Psalms 73:19
in Psalms 73How suddenly they are laid waste, completely swept away by terrors!
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
How are they become a desolation in a moment! They are utterly consumed with terrors.
KJV
How are they brought into desolation, as in a moment! they are utterly consumed with terrors.
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This verse in Psalms 73
Commentary
10 notes on this verseHow are they brought into desolation, as in a moment! This is an exclamation of godly wonder at the suddenness and completeness of the sinners' overthrow. Headlong is their fall; without warning, without escape, without hope of future restoration! Despite their golden chains, and goodly apparel, death stays not for manners but hurries them away; and stern justice unbribed by their wealth hurls them into destruction. They are utterly consumed with terrors. They have neither root nor branch left.
This site's exposition
You set them on slick ground
on Psalms 73:18-20
What the sanctuary showed is that the firm ground under the wicked is slick, and God is the one who set them on it. The fall is sudden, a laying waste and a sweeping away by terrors. Their form goes the way a dream goes at waking.
This site's exposition
How suddenly they are laid waste
How suddenly is an exclamation of wonder at their end, Spurgeon said. The pride worn as a necklace in verse 6 cannot keep them from being swept away. Augustine likened the wicked to smoke that rises and is gone.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers2 voices
"How have they become a desolation suddenly?" (ver. 19). He is wondering at them, understanding unto the last things. "They have vanished." Truly like smoke, which while it mounteth upward, doth vanish, so they have vanished. How doth he say, "They have vanished"? In the manner of one who understandeth the last things: "they have perished because of their iniquity."
A commentator
Ambrose of MilanInterrogation of Job and David, Book 3, Chapter VIII · Written before 397.
proposed
Therefore, in regard to the latter, David also says, "They have ceased to be and have perished by reason of their iniquity as the dream of one that wakes up." This means: The wicked cease to be, and they disappear as a dream does when one first wakes up from sleep, "because they are in darkness and have walked in darkness";7 not a trace of their good work remains, but they are like those who see a dream. Now one who dreams, dreams at night, whereas night is in darkness.
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
How are they brought into desolation, as in a moment?....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
their end--future (Ps 37:37, 38), which is dismal and terribly sudden (Pr 1:27; 29:1), aggravated and hastened by terror. As one despises an unsubstantial dream, so God, waking up to judgment (Ps 7:6;
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase+unbalanced-parens
How are they brought into desolation, as in a moment! This is an exclamation of godly wonder at the suddenness and completeness of the sinners' overthrow. Headlong is their fall; without warning, without escape, without hope of future restoration! Despite their golden chains, and goodly apparel, death stays not for manners but hurries them away; and stern justice unbribed by their wealth hurls them into destruction. They are utterly consumed with terrors. They have neither root nor branch left. They cease to exist among the sons of men, and, in the other world, there is nothing left of their former glory. Like blasted trees, consumed by the lightning, they are monuments of vengeance; like the ruins of Babylon they reveal, in the greatness of their desolation, the judgments of the Lord against all those who unduly exalt themselves. The momentary glory of the graceless is in a moment effaced, their loftiness is in an instant consumed.
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
Are they brought into desolation - This is often a literal fact. I have known several cases where persons, very rich, have by sudden losses been brought into desolation as in a moment; in consequence of which they were utterly consumed in terrors.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
How are they brought into desolation, as in a moment! - How suddenly and unexpectedly does destruction come upon them! Nothing can be argued from their apparent prosperity, for there is no ground of security in “that,” no basis for an argument that it will continue. The end must be seen in order to form a correct estimate on the subject, and that end may soon come. Compare the notes at Job 15:20-21. They are utterly consumed with terrors - literally, “they perish; they are destroyed by terrors;” that is, by terrible things, or by things suited to produce terror in the mind. The idea is not that they are destroyed by their own fears, but that things come upon them which are suited to overwhelm the soul, and that by those things they are utterly destroyed. It is by this result that we are to determine in regard to the equity of the divine administration, and not by their prosperity and their apparent safety.
The words behind it
8 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| אֵ֤יךְ | ʾeikh | how! | H349 → | 82 times |
| הָי֣וּ | hayu | they have become | H1961 → | 3559 times |
| לְשַׁמָּ֣ה | leshamah | <into> a waste | H8047 → | |
| כְרָ֑גַע | kheraga' | like a moment | H7281 → | 22 times |
| סָ֥פוּ | safu | they come to an end | H5486 → | |
| תַ֝֗מּוּ | tamu | they are finished | H8552 → | 63 times |
| מִן־ | min- | from | H4480 → | 1188 times |
| בַּלָּהֽוֹת׃ | balahot | sudden terror<s> | H1091 → |
אֵ֤יךְhow!
ʾeikhH349 →82 times
הָי֣וּthey have become
hayuH1961 →3559 times
לְשַׁמָּ֣ה<into> a waste
leshamahH8047 →
כְרָ֑גַעlike a moment
kheraga'H7281 →22 times
סָ֥פוּthey come to an end
safuH5486 →
תַ֝֗מּוּthey are finished
tamuH8552 →63 times
מִן־from
min-H4480 →1188 times
בַּלָּהֽוֹת׃sudden terror<s>
balahotH1091 →
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
Proverbs 28:1The wicked flee when no one pursues, but the righteous are as bold as a lion.
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 28:7
The LORD will cause the enemies who rise up against you to be defeated before you. They will march out against you in one direction but flee from you in seven.
- Psalms 53:5
There they are, overwhelmed with dread, where there was nothing to fear. For God has scattered the bones of those who besieged you. You put them to shame, for God has despised them.
- Isaiah 26:3–4
You will keep in perfect peace the steadfast of mind, because he trusts in You.
- Psalms 27:1–2
The LORD is my light and my salvation— whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life— whom shall I dread?
- Psalms 112:7
He does not fear bad news; his heart is steadfast, trusting in the LORD.
- Deuteronomy 28:7
Through
Revelation 18:10In fear of her torment, they will stand at a distance and cry out: “Woe, woe to the great city, the mighty city of Babylon! For in a single hour your judgment has come.”
it leads to
- Revelation 18:19
Then they will throw dust on their heads as they weep and mourn and cry out: “Woe, woe to the great city, where all who had ships on the sea were enriched by her…
- Revelation 18:8
Therefore her plagues will come in one day—death and grief and famine—and she will be consumed by fire, for mighty is the Lord God who judges her.”
- Revelation 18:19
Through
Job 20:5the triumph of the wicked has been brief and the joy of the godless momentary?
it leads to
- Psalms 37:35–36
I have seen a wicked, ruthless man flourishing like a well-rooted native tree,
- Psalms 37:35–36
Where this verse is studied
About Psalms
This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Book of Psalms; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Ambrose of Milan, Interrogation of Job and David, Book 3, Chapter VIII; Augustine of Hippo, Exposition on Psalm 73; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, Vol. 3; Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Psalms; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible and John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763).