Skip to main content
Psalmlog Logo
Read

Psalm 21:9

You 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.

7For the king trusts in the LORD. Through the loving kindness of the Most High, he shall not be moved.
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.
World English BibleRead in NIV in Psalmlog →
← Psalm 21:8Psalm 21:10 →
Notice

The fiery furnace makes this royal song severe: the king’s enemies face destruction, and YHWH’s wrath leaves no room to treat evil as harmless.

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

What response do you have to the furnace and devouring fire in this royal song?

Write on this

How does the king’s trust in verse 7 shape your reading of the wrath in verse 9?

Write on this

What might keep you from turning these words about judgment into a threat against someone?

Write on this
Connect

Where else Scripture says this

12 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
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 passages compare judgment to a burning furnace that consumes those facing it.
Psalm 18:8Smoke went out of his nostrils. Consuming fire came out of his mouth. Coals were kindled by it.Both psalms portray consuming fire associated with God, with Psalm 18 describing fire coming from his mouth.
Psalm 50:3Our God comes, and does not keep silent. A fire devours before him. It is very stormy around him.Devouring fire marks God’s action in both psalms, accompanying his coming in Psalm 50 and his wrath in Psalm 21.
2 Thessalonians 1:8punishing those who don’t know God, and to those who don’t obey the Good News of our Lord Jesus,Both passages speak of punishment, though Psalm 21 uses furnace imagery and 2 Thessalonians names disobedience to the Good News.
Psalm 2:5Then he will speak to them in his anger, and terrify them in his wrath:Both psalms name God’s anger and wrath as a threat to those facing his judgment.
Lamentations 2:2The Lord has swallowed up all the dwellings of Jacob without pity. He has thrown down in his wrath the strongholds of the daughter of Judah. He has brought …Both describe the Lord swallowing up in wrath, though Lamentations directs this language toward Jacob’s dwellings and Judah’s strongholds.
Nahum 1:6Who can stand before his indignation? Who can endure the fierceness of his anger? His wrath is poured out like fire, and the rocks are broken apart by him.Both passages portray God’s wrath through fire, with Nahum questioning whether anyone can endure his anger.
Psalm 140:10Let burning coals fall on them. Let them be thrown into the fire, into miry pits, from where they never rise.Fire destroys people in both psalms; Psalm 21 declares their destruction, while Psalm 140 asks for it.
Deuteronomy 4:24For the LORD your God is a devouring fire, a jealous God.Both associate the LORD with devouring fire: Psalm 21 describes his judgment, and Deuteronomy describes God himself.
Deuteronomy 32:22For a fire is kindled in my anger, that burns to the lowest Sheol, devours the earth with its increase, and sets the foundations of the mountains on fire.Both passages link divine anger with fire that devours, while Deuteronomy extends the burning to earth and mountains.
Job 20:26All darkness is laid up for his treasures. An unfanned fire will devour him. It will consume that which is left in his tent.Psalm 21 describes enemies devoured by fire; the supplied words from Job also depict a person consumed by fire.
Isaiah 26:11LORD, your hand is lifted up, yet they don’t see; but they will see your zeal for the people and be disappointed. Yes, fire will consume your adversaries.Both passages describe fire consuming adversaries, making their destruction an expression of the LORD’s action against them.
Where this verse fits

Injustice and anger. sermon or Bible study notes.

What the Bible says about anger →
One step

Something small to carry out of this verse

Read Psalm 21:7-11 and mark who faces judgment

scriptureoncelight
Encouragement

These words give no warrant for personal revenge. In this song of the king’s trust, YHWH has power to destroy those who plot evil.

Now put it in your words.

Start an entry on Psalm 21:9. 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).