Psalms 83:14

As the fire burneth a wood, and as the flame setteth the mountains on fire;

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
fire	כְּאֵ֥שׁ ke.'Esh	H784	fire (literally or figuratively) · preposition + noun, common both genders singular absolute
burneth	תִּבְעַר tiv.'ar-	H1197	to kindle · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person feminine singular
wood	יָ֑עַר Ya.'ar	H3293	a copse of bushes · noun, common masculine singular absolute
flame	וּ֝כְלֶהָבָ֗ה u.khe.le.ha.Vah	H3852	a flash · conjunction + preposition + noun, common feminine singular absolute
setteth	תְּלַהֵ֥ט te.la.Het	H3857	properly · verb, piel imperfect, 3rd person feminine singular
mountains	הָרִֽים ha.Rim	H2022	a mountain or range of hills (sometimes used figurative… · noun, common masculine plural absolute
fire	לָהַט lâhaṭ	H3857	properly

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

Deuteronomy 32:22 For a fire is kindled in mine anger, and shall burn unto the lowest hell, and shall consume the earth with her increase, and set on fire the…
Malachi 4:1 For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day tha…
Isaiah 9:18 For wickedness burneth as the fire: it shall devour the briers and thorns, and shall kindle in the thickets of the forest, and they shall mo…
Isaiah 30:33 For Tophet is ordained of old; yea, for the king it is prepared; he hath made it deep and large: the pile thereof is fire and much wood; the…
Isaiah 33:11-12 Ye shall conceive chaff, ye shall bring forth stubble: your breath, as fire, shall devour you.
Isaiah 64:1-2 Oh that thou wouldest rend the heavens, that thou wouldest come down, that the mountains might flow down at thy presence,
Ezekiel 20:47-48 And say to the forest of the south, Hear the word of the LORD; Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall d…
Nahum 1:6 Who can stand before his indignation? and who can abide in the fierceness of his anger? his fury is poured out like fire, and the rocks are…

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Psalms 83:9–end

The psalmist here, in the name of the church, prays for the destruction of those confederate forces, and, in God's name, foretels it; for this prayer that it might be so amounts to a prophecy that it shall be so, and this prophecy reaches to all the enemies of the gospel-church; whoever they be that oppose the kingdom of Christ, here they may read their doom. The prayer is, in short, that these enemies, who were confederate against Israel, might be defeated in all their attempts, and that they might prove their own ruin, and so God's Israel might be preserved and perpetuated. Now this is here illustrated, I. By some precedents. Let that be their punishment which has been the fate of others w…

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John Gill on Psalms 83:14

As the fire burneth the wood,.... Or "forest" (m); which is sometimes done purposely, and sometimes through carelessness, as Virgil (n) observes; and which is done very easily and swiftly, when fire is set to it; even all the trees of it, great and small, to which an army is sometimes compared, Isaiah 10:18, and as the flame setteth the mountains on fire; either the mountains themselves, as Etna, Vesuvius, and others; or rather the grass and trees that grow upon them, smitten by lightning from heaven, which may be meant by the flame: in like manner it is wished that the fire and flame of divine wrath would consume the confederate enemies of Israel, above mentioned; as wicked men are but as t…

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John Calvin on Psalms 83:13–end

Psalm 83:13-18 13. O my God! make them like a whirling ball, [447] like stubble before the wind. 14. As fire burns a forest [448] and as the flame kindles the mountains, [449] 15. So pursue them with thy tempest, [450] and terrify them with thy whirlwind. 16. Fill their faces with shame; that they may seek thy name, O Jehovah! 17. Let them be ashamed, and terrified perpetually, and let them be confounded, and perish. 18. And let them know that thou art, thy name Jehovah, thou alone the Most High over all the earth. [451] 13. O my God! make them like a whirling ball. As the ungodly, when they gird and prepare themselves for destroying the Church, are usually inflated with intolerable pride,…

The Church Fathers

As fire that burns up a forest. He did not say "fruitful trees," but "forest," which has no fruit. If anyone, then, is stubble, and has no wheat; if anyone is a forest, and has no fruit — let this perish. As a flame burning up the mountains: let the pride in them perish.
— Jerome, Homily 15, on Psalm 82

This levity, by which consent is easily given to what is evil, is followed by severe torment; therefore he proceeds:— "Like as the fire that burns up the wood, and as the flame that consumes the mountains" [Psalm 83:14]: "so shall You persecute them with Your tempest, and in Your anger shall disturb them" [Psalm 83:15]. Wood, he says, for its barrenness, mountains for their loftiness; for such are the enemies of God's people, barren of righteousness, full of pride. When he says, "fire" and "flame," he means to repeat under another term, the idea of God judging and punishing. But in saying, "with Your tempest," he means, as he goes on to explain, "Your anger:" and the former expression, "You shall persecute," answers to, "You shall disturb." We must take care, however, to understand, that the anger of God is free from any turbulent emotion; for His anger is an expression for His just method of taking vengeance: as the law might be said to be angry when its ministers are moved to punish by its sanction.
— Augustine of Hippo, Exposition on Psalm 83

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Psalms 83:14

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Psalms 83:9–end

John Gill on Psalms 83:14

John Calvin on Psalms 83:13–end

The Church Fathers

Psalms 83:14

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Psalms 83:9–end

John Gill on Psalms 83:14

John Calvin on Psalms 83:13–end

The Church Fathers

Keil & Delitzsch on Psalms 83:13-16

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Psalms 83:14-15

Spurgeon's Treasury of David on Psalms 83:14