TRV
Translation
King James Version
¶ Pour out thy wrath upon the heathen that have not known thee, and upon the kingdoms that have not called upon thy name.
Complete Jewish Bible
Pour out your wrath on the nations that don't know you, on the kingdoms that don't call out your name;
Berean Standard Bible
Pour out Your wrath on the nations that do not acknowledge You, on the kingdoms that refuse to call on Your name,
American Standard Version
Pour out thy wrath upon the nations that know thee not, And upon the kingdoms that call not upon thy name.
World English Bible Messianic
Pour out your wrath on the nations that don’t know you; on the kingdoms that don’t call on your name;
Geneva Bible (1599)
Powre out thy wrath vpon the heathen that haue not knowen thee, and vpon the kingdomes that haue not called vpon thy Name.
Young's Literal Translation
Pour Thy fury on the nations who have not known Thee, And on kingdoms that have not called in Thy name.
In the KJVVerse 15,192 of 31,102
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Commentary on Psalms 79 verses 6–13
6 ¶ Pour out thy wrath upon the heathen that have not known thee, and upon the kingdoms that have not called upon thy name.
7 For they have devoured Jacob, and laid waste his dwelling place.
8 O remember not against us former iniquities: let thy tender mercies speedily prevent us: for we are brought very low.
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.
11 Let the sighing of the prisoner come before thee; according to the greatness of thy power preserve thou those that are appointed to die;
12 And render unto our neighbours sevenfold into their bosom their reproach, wherewith they have reproached thee, O Lord.
13 So we thy people and sheep of thy pasture will give thee thanks for ever: we will shew forth thy praise to all generations.
The petitions here put up to God are very suitable to the present distresses of the church, and they have pleas to enforce them, interwoven with them, taken mostly from God's honour.
I. They pray that God would so turn away his anger from them as to turn it upon those that persecuted and abused them (Psa 79:6): "Pour out thy wrath, the full vials of it, upon the heathen; let them wring out the dregs of it, and drink them." This prayer is in effect a prophecy, in which the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. Observe here, 1. The character of those he prays against; they are such as have not known God, nor called upon his name. The reason why men do not call upon God is because they do not know him, how able and willing he is to help them. Those that persist in ignorance of God, and neglect of prayer, are the ungodly, who live without God in the world. There are kingdoms that know not God and obey not the gospel, but neither their multitude nor their force united will secure them from his just judgments. 2. Their crime: They have devoured Jacob, Psa 79:7. That is crime enough in the account of him who reckons that those who touch his people touch the apple of his eye. They have not only disturbed, but devoured, Jacob, not only encroached upon his dwelling place, the land of Canaan, but laid it waste by plundering and depopulating it. (3.) Their condemnation: "Pour out thy wrath upon them; do not only restrain them from doing further mischief, but reckon with them for the mischief they have done."
II. They pray for the pardon of sin, which they own to be the procuring cause of all their calamities. How unrighteous soever men were, God was righteous in permitting them to do what they did. They pray, 1. That God would not remember against them their former iniquities (Psa 79:8), either their own former iniquities, that now, when they were old, they might not be made to possess the iniquities of their youth, or the former iniquities of their people, the sins of their ancestors. In the captivity of Babylon former iniquities were brought to account; but God promises not again to do so (Jer 31:29, Jer 31:30), and so they pray, "Remember not against us our first sins," which some make to look as far back as the golden calf, because God said, In the day when I visit I will visit for this sin of theirs upon them, Exo 32:34. If the children by repentance and reformation cut off the entail of the parents' sin, they may in faith pray that God will not remember them against them. When God pardons sin he blots it out and remembers it no more. 2. That he would purge away the sins they had been lately guilty of, by the guilt of which their minds and consciences had been defiled: Deliver us, and purge away our sins, Psa 79:9. Then deliverances from trouble are granted in love, and are mercies indeed, when they are grounded upon the pardon of sin and flow from that; we should therefore be more earnest with God in prayer for the removal of our sins than for the removal of our afflictions, and the pardon of them is the foundation and sweetness of our deliverances.
III. They pray that God would work deliverance for them, and bring their troubles to a good end and that speedily: Let thy tender mercies speedily prevent us, Psa 79:8. They had no hopes but from God's mercies, his tender mercies; their case was so deplorable that they looked upon themselves as the proper objects of divine compassion, and so near to desperate that, unless divine mercy did speedily interpose to prevent their ruin, they were undone. This whets their importunity: "Lord, help us; Lord, deliver us; help us under our troubles, that we may bear them well; help us out of our troubles, that the spirit may not fail. Deliver us from sin, from sinking." Three things they plead: - 1. The great distress they were reduced to: "We are brought very low, and, being low, shall be lost if thou help us not." The lower we are brought the more need we have of help from heaven and the more will divine power be magnified in raising us up. 2. Their dependence upon him: "Thou art the God of our salvation, who alone canst help. Salvation belongs to the Lord, from whom we expect help; for in the Lord alone is the salvation of his people." Those who make God the God of their salvation shall find him so. 3. The interest of his own honour in their case. They plead no merit of theirs; they pretend to none; but, "Help us for the glory of thy name; pardon us for thy name's sake." The best encouragements in prayer are those that are taken from God only, and those things whereby he has made himself known. Two things are insinuated in this plea: - (1.) That God's name and honour would be greatly injured if he did not deliver them; for those that derided them blasphemed God, as if he were weak and could not help them, or had withdrawn and would not; therefore they plead (Psa 79:10), "Wherefore should the heathen say, Where is their God? He has forsaken them, and forgotten them; and this they get by worshipping a God whom they cannot see." (Nil praeter nubes et coeli numen adorant. Juv. - They adore no other divinity than the clouds and the sky.) That which was their praise (that they served a God that is every where) was now turned to their reproach and his too, as if they served a God that is nowhere. "Lord," say they, "Make it to appear that thou art by making it to appear that thou art with us and for us, that when we are asked, Where is your God? we may be able to say, He is nigh unto us in all that which we call upon him for, and you see he is so by what he does for us." (2.) That God's name and honour would be greatly advanced if he did deliver them; his mercy would be glorified in delivering those that were so miserable and helpless. By making bare his everlasting arm on their behalf he would make unto himself an everlasting name; and their deliverance would be a type and figure of the great salvation, which in the fulness of time Messiah the Prince would work out, to the glory of God's name.
IV. They pray that God would avenge them on their adversaries, 1. For their cruelty and barbarity (Psa 79:10): "Let the avenging of our blood" (according to the ancient law, Gen 9:6) "be known among the heathen; let them be made sensible that what judgments are brought upon them are punishments of the wrong they have done to us; let this be in our sight, and by this means let God be known among the heathen as the God to whom vengeance belongs (Psa 94:1) and the God that espouses his people's cause." Those that have intoxicated themselves with the blood of the saints shall have blood given them to drink, for they are worthy. 2. For their insolence and scorn (Psa 79:12): "Render to them their reproach. The indignities which by word and deed they have done to the people of God himself and his name let them be repaid to them with interest." The reproach wherewith men have reproached us only we must leave it to God whether he will render to them or no, and must pray that he would forgive them; but the reproach wherewith they have blasphemed God himself we may in faith pray that God would render seven-fold into their bosoms, so as to strike at their hearts, to humble them, and bring them to repentance. This prayer is a prophecy, of the same import with that of Enoch, that God will convince sinners of all their hard speeches which they have spoken against him (Jde 1:15) and will return them into their own bosoms by everlasting terrors at the remembrance of them.
V. They pray that God would find out a way for the rescue of his poor prisoners, especially the condemned prisoners, Psa 79:11. The case of their brethren who had fallen into the hands of the enemy was very sad; they were kept close prisoners, and, because they durst not be heard to bemoan themselves, they vented their griefs in deep and silent sighs. All their breathing was sighing, and so was their praying. They were appointed to die, as sheep for the slaughter, and had received the sentence of death within themselves. This deplorable case the psalmist recommends, 1. To the divine pity: "Let their sighs come up before thee, and be thou pleased to take cognizance of their moans." 2. To the divine power: "According to the greatness of thy arm, which no creature can contest with, preserve thou those that are appointed to die from the death to which they are appointed." Man's extremity is God's opportunity to appear for his people. See Co2 1:8-10.
Lastly, They promise the returns of praise for the answers of prayer (Psa 79:13): So we will give thee thanks for ever. Observe, 1. How they please themselves with their relation to God. "Though we are oppressed and brought low, yet we are the sheep of thy pasture, not disowned and cast off by thee for all this: We are thine; save us." 2. How they promise themselves an opportunity of praising God for their deliverance, which they therefore desired, and would bid welcome, because it would furnish them with matter for thanksgiving and put their hearts in tune for that excellent work, the work of heaven. 3. How they oblige themselves not only to give God thanks at present, but to show forth his praise unto all generations, that is, to do all they could both to perpetuate the remembrance of God's favours to them and to engage their posterity to keep up the work of praise. 4. How they plead this with God: "Lord, appear for us against our enemies; for, if they get the better, they will blaspheme thee (Psa 79:12); but, if we be delivered, we will praise thee. Lord, we are that people of thine which thou hast formed for thyself, to show forth thy praise; if we be cut off, whence shall that rent, that tribute, be raised?" Note, Those lives that are entirely devoted to God's praise are assuredly taken under his protection.
Matthew Henry (1662–1714) — Commentary on the Whole Bible. This section covers verses 6–13. Public domain.
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Gregory of NazianzusAD 390
ON THE HOLY SPIRIT, THEOLOGICAL ORATION 5[31].22
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. We have used names derived from human experience and applied them so far as we could, to aspects of God. His retirement from us, for reason known to himself into an almost unconcerned inactivity, is his “sleeping.” Human sleeping, after all, has the character of restful inaction. When he alters and suddenly benefits us, that is his “waking up.” Waking up puts an end to sleep, just as looking at somebody puts an end to turning away from him. We have made his punishing us, his “being angered”; for with us, punishment is born of anger. His acting in different places, we call “walking,” for walking is a transition from one place to another. His resting among the heavenly powers, making them almost his haunt, we call his “sitting” and “being enthroned”; this too is human language. The divine, in fact, rests nowhere as he rests in the saints. God’s swift motion we call “flight;” his watching over us is his “face”;12 his giving and receiving is his “hand.” In short every faculty or activity of God has given us a corresponding picture in terms of some thing bodily.
Augustine of HippoAD 430
Exposition on Psalm 79
But that which he adds, "Pour forth Your anger upon the nations which have not known You, and upon the kingdoms which have not called upon Your name" [Psalm 79:6]; this too is a prophecy, not a wish. Not in the imprecation of malevolence are these words spoken, but foreseen by the Spirit they are predicted: just as in the case of Judas the traitor, the evil things which were to befall him have been so prophesied as if they were wished. For in like manner as the prophet does not command Christ, though in the imperative mood he gives utterance to what he says, "Gird Your sword about Your thigh, O Most Mighty: in Your beauty and in Your goodliness, both go on, and prosperously proceed, and reign:" so he does not wish, but does prophesy, who says, "Pour forth Your anger upon the nations which have not known You." Which in his usual way he repeats, saying, "And upon the kingdoms which have not called upon Your name." For nations have been repeated in kingdoms: and that they have not known Him, has been repeated in this, that they have not called upon His name. How then must be understood, what the Lord says in the Gospel [Luke 12:47-48] concerning stripes, "the many and the few"? If greater the anger of God is against the nations, which have not known the Lord? For in this which he says, "Pour forth Your anger," with this word he has clearly enough pointed out, how great anger he has willed that there should be understood. Whence afterwards he says, "Render to our neighbours seven times as much." Is it not that there is a great difference between servants, who, though they know not the will of their Lord, do yet call upon His name, and those that are aliens from the family of so great a Master, who are so ignorant of God, as that they do not even call upon God? For in place of Him they call upon either idols or demons, or any creature they choose; not the Creator, who is blessed for ever. For those persons, concerning whom he is prophesying this, he does not even intimate to be so ignorant of the will of their God, as that still they fear the Lord Himself; but so ignorant of the Lord Himself, that they do not even call upon Him, and that they stand forth as enemies of His name. There is a great difference then between servants not knowing the will of their God, and yet living in His family and in His house, and enemies not only setting the will against knowing the Lord Himself, but also not calling upon His name, and even in His servants fighting against it.
Source: Quotations drawn from early Church Fathers and historical Christian theologians (AD 100–1500). Some quotes address the surrounding passage context rather than this verse alone.
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SUMMARY
Psalm 79:6 is a fervent and impassioned plea within a communal lament, imploring God to unleash His righteous indignation upon the foreign nations responsible for the devastating destruction of Jerusalem and the desecration of His holy sanctuary. The psalmist appeals to divine justice, asserting that these nations deserve overwhelming judgment because they have neither intimately known God nor reverently called upon His name, thereby demonstrating their profound spiritual rebellion, active defiance, and rejection of His ultimate sovereignty.
CONTEXT
EXPOSITION AND ANALYSIS
Key Word Analysis
Verse Breakdown
Literary Devices
Psalm 79:6 masterfully employs several powerful Literary Devices to convey its urgent and intense message. The most prominent is Imprecation, a direct and fervent appeal to God to bring judgment or calamity upon enemies. This is powerfully evident in the imperative "Pour out thy wrath," which is a direct command to God. The verse also utilizes Parallelism, specifically synonymous parallelism, where the two clauses ("the heathen that have not known thee" and "the kingdoms that have not called upon thy name") express the same core idea in different, yet reinforcing, words. This repetition emphasizes and intensifies the twin accusations of spiritual ignorance and active rebellion. The phrase "Pour out thy wrath" is a clear example of Anthropomorphism, attributing a human action (pouring out a liquid) to God, making His divine judgment more tangible, comprehensible, and emotionally impactful to the human mind. Finally, the use of "heathen" and "kingdoms" can be seen as a form of Merism, encompassing all non-Israelite entities that stand in opposition to God and His people, thereby emphasizing the universal scope and comprehensive nature of their rebellion and the judgment sought.
THEOLOGICAL AND THEMATIC CONNECTIONS
This verse profoundly articulates the enduring biblical principle of divine justice and the ultimate accountability of all nations before the sovereign God. It underscores that spiritual ignorance, active rejection of God's authority, and the deliberate refusal to worship Him are not benign conditions but incur serious, indeed catastrophic, consequences. The psalmist's desperate plea is rooted in a deep, covenantal understanding of God's character as both merciful and immutably just, believing firmly that His righteousness demands a decisive response to profound wickedness, the desecration of His holiness, and the cruel oppression of His covenant people. It highlights the fundamental distinction between those who are in a genuine, intimate relationship with God and those who are alienated from Him, emphasizing that true knowledge of God involves not merely intellectual assent but a life characterized by worship, humble dependence, and faithful obedience.
REFLECTION AND APPLICATION
While Psalm 79:6 is a raw lament born from national catastrophe and a fervent plea for immediate divine judgment, it offers enduring and profound truths for believers today. It serves as a powerful reminder that God is indeed a God of perfect justice, who sees every act of unrighteousness, every instance of oppression, and every defiance of His holy name, and who will ultimately address them with perfect righteousness. Our initial response to profound injustice and suffering should always be to cry out to God, trusting in His perfect timing, His sovereign methods for vindication, and His ultimate triumph over evil. However, the New Testament calls us to a higher, transformative standard of love, even for our enemies, recognizing that ultimate vengeance belongs to God alone, as powerfully articulated in Romans 12:19. This New Covenant perspective does not negate the reality of divine judgment, but it shifts the responsibility for its execution from human hands to God's. For us, Psalm 79:6 serves as a sober reminder of the profound and eternal consequences of rejecting God and underscores the vital importance of cultivating a genuine, intimate "knowing" of Him and consistently "calling upon His name" in worship, humble dependence, and obedient faith. Our mission, therefore, is to compassionately share the saving knowledge of God with those who do not know Him, rather than to call for their immediate destruction.
Questions for Reflection
FAQ
Why does the psalmist ask God to "pour out His wrath"? Is this vengeful or unchristian?
Answer: The psalmist's plea for God to "pour out His wrath" is not an expression of personal, vindictive vengeance in the modern sense, but a fervent cry for divine justice and vindication. In the Old Testament, especially within communal laments like Psalm 79, such imprecations are theological appeals to God's covenant faithfulness and His immutable character as a righteous judge. The nations had not only brutally oppressed Israel but had also blasphemed God's holy name by desecrating His Temple and mocking His covenant people, essentially challenging His sovereignty and honor. The psalmist is asking God to defend His own glory and to uphold justice against those who have actively and defiantly rejected Him. It's a recognition that ultimate judgment belongs to God alone, a principle echoed in the New Testament, such as in Romans 12:19, which states, "Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord."
What is the profound significance of the phrases "have not known thee" and "have not called upon thy name"?
Answer: These phrases are profoundly significant, describing the spiritual condition and moral culpability of the nations. "Have not known thee" (Hebrew: yeda'ukha) refers to a fundamental lack of intimate, covenantal relationship with God, far beyond mere intellectual ignorance. In biblical terms, "knowing God" implies a deep, personal, experiential acknowledgement of His character, His will, and His covenant demands, leading to worship and obedience. To "not know" Him means to be alienated from Him, to live without regard for His authority, His truth, or His very being. Similarly, "have not called upon thy name" (Hebrew: qare'u b'shimkha) signifies an active refusal to worship, invoke, or submit to the one true God. It points to idolatry, self-sufficiency, and a deliberate rejection of true faith and dependence. These two phrases together highlight a profound spiritual rebellion and active defiance that justifies divine judgment, contrasting sharply with the eternal life that comes from knowing the only true God and Jesus Christ.
CHRIST-CENTERED FULFILLMENT
While Psalm 79:6 is a desperate plea for God's wrath to be poured out upon those who do not know Him, its ultimate fulfillment and profound reorientation are found in the person and work of Jesus Christ. Jesus is the one through whom God's ultimate judgment is executed, for the Father has committed all judgment to the Son. More profoundly, in Christ, the "wrath" of God against human sin was not poured out on the ignorant nations, but upon Himself on the cross, offering a path to reconciliation and salvation for all who believe. Through His atoning sacrifice, Jesus became the singular means by which humanity can truly "know" God, for He is the perfect, incarnate revelation of the Father, declaring, "If you had known me, you would have known my Father also". Now, salvation is graciously offered to "whoever calls on the name of the Lord," a universal invitation that transcends national boundaries, fulfilling the spirit of the Old Testament call to worship God's name but expanding it to all peoples through faith in Christ, saving them from the wrath to come (Romans 10:13, Romans 5:9). Ultimately, at His glorious second coming, Christ will return as the righteous King to judge the nations, bringing final and perfect justice upon those who have persistently refused to know and call upon the name of God.