Psalms 79:5
in Psalms 79How long, O LORD? Will You be angry forever? Will Your jealousy burn like fire?
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
How long, O Jehovah? wilt thou be angry for ever? Shall thy jealousy burn like fire?
KJV
How long, Lord? wilt thou be angry for ever? shall thy jealousy burn like fire?
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This verse in Psalms 79
Commentary
9 notes on this verseA commentator
Gregory of NazianzusON THE HOLY SPIRIT, THEOLOGICAL ORATION 5[31].22 · Written before 390.
Some things mentioned in the Bible are not factual; some factual things are not mentioned; some nonfactual things receive no mention there; some things are both factual and mentioned. Do you ask for my proofs here? I am ready to offer them. In the Bible, God "sleeps," "wakes up," "is angered," "walks" and has a "throne of cherubim." Yet when has God ever been subject to emotion? When do you ever hear that God is a bodily being? This is a nonfactual, mental picture.
This site's exposition
Will You be angry forever
on Psalms 79:5-7
Three questions press for an end without naming a date, and the last asks whether God's jealousy will burn like fire. The prayer of verse 6 turns outward, and Gill reads its target by conduct, the nations that never call on His name. They devoured Jacob and devastated his homeland.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
In the second place now giving utterance to an evident prayer, whence it may be perceived that the calling to remembrance of former affliction is not by way of information but prayer; "How long," he says, "O Lord, will You be angry, unto the end? Shall Your jealousy burn like fire?" [Psalm 79:5]. He is evidently asking God not to be angry unto the end, that is, that this so great oppression and tribulation and devastation may not continue even unto the end; but that He moderate His chastening, according to that which is said in another Psalm, "You shall feed us with the bread of tears, and You shall give us to drink of tears in measure." For the, "how long, O Lord, will You be angry, unto the end?" has been spoken in the same sense as if it had been said, Be not, O Lord, angry unto the end. And in that which follows, "shall Your jealousy burn like fire?" both words must be understood, both, "how long," and, "unto the end:" just as if there had been said, how long shall there burn like fire Your jealousy unto the end? For these two words must be understood in the same manner as that word which was used a little higher up, namely, "they have made." For while the former sentence has, "they have made the dead bodies of Your servants morsels for the fowls of heaven:" this word the latter sentence has not, wherein is said, "the fleshes of Your saints for the beasts of the earth;" but there is surely understood what the former has, namely, "they have made." Moreover, the anger and jealousy of God are not emotions of God; as some do charge upon the Scriptures which they do not understand: but under the name of anger is to be understood the avenging of iniquity; under the name of jealousy, the exaction of chastity; that the soul may not despise the law of her Lord, and perish by departing in fornication from the Lord. […]
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
9 Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of thy name: and deliver us, and purge away our sins, for thy name's sake. 10 Wherefore should the heathen say, Where is their God? let him be known among the heathen in our sight by the revenging of the blood of thy servants which is shed.
quarantine:scripture (2026-07-29) — verbatim-scripture
How long, Lord, wilt thou be angry? for ever?....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
How long-- (Ps 13:1). be angry-- (Ps 74:1-10). jealousy burn-- (De 29:20). Though we deserve much, do not the heathen deserve more for their violence to us (Jer 51:3-5; The singular denotes the chief power, and the use of the plural indicates the combined confederates. called upon--or, "by" thy name--proclaimed Thy attributes and professed allegiance (Isa 12:4;
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
"How long, Lord?" Will there be no end to these chastisements? They are most sharp and overwhelming; wilt thou much longer continue them? "Wilt thou be angry for ever?" Is thy mercy gone so that thou wilt for ever smite? "Shall thy jealousy burn like fire?" There was great cause for the Lord to be jealous, since idols had been set up, and Israel had gone aside from his worship, but the psalmist begs the Lord not to consume his people utterly as with fire, but to abate their woes.
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
How long, Lord? - Wilt thou continue thine anger against us, and suffer us to be insulted, and thyself blasphemed?
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
How long, Lord? - See Psa 74:1, note; Psa 74:10, note; and Psa 77:7-9, notes. This is the language, not of impatience, but of anxiety; not of complaining, but of wonder. It is language such as the people of God are often constrained to employ under heavy trials - trials which continue so long that it seems as if they would never end. Shall thy jealousy, burn like fire? - That is, Shall it continue to burn like fire? Shall it utterly consume us? On the word jealousy, see the notes at Psa 78:58.
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 |
| מָ֣ה | mah | when? | H4100 → | 752 times |
| יְ֭הוָה | yahweh | O Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| תֶּאֱנַ֣ף | teenaf | will you be angry? | H599 → | 14 times |
| לָנֶ֑צַח | lanetzach | to perpetuity | H5331 → | 43 times |
| תִּבְעַ֥ר | tivar | will it burn? | H1197 → | 94 times |
| כְּמוֹ־ | kemov- | like | H3644 → | 143 times |
| אֵ֝֗שׁ | ʾesh | fire | H784 → | 378 times |
| קִנְאָתֶֽךָ׃ | kinatecha | jealousy your | H7068 → | 43 times |
עַד־until
ʾad-H5704 →1261 times
מָ֣הwhen?
mahH4100 →752 times
יְ֭הוָהO Yahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
תֶּאֱנַ֣ףwill you be angry?
teenafH599 →14 times
לָנֶ֑צַחto perpetuity
lanetzachH5331 →43 times
תִּבְעַ֥רwill it burn?
tivarH1197 →94 times
כְּמוֹ־like
kemov-H3644 →143 times
אֵ֝֗שׁfire
ʾeshH784 →378 times
קִנְאָתֶֽךָ׃jealousy your
kinatechaH7068 →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
Deuteronomy 29:20The LORD will never be willing to forgive him. Instead, His anger and jealousy will burn against that man, and every curse written in this book will fall upon him. The LORD will blot…
it leads to
- Psalms 74:1
Why have You rejected us forever, O God? Why does Your anger smolder against the sheep of Your pasture?
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Psalms 74:1
Through
Psalms 74:1Why have You rejected us forever, O God? Why does Your anger smolder against the sheep of Your pasture?
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 29:20
The LORD will never be willing to forgive him. Instead, His anger and jealousy will burn against that man, and every curse written in this book will fall upon him. The LORD will blot…
- Psalms 79:13
Then we Your people, the sheep of Your pasture, will thank You forever; from generation to generation we will declare Your praise.
- Psalms 100:3
Know that the LORD is God. It is He who made us, and we are His; we are His people, and the sheep of His pasture.
- John 10:26–30
But because you are not My sheep, you refuse to believe.
- Ezekiel 34:31
‘You are My flock, the sheep of My pasture, My people, and I am your God,’ declares the Lord GOD.”
- Deuteronomy 29:20
Through
Zephaniah 3:8Therefore wait for Me,” declares the LORD, “until the day I rise to testify. For My decision is to gather nations, to assemble kingdoms, to pour out upon them My indignation—all My burning anger.…
it leads to
- Joel 3:2
I will gather all the nations and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. There I will enter into judgment against them concerning My people, My inheritance, Israel, whom they have scattered among…
- Zephaniah 1:18
Neither their silver nor their gold will be able to deliver them on the Day of the LORD’s wrath. The whole earth will be consumed by the fire of His jealousy.” For indeed, He…
- Joel 3:2
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, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Augustine of Hippo, Exposition on Psalm 79; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, Vol. 4; Gregory of Nazianzus, ON THE HOLY SPIRIT, THEOLOGICAL ORATION 5[31].22; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.
