to spill forth (blood · verb, qal imperative, 2nd person masculine singular
wrath
חֲמָתְךָ֨cha.ma.te.Kha
H2534
heat · noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
heathen
הַגּוֹיִם֮ha.go.Yim
H1471
a foreign nation · definite article + noun, common masculine plural absolute
known
יְדָ֫ע֥וּךָye.Da.'U.kha
H3045
to know (properly · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person common plural + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
kingdoms
מַמְלָכ֑וֹתmam.la.Khot
H4467
dominion · noun, common feminine plural absolute
called
קָרָֽאוּka.Ra.'u
H7121
to call out to (i.e. properly · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person common plural
name
בְּ֝שִׁמְךָ֗be.shim.kha
H8034
an appellation · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Jeremiah 10:25 Pour out thy fury upon the heathen that know thee not, and upon the families that call not on thy name: for they have eaten up Jacob, and de…
2 Thessalonians 1:8 In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ:
Psalms 14:4 Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge? who eat up my people as they eat bread, and call not upon the LORD.
Psalms 53:4 Have the workers of iniquity no knowledge? who eat up my people as they eat bread: they have not called upon God.
Psalms 69:24 Pour out thine indignation upon them, and let thy wrathful anger take hold of them.
Isaiah 45:4-5 For Jacob my servant’s sake, and Israel mine elect, I have even called thee by thy name: I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known me…
Romans 1:28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not con…
Psalms 9:16-17 The LORD is known by the judgment which he executeth: the wicked is snared in the work of his own hands. Higgaion. Selah.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Psalms 79:6–end
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 wh…
Pour out thy wrath upon the Heathen that have not known thee,.... Who had poured out the blood of the saints like water, and therefore it was a righteous thing with God to pour out the cup of wrath in his hands, and cause them to drink the dregs of it: these words, though they are in the form of an imprecation, yet regard not private revenge, but public justice, and the honour of God; and, besides, may be considered as a prophecy of what would be, and particularly of God's pouring out the vials of his wrath on the antichristian states; who, though they profess Christianity, are no other than Heathens, and have no spiritual and serious knowledge of Christ:
and upon the kingdoms that have not…
Psalm 79:5-9
5. How long, O Jehovah! wilt thou be wroth for ever? Shall thy jealousy burn like fire? 6. Pour out thy fury [373] upon the heathen [or the nations] who have not known thee, and on the kingdoms which call not upon thy name. 7. For they have devoured Jacob, and made desolate his dwelling. [374] 8. Remember not against us the iniquities of former times: make haste, let thy compassions prevent us; for we are exceedingly afflicted. 9. Help us, O God of our salvation! for the glory of thy name; and deliver us, and be merciful to our sins, for thy name's sake.
5 How long, O Jehovah! wilt thou be wroth for ever? I have already observed that these two expressions, how long and for eve…
The Church Fathers
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 Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Blindness · 21:14;22:13,14; — 21:14;22:13,14;
Ignorance Of God · Punishment of — Punishment of
Jews, The · Denunciations against those who: Slaughtered — Denunciations against those who: Slaughtered
Prayerlessness · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
Out of the plaintive question how long? and whether endlessly God would be angry and cause His jealousy to continue to burn like a fire (Deu 32:22), grows up the prayer (Psa 79:6) that He would turn His anger against the heathen who are estranged from the hostile towards Him, and of whom He is now making use as a rod of anger against His people. The taking over of Psa 79:6-7 from Jer 10:25 is not betrayed by the looseness of the connection of thought; but in themselves these four lines sound much more original in Jeremiah, and the style is exactly that of this prophet, cf. Jer 6:11; Jer 2:3, and frequently, Psa 49:20. The אל, instead of על, which follows שׁפך is incorrect; the singular אכל g…
The repentant among God’s people ask him to vent his anger not on them but on their wicked and unrepentant enemies.
Spurgeon's Treasury of David on Psalms 79:6
Pour out thy wrath upon the heathen that have not known thee, and upon the kingdoms that have not called upon thy name.
"Pour out thy wrath upon the heathen that have not known thee." If thou must smite look further afield; spare thy children and strike thy foes. There are lands where thou art in no measure acknowledged; be pleased to visit these first with thy judgments, and let thine erring Israel have a respite. "And upon the kingdoms that have not called upon thy name." Hear us the prayerful, and avenge thyself upon the prayerless. Sometimes providence appears to deal much more severely with the righteous than with the wicked, and this verse is a bold appeal founded upon such an appeara…
