even looked upon them with abhorrence. The feeling described is like to that of a husband who still loves his guilty wife, and yet when he thinks of her lewdness feels his whole nature rising in righteous anger at her, so that the very sight of her afflicts his soul. How far the divine wrath can burn against those whom he yet loves in his heart it were hard to say, but certainly Israel pushed the experiment to the extreme. And he gave them into the hand of the heathen. This was the manifestation of his abhorrence. He gave them a taste of the result of sin; they spared the heathen, mixed with them and imitated them, and soon they had to smart from them, for hordes of invaders were let loose upon them to spoil them at their pleasure. Men make rods for their own backs. Their own inventions become their punishments. And they that hated them ruled over them. And who could wonder? Sin never creates true love. They joined the heathen in their wickedness, and they did not win their hearts, but rather provoked their contempt. If we mix with men of the world they will soon become our masters and our tyrants, and we cannot want worse.
Therefore was the wrath of the Lord kindled - God kindled a fire in his judgments for those who by their flagitious conduct had inflamed themselves with their idols, and the impure rites with which they were worshipped.
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Therefore was the wrath of the Lord kindled against his people - Anger is often compared with a fire; as we say now, a man is “inflamed” with passion. See Est 1:12; Lam 2:3; Psa 79:5; Psa 89:46; Jer 4:4; Jdg 2:14. Of course, this must be taken in a manner appropriate to God. It means that his treatment of his offending people was as if he were burning with wrath against them. Insomuch that he abhorred his own inheritance - He was offended with his people; he treated them “as if” they were an abomination to him. He punished them; he cast them off; he left them to the just results of their own conduct. Were ever any writers more candid and honest than the sacred penmen? There is no effort to vindicate the nation; there is no apology offered for them; there is no concealment of their guilt; there is no attempt to soften the statement in regard to the feelings of God toward them. Their conduct was abominable; they deserved the divine displeasure; they were ungrateful, evil, and rebellious; and the sacred writers do not hesitate to admit the truth of this to the fullest extent.
The words behind it
7 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיִּֽחַר־ | vaiyichar- | and it burned | H2734 → | 91 times |
| אַ֣ף | ʾaf | [the] anger of | H639 → | 276 times |
| יְהוָ֣ה | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| בְּעַמּ֑וֹ | beamo | on people his | H5971 → | 1873 times |
| וַ֝יְתָעֵ֗ב | vaytaev | and he abhorred | H8581 → | 22 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| נַחֲלָתֽוֹ׃ | nachalato | inheritance his | H5159 → | 222 times |
וַיִּֽחַר־and it burned
vaiyichar-H2734 →91 times
אַ֣ף[the] anger of
ʾafH639 →276 times
יְהוָ֣הYahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
בְּעַמּ֑וֹon people his
beamoH5971 →1873 times
וַ֝יְתָעֵ֗בand he abhorred
vaytaevH8581 →22 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
נַחֲלָתֽוֹ׃inheritance his
nachalatoH5159 →222 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Judges 3:8Then the anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and He sold them into the hand of Cushan-rishathaim king of Aram-naharaim, and the Israelites served him eight years.
it leads to
- Judges 2:14
Then the anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and He delivered them into the hands of those who plundered them. He sold them into the hands of their enemies all around, whom they…
Reached by 3 separate paths from here.
- Judges 2:14
Through
Judges 2:14Then the anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and He delivered them into the hands of those who plundered them. He sold them into the hands of their enemies all around, whom they…
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 32:30
How could one man pursue a thousand, or two put ten thousand to flight, unless their Rock had sold them, unless the LORD had given them up?
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- 2 Kings 17:20
So the LORD rejected all the descendants of Israel. He afflicted them and delivered them into the hands of plunderers, until He had banished them from His presence.
- Psalms 106:40–42
So the anger of the LORD burned against His people, and He abhorred His own inheritance.
- Deuteronomy 31:17–18
On that day My anger will burn against them, and I will abandon them and hide My face from them, so that they will be consumed, and many troubles and afflictions will befall them.…
- Deuteronomy 32:30
Through
Deuteronomy 9:29But they are Your people, Your inheritance, whom You brought out by Your great power and outstretched arm.”
it leads to
- Nehemiah 1:10
They are Your servants and Your people. You redeemed them by Your great power and mighty hand.
- 1 Kings 8:51
For they are Your people and Your inheritance; You brought them out of Egypt, out of the furnace for iron.
- Deuteronomy 9:26
And I prayed to the LORD and said, “O Lord GOD, do not destroy Your people, Your inheritance, whom You redeemed through Your greatness and brought out of Egypt with a mighty hand.
- Nehemiah 1:10
Where this verse is studied
About Psalms
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Augustine of Hippo, Exposition on Psalm 106; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, Vol. 5; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.