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Psalm 99:8
You answered them, LORD our God. You are a God who forgave them, although you took vengeance for their doings.
6Moses and Aaron were among his priests, Samuel was among those who call on his name. They called on the LORD, and he answered them.
7He spoke to them in the pillar of cloud. They kept his testimonies, the statute that he gave them.
8You answered them, LORD our God. You are a God who forgave them, although you took vengeance for their doings.
9Exalt the LORD, our God. Worship at his holy hill, for the LORD, our God, is holy!
Notice
“Although” makes the sentence hard to smooth over: the God who answered and forgave also took vengeance for what his people had done.
Questions to write on. Each one opens a new entry with this verse already attached.
What changes in your reading of God's forgiveness when you reach the word “although”?
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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
Numbers 20:12The LORD said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you didn’t believe in me, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this …Moses and Aaron, named in the psalm's context, receive God's judgment in Numbers: they will not lead the assembly into the land.
Psalm 89:33But I will not completely take my loving kindness from him, nor allow my faithfulness to fail.Psalm 89 speaks of enduring loving kindness; Psalm 99 records forgiveness even when God takes vengeance for wrongdoing.
Ecclesiastes 7:29Behold, I have only found this: that God made mankind upright; but they search for many inventions.”Both distinguish God's character from human conduct: Ecclesiastes describes humanity's inventions, while the psalm names deeds for which God took vengeance.
Jeremiah 46:28Don’t be afraid, O Jacob my servant,” says the LORD, “for I am with you; for I will make a full end of all the nations where I have driven you, but I will not …Jeremiah promises Jacob preservation with punishment; the psalm recalls God's forgiveness together with vengeance for his people's deeds.
Exodus 32:34Now go, lead the people to the place of which I have spoken to you. Behold, my angel shall go before you. Nevertheless, in the day when I punish, I will punish …Exodus pairs God's continued guidance with promised punishment for sin; the psalm pairs answered prayer and forgiveness with vengeance.
Psalm 106:29Thus they provoked him to anger with their deeds. The plague broke in on them.Both psalms describe divine judgment in response to human deeds; Psalm 106 names a plague as the consequence.
Ezekiel 36:9For, behold, I am for you, and I will come to you, and you will be tilled and sown.The link is broad: God acts for good through forgiveness in the psalm and through making the land fruitful in Ezekiel.
Ezekiel 39:26They will forget their shame and all their trespasses by which they have trespassed against me, when they dwell securely in their land. No one will make them …Both speak of people who have wronged God; Ezekiel describes their future safety, while the psalm recalls forgiveness and vengeance.
Romans 1:30backbiters, hateful to God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,The shared thread is limited to human wrongdoing: Romans lists offenses, while the psalm speaks of God's response to wrongful deeds.
Deuteronomy 9:19–20For I was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure with which the LORD was angry against you to destroy you. But the LORD listened to me that time also.Deuteronomy recounts God's listening amid anger against the people; the psalm remembers answered prayer together with vengeance for their deeds.
Numbers 20:24“Aaron shall be gathered to his people; for he shall not enter into the land which I have given to the children of Israel, because you rebelled against my word …Aaron appears in the psalm's context; Numbers names his exclusion from the land as God's judgment for rebellion at Meribah.
Numbers 14:20–34The LORD said, “I have pardoned according to your word;God's pardon in response to a spoken plea in Numbers shares the psalm's connection between answered prayer and forgiveness.
Where this verse fits
Guilt and confession. sermon or Bible study notes.
One step
Something small to carry out of this verse
Encouragement
Forgiveness is real in this account, and so is God's judgment. The prayers were heard; the deeds still mattered to the holy God who answered.
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).