Read
Psalm 9:6
The enemy is overtaken by endless ruin. The very memory of the cities which you have overthrown has perished.
4For you have maintained my just cause. You sit on the throne judging righteously.
5You have rebuked the nations. You have destroyed the wicked. You have blotted out their name forever and ever.
6The enemy is overtaken by endless ruin. The very memory of the cities which you have overthrown has perished.
7But the LORD reigns forever. He has prepared his throne for judgment.
8He will judge the world in righteousness. He will administer judgment to the peoples in uprightness.
Notice
Cities vanish here even from memory, a severe picture of God's judgment that challenges the sense that hostile powers will last forever.
Questions to write on. Each one opens a new entry with this verse already attached.
What troubles or comforts you about the loss of even these cities' memory?
Write on thisHow does YHWH’s enduring reign in the next verse shape your reading of this ruin?
Write on thisConnect
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
Psalm 1:6For the LORD knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked shall perish.Both passages speak of perishing under God's judgment: the wicked's way in Psalm 1 and the enemy's cities in Psalm 9.
Ecclesiastes 1:11There is no memory of the former; neither shall there be any memory of the latter that are to come, among those that shall come after.Both describe memory disappearing, though Psalm 9 concerns overthrown cities and Ecclesiastes speaks of former and future generations.
Exodus 14:13Moses said to the people, “Don’t be afraid. Stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will work for you today; for you will never again see the …Psalm 9 describes an enemy's lasting ruin; Moses promises that the people will never see those Egyptians again.
Isaiah 14:22–23“I will rise up against them,” says the LORD of Armies, “and cut off from Babylon name and remnant, and son and son’s son,” says the LORD.Both describe God's judgment reaching beyond present power to erase a name or memory.
1 Corinthians 15:26The last enemy that will be abolished is death.Both speak of an enemy's end, with Corinthians naming death as the last enemy to be abolished.
Micah 7:8Don’t rejoice against me, my enemy. When I fall, I will arise. When I sit in darkness, the LORD will be a light to me.Both speak of an enemy in relation to the LORD, though Micah describes hope amid defeat rather than the enemy's ruin.
Isaiah 26:14The dead shall not live. The departed spirits shall not rise. Therefore you have visited and destroyed them, and caused all memory of them to perish.Both describe destruction under God's judgment so complete that even the memory of those destroyed perishes.
Exodus 17:14The LORD said to Moses, “Write this for a memorial in a book, and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua: that I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from …Both connect an enemy's defeat with erased memory: Psalm 9 describes it, while Exodus records God's promise concerning Amalek.
Jeremiah 51:25“Behold, I am against you, destroying mountain,” says the LORD, “which destroys all the earth. I will stretch out my hand on you, roll you down from the rocks, …Both portray God bringing destruction upon a hostile power, with ruined cities in the psalm and a burned mountain in Jeremiah.
Psalm 34:16The LORD’s face is against those who do evil, to cut off their memory from the earth.Both psalms describe God's judgment against evil extending to the loss of memory from the earth.
2 Kings 19:25Haven’t you heard how I have done it long ago, and formed it of ancient times? Now I have brought it to pass, that it should be yours to lay waste fortified …Both attribute the overthrow of cities to God's action, with Kings also naming a human agent of that destruction.
Isaiah 10:6–7I will send him against a profane nation, and against the people who anger me I will give him a command to take the plunder and to take the prey, and to tread …Both portray devastating judgment under God's authority, though Isaiah specifies plunder and trampling rather than the erasure of memory.
Where this verse fits
Injustice and anger. fear for the future. sermon or Bible study notes.
One step
Something small to carry out of this verse
Encouragement
The ruin described here is severe, and it belongs within a song about God's righteous judgment. The enemy's end is set against YHWH’s enduring reign.
Now put it in your words.
Start an entry on Psalm 9:6. 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 9 · 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).