Psalms 17:9
There went up a smoke in his wrath: and a fire flamed from his face: coals were kindled by it.
Open Psalms 17:9 in the Motif Searcher, word by word across all five texts →Show on the spiral →The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Ascendit fumus in ira ejus, et ignis a facie ejus exarsit ; carbones succensi sunt ab eo.
- Septuagint (Swete)
- ἀνέβη καπνὸς ἐν ὀργῇ αὐτοῦ, καὶ πῦρ ἐναντίον αὐτοῦ κατεφλόγισεν, ἄνθρακες ἀνήφθησαν ἀπ᾽ αὐτοῦ.
- Hebrew (WLC) shown from Psalms 18:9
- עָ֘לָ֤ה עָשָׁ֨ן בְּאַפּ֗וֹ וְאֵשׁ מִפִּ֥יו תֹּאכֵ֑ל גֶּ֝חָלִ֗ים בָּעֲר֥וּ מִמֶּֽנּוּ
Haydock's commentary
By it. This relates to the clouds, thunder, and lightning. (Muis)
God's wrath is compared with smoke, fire, a dark night, or mist. (Worthington)
From Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, 1859, in the transcription made by Todd Easton and kept online by John Paul Wohlschied at johnblood.gitlab.io/haydock.
The Fathers on this verse
St Methodius Oration Concerning Simeon and Anna On the Day that They Met in the Temple
XII. And in addition to this, when besides the spectacle, and even beyond the spectacle, they heard an old man, very righteous, very worthy of credit, worthy also of emulation, inspired by the Holy Spirit, a teacher of the law, honoured with the priesthood, illustrious in the gift of prophecy, by the hope which he had conceived of Christ, extending the limits of life, and putting off the debt of death, when they saw him, I say, leaping for joy, speaking words of good omen, quite transformed with gladness of heart, entirely rapt in a divine and holy ecstasy; who from a man had been changed into an angel by a godly change, and, for the immensity of his joy, chant ed his hymn of thanksgiving, and openly proclaimed the “Light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of Thy people Israel.” Not even then were they willing to hear what was placed within their hearing, and held in veneration by th …
St Augustine Expositions on the Book of Psalms, Psalm XVIII
9. “There went up smoke in His wrath” ( ver. 8 ). The tearful supplication of penitents went up, when they came to know God’s threatenings against the ungodly. “And fire burneth from His face.” And the ardour of love after repentance burns by the knowledge of Him. “Coals were kindled from Him.” They, who were already dead, abandoned by the fire of good desire and the light of righteousness, and who remained in coldness and darkness, re-enkindled and enlightened, have come to life again.
Eusebius The Church History of Eusebius, Panegyric on the Splendor of Affairs
30. ‘The wicked have drawn out the sword, they have bent their bow, to slay the righteous in heart; let their sword enter into their own heart and their bows be broken.’ And again: ‘Their memorial is perished with a sound’ and ‘their name hast thou blotted out forever and ever’; for when they also were in trouble they ‘cried out and there was none to save: unto the Lord, and he heard them not.’ But ‘their feet were bound together, and they fell, but we have arisen and stand upright.’ And that which was announced beforehand in these words, ‘O Lord, in thy city thou shalt set at naught their image,’, has been shown to be true to the eyes of all.
St Gregory Nazianzen On His Father's Silence, Because of the Plague of Hail
6. Terrible is an unfruitful season, and the loss of the crops. It could not be otherwise, when men are already rejoicing in their hopes, and counting on their all but harvested stores. Terrible again is an unseasonable harvest, when the farmers labour with heavy hearts, sitting as it were beside the grave of their crops, which the gentle rain nourished, but the wild storm has rooted up, whereof the mower filleth not his hand, neither he that bindeth up the sheaves his bosom, nor have they obtained the blessing which passers-by bestow upon the farmers. …