Skip to main content
Psalmlog Logo
Read

Psalm 21:10

You will destroy their descendants from the earth, their posterity from among the children of men.

8Your hand will find out all of your enemies. Your right hand will find out those who hate you.
9You will make them as a fiery furnace in the time of your anger. The LORD will swallow them up in his wrath. The fire shall devour them.
10You will destroy their descendants from the earth, their posterity from among the children of men.
11For they intended evil against you. They plotted evil against you which cannot succeed.
12For you will make them turn their back, when you aim drawn bows at their face.
World English BibleRead in NIV in Psalmlog →
← Psalm 21:9Psalm 21:11 →
Notice

The destruction of descendants extends this royal victory song into the next generation, raising hard questions about the reach of judgment.

Questions to write on. Each one opens a new entry with this verse already attached.

What troubles you about the judgment reaching the enemies’ descendants as well as the enemies?

Write on this

How does the surrounding account of hatred and evil plots shape your reading of this destruction?

Write on this
Connect

Where else Scripture says this

10 passages readers most often link with this verse, and the thread each one shares with it.

This verse's connections, by chapterThe Bible's strongest chapter linksHover or tap a book to trace it
Psalm 37:28For the LORD loves justice, and doesn’t forsake his saints. They are preserved forever, but the children of the wicked shall be cut off.Both passages describe judgment reaching descendants, with Psalm 37 contrasting their destruction with the LORD’s preservation of his saints.
Isaiah 14:20You will not join them in burial, because you have destroyed your land. You have killed your people. The offspring of evildoers will not be named forever.Both passages extend the ruin of evildoers beyond their own lives to the future of their offspring.
1 Kings 13:34This thing became sin to the house of Jeroboam, even to cut it off and to destroy it from off the surface of the earth.Both passages describe destruction from the earth that reaches a family line, with Kings naming the house of Jeroboam.
Psalm 109:13Let his posterity be cut off. In the generation following let their name be blotted out.Psalm 21 announces the destruction of posterity, while Psalm 109 asks for posterity and a family name to be cut off.
Job 20:28The increase of his house will depart. They will rush away in the day of his wrath.Both passages portray ruin reaching beyond an individual, though Job speaks of a household’s increase rather than naming descendants.
Malachi 4:1“For behold, the day comes, burning like a furnace, when all the proud and all who work wickedness will be stubble. The day that comes will burn them up,” says …Both describe destruction with nothing continuing afterward: Psalm 21 names descendants, while Malachi uses the image of neither root nor branch.
Esther 9:10the ten sons of Haman the son of Hammedatha, the Jews’ enemy, but they didn’t lay their hand on the plunder.The limited link is an enemy’s family: Psalm 21 announces descendants’ destruction, while this excerpt names Haman’s ten sons.
Job 18:16–19His roots will be dried up beneath. His branch will be cut off above.Both portray an end to continuance, using descendants and posterity in the psalm and roots and branch in Job.
Psalm 28:4Give them according to their work, and according to the wickedness of their doings. Give them according to the operation of their hands. Bring back on them …Both concern judgment on enemies, though Psalm 28 asks for repayment according to deeds without mentioning descendants.
Isaiah 10:12Therefore it will happen that when the Lord has performed his whole work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the willful proud heart of …Both concern judgment, though Isaiah names punishment for a king’s pride rather than the destruction of his descendants.
Where this verse fits

Injustice and anger. doubt. sermon or Bible study notes.

What the Bible says about anger →What the Bible says about doubt →
One step

Something small to carry out of this verse

Read the surrounding lines and name your difficulty

scriptureoncelight
Encouragement

You need not smooth away the severity of these words. In this royal song, YHWH judges enemies whose destruction includes their descendants; the passage gives no command for personal revenge.

Now put it in your words.

Start an entry on Psalm 21:10. Write what it stirs. Psalmlog sets your words beside Scripture and gives you one next step. Your first entry is free, no account needed.

Keep goingPsalm 21 · the whole chapter with its connection mapPsalms · every chapterBuild a reading plan through Psalms

Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).