Psalms 74:10
in Psalms 74How long, O God, will the enemy taunt You? Will the foe revile Your name forever?
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
How long, O God, shall the adversary reproach? Shall the enemy blaspheme thy name for ever?
KJV
O God, how long shall the adversary reproach? shall the enemy blaspheme thy name for ever?
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This verse in Psalms 74
Commentary
7 notes on this verseO God, how long shall the adversary reproach? Though we know not how long yet thou dost. The times and seasons are with thee. When God is reproached, there is hope for us, for it may be he will hearken and avenge his dishonoured name. Wickedness has great license allowed it, and justice lingers on the road; God has his reasons for delay, and his seasons for action, and in the end it shall be seen that he is not slack concerning his promise as some men count slackness. Shall the enemy blaspheme thy name for ever?
This site's exposition
will the enemy taunt You
on Psalms 74:10-11
The taunt is aimed at God, and the question is how long he will let it stand. Then the harder question: why the right hand is drawn back. The Hebrew says where it goes, into the bosom of his garment, and the psalm asks for it to come back out.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
"How long, O God, shall the enemy revile?" [Psalm 74:10]. Cry out as if forsaken, as if deserted: cry out like a sick man, who hast chosen rather to smite the physician than to be made whole: not as yet does He know you. See what He has done, who does not know you as yet. For they to whom there has been no preaching of Him, shall see; and they that have not heard shall understand: and thou yet criest out, "No longer is there a prophet, and us He will not know as yet." Where is your understanding? "The adversary does provoke Your name at the end." For this purpose the adversary does provoke Your name at the end, that being provoked You may reprove, reproving You may know them at the end: or certainly, "at the end," in the sense of even unto the end.
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
In the desolations of the sanctuary our chief concern should be for the glory of God, that it may not be injured by the blasphemies of those who persecute his people for his sake, because they are his; and therefore our enquiry should be, not "How long shall we be troubled?" but "How long shall God be blasphemed?" 2.
O God, how long shall the adversary reproach?.... The name of God, as in the next clause, the divine Persons and perfections, the purposes and providence of God, his people, ways, worship, truths, and ordinances: shall the enemy blaspheme thy name for ever?
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
O God, how long shall the adversary reproach? Though we know not how long yet thou dost. The times and seasons are with thee. When God is reproached, there is hope for us, for it may be he will hearken and avenge his dishonoured name. Wickedness has great license allowed it, and justice lingers on the road; God has his reasons for delay, and his seasons for action, and in the end it shall be seen that he is not slack concerning his promise as some men count slackness. Shall the enemy blaspheme thy name for ever? He will do so for ever, unless thou dost give him his quietus. Wilt thou never defend thyself, and stop slanderous tongues? Wilt thou always endure the jeers of the profane? Is there to be no end to all this sacrilege and cursing? Yes, it shall all be ended, but not by and by. There is a time for the sinner to rage, and a time in which patience bears with him; yet it is but a time, and then, ah, then!
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
O God, how long shall the adversary reproach?... - How long shall this state of things be allowed to continue? Is there to be no end to it? Are these desolations never to be repaired - these ruins never to be rebuilt? It “seemed” so; and hence, this earnest appeal. So to us it often appears as if our trials were never to come to an end. One calamity succeeds another; and there comes no relief. Yet there is relief. Deliverance may come, and soon come, in the present life; or if not in the present life, yet to all those who are the children of God it will soon come by their removal to a world where trial will be forever unknown.
The words behind it
9 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| עַד־ | ʾad- | until | H5704 → | 1261 times |
| מָתַ֣י | matai | when? | H4970 → | 43 times |
| אֱ֭לֹהִים | ʾelohim | O God | H430 → | 2601 times |
| יְחָ֣רֶף | yecharef | will he taunt | H2778 → | 41 times |
| צָ֑ר | tzar | [the] opponent | H6862 → | 109 times |
| יְנָ֘אֵ֤ץ | yenaetz | will he spurn? | H5006 → | 25 times |
| אוֹיֵ֖ב | ʾoyev | [the] enemy | H341 → | 282 times |
| שִׁמְךָ֣ | shimkha | name your | H8034 → | 864 times |
| לָנֶֽצַח׃ | lanetzach | to perpetuity | H5331 → | 43 times |
עַד־until
ʾad-H5704 →1261 times
מָתַ֣יwhen?
mataiH4970 →43 times
אֱ֭לֹהִיםO God
ʾelohimH430 →2601 times
יְחָ֣רֶףwill he taunt
yecharefH2778 →41 times
צָ֑ר[the] opponent
tzarH6862 →109 times
יְנָ֘אֵ֤ץwill he spurn?
yenaetzH5006 →25 times
אוֹיֵ֖ב[the] enemy
ʾoyevH341 →282 times
שִׁמְךָ֣name your
shimkhaH8034 →864 times
לָנֶֽצַח׃to perpetuity
lanetzachH5331 →43 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
Revelation 6:10And they cried out in a loud voice, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You avenge our blood and judge those who dwell upon the earth?”
it leads to
- Revelation 19:2
For His judgments are true and just. He has judged the great prostitute who corrupted the earth with her immorality. He has avenged the blood of His servants that was poured out by her…
- Psalms 9:12
For the Avenger of bloodshed remembers; He does not ignore the cry of the afflicted.
- Revelation 11:18
The nations were enraged, and Your wrath has come. The time has come to judge the dead and to reward Your servants the prophets, as well as the saints and those who fear Your…
- Romans 12:19
Do not avenge yourselves, beloved, but leave room for God’s wrath. For it is written: “Vengeance is Mine; I will repay, says the Lord.”
- Revelation 16:5–7
And I heard the angel of the waters say: “Righteous are You, O Holy One, who is and was, because You have brought these judgments.
- Revelation 19:2
Through
Psalms 79:12Pay back into the laps of our neighbors sevenfold the reproach they hurled at You, O Lord.
it leads to
- Jeremiah 32:18
You show loving devotion to thousands but lay the iniquity of the fathers into the laps of their children after them, O great and mighty God whose name is the LORD of Hosts,
- Genesis 4:15
“Not so!” replied the LORD. “If anyone slays Cain, then Cain will be avenged sevenfold.” And the LORD placed a mark on Cain, so that no one who found him would kill him.
- Jeremiah 32:18
Through
Daniel 12:6One of them said to the man dressed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, “How long until the fulfillment of these wonders?”
it leads to
- Ezekiel 9:2
And I saw six men coming from the direction of the Upper Gate, which faces north, each with a weapon of slaughter in his hand. With them was another man clothed in linen who…
- Ezekiel 9:2
About Psalms
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Augustine of Hippo, Exposition on Psalm 74; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, Vol. 3; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.