Read
Psalm 34:16
The LORD’s face is against those who do evil, to cut off their memory from the earth.
14Depart from evil, and do good. Seek peace, and pursue it.
15The LORD’s eyes are toward the righteous. His ears listen to their cry.
16The LORD’s face is against those who do evil, to cut off their memory from the earth.
17The righteous cry, and the LORD hears, and delivers them out of all their troubles.
18The LORD is near to those who have a broken heart, and saves those who have a crushed spirit.
Notice
YHWH’s face turned against evildoers makes judgment personal and severe: even the memory they leave on earth falls under his sentence.
Questions to write on. Each one opens a new entry with this verse already attached.
What concerns surface when you read that God would cut off an evildoer’s memory?
Write on thisHow does the command to pursue peace shape your reading of this warning about God’s face?
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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
Proverbs 10:7The memory of the righteous is blessed, but the name of the wicked will rot.Both describe the loss of the wicked person’s remembrance, while Proverbs contrasts this with the blessed memory of the righteous.
Job 18:17His memory will perish from the earth. He will have no name in the street.Both describe a person’s memory disappearing from the earth; Job adds the loss of a name in the street.
Jeremiah 17:13LORD, the hope of Israel, all who forsake you will be disappointed. Those who depart from me will be written in the earth, because they have forsaken the LORD, …Both describe loss under the LORD’s judgment; Jeremiah names forsaking him, while the psalm names doing evil.
Jeremiah 44:11“Therefore the LORD of Armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘Behold, I will set my face against you for evil, even to cut off all Judah.Both speak of the LORD setting his face against people, with being cut off named as the consequence.
Psalm 109:15Let them be before the LORD continually, that he may cut off their memory from the earth;Both speak of the LORD cutting off people’s memory from the earth; Psalm 109 makes this a prayer.
Leviticus 17:10“‘Any man of the house of Israel, or of the strangers who live as foreigners among them, who eats any kind of blood, I will set my face against that soul who …Both join God’s opposing face with being cut off; Leviticus applies that judgment to someone who eats blood.
Jeremiah 23:30“Therefore behold, I am against the prophets,” says the LORD, “who each steal my words from his neighbor.Both declare the LORD’s opposition to wrongdoing; Jeremiah specifies prophets who steal his words from their neighbors.
Ezekiel 15:7I will set my face against them. They will go out from the fire, but the fire will still devour them. Then you will know that I am the LORD, when I set my face …Both describe the LORD setting his face against people in judgment; Ezekiel speaks of fire that will devour them.
Deuteronomy 32:26I said that I would scatter them afar. I would make their memory to cease from among men;Both describe God bringing human remembrance to an end, using the loss of memory as language of judgment.
Amos 9:4Though they go into captivity before their enemies, there I will command the sword, and it will kill them. I will set my eyes on them for evil, and not for …Both portray God’s attention as judgment: his face is against evildoers in the psalm, and his eyes mean harm in Amos.
Jeremiah 21:10For I have set my face on this city for evil, and not for good,” says the LORD. “It will be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will burn it …Both describe the LORD’s face set against its object; Jeremiah names a city facing conquest and fire.
Ruth 4:10Moreover, Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of Mahlon, I have purchased to be my wife, to raise up the name of the dead on his inheritance, that the name of the …Both concern remembrance being cut off; Ruth describes preserving a dead man’s name, while the psalm declares the loss of evildoers’ memory.
Where this verse fits
Injustice and anger. sermon or Bible study notes.
One step
Something small to carry out of this verse
Encouragement
Evil does not have God’s approval, however secure it appears. YHWH who hears the righteous also sets his face against those who do evil.
Now put it in your words.
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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).