Sálmarnir 78:38

Heilögum Biblíunni

38 En hann er miskunnsamur, hann fyrirgefur misgjörðir og tortímir eigi, hann stillir reiði sína hvað eftir annað og hleypir eigi fram allri bræði sinni.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

But he: Psalms 106:43-45, Exodus 34:6-9, Numbers 14:18-20, Numbers 16:44-48, Isaiah 44:21, Isaiah 44:22

many: Isaiah 48:9, Ezekiel 20:8, Ezekiel 20:9, Ezekiel 20:13, Ezekiel 20:14, Ezekiel 20:17, Ezekiel 20:21, Ezekiel 20:22

did not: 2 Kings 21:20

Reciprocal: Exodus 32:12 - Turn from Numbers 14:19 - and as thou Deuteronomy 13:17 - the Lord 2 Samuel 24:16 - repented 1 Chronicles 21:15 - repented him Ezra 10:14 - the fierce Nehemiah 9:17 - gracious Psalms 80:2 - stir up Psalms 85:4 - cause Psalms 103:14 - he knoweth Psalms 111:4 - full Isaiah 5:25 - For all Isaiah 27:8 - his rough Isaiah 57:16 - I will not Isaiah 63:9 - in his Jeremiah 15:6 - I am Lamentations 3:22 - of Lamentations 3:32 - General Hosea 11:9 - not execute Hosea 14:4 - for Jonah 4:2 - thou art Habakkuk 3:2 - in wrath Malachi 3:6 - therefore Matthew 18:27 - moved John 20:27 - Reach hither thy finger Romans 2:4 - forbearance James 5:11 - the Lord is

Gill's Notes on the Bible

But he, being full of compassion,.... Or merciful; having bowels of mercy, as a tender mother to the son of her womb; a word from the same root as this signifies the womb: the mercies of God are tender and abundant; there is a multitude of them; he is rich and plenteous in mercy, and so ready to forgive; hence it follows,

forgave their iniquity; forgiveness of sin flows from the tender mercy of God; it is according to the multitude of his mercies, and the riches of his grace; yet is through the blood and attoning sacrifice of his Son; and the word c that is here used signifies to expiate or atone; God never intended to pardon sinners, but through the propitiation of his Son, whom he set forth in his purpose, and sent forth in the fulness of time to be the propitiatory sacrifice for sin; he forgave the sins of Old Testament saints with a view to that; and it is for Christ's sake he forgives any; for without shedding of blood there is no remission; though perhaps, since these persons were impenitent, unbelievers and hypocrites, no more may be meant here by the forgiveness of their sins than averting a threatened judgment, or a removing of one, and putting a stop to the further execution of it, which is sometimes meant by forgiving sin; see Numbers 14:19 1 Kings 8:30 which sense the following words incline to:

and destroyed [them] not; though they deserved it, and he was able to do it, he did not destroy them immediately and at once, nor all of them, at least not their seed and posterity, who were preserved and brought into the land of Canaan:

yea, many a time turned he his anger away; he does not retain it for ever, or always carry on a resentment, or the appearance of it; though he causes grief, he has and shows compassion; he is said to turn away his anger from his own people when he forgives their sins, and comforts their souls, Psalms 85:2, so when he causes the effects of his displeasure to cease, or stays a plague, or stops a judgment, by means of any of his servants; see Numbers 25:8,

and did not stir up all his wrath; which their sins deserved, and was laid up among his treasures: the wrath of a temporal king is as the roaring of a lion, Proverbs 19:12 much more that of the King of kings; and the allusion here seems to be to the arousing of some fierce creature; the wrath of God is intolerable, and, even when it is kindled but a little, it cannot be endured; and much less should it be all stirred up; but here in wrath he remembered mercy.

c יכפר "propitiabitur", Montanus; "propitiatus est", Pagninus, Museulus; "propitius fuit", Tigurine version; "expiabat", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Cocceius, Gejerus, Michaelis.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

But he, being full of compassion - literally, “But he, merciful,” That is, he was ready to forgive them.

Forgave their iniquity - literally, Atoned for, expiated, covered over their iniquity. There is connected with the word the idea of expiation or atonement, as the ground of pardon.

And destroyed them not - Did not cut them off in their repeated acts of rebellion. He bore with them, and spared them.

Yea, many a time turned he his anger away - literally, He multiplied to turn his anger away. That is, he did it repeatedly. There were frequent occasions on their journey for doing this, and he did it.

And did not stir up all his wrath - literally, Did not excite, or arouse all his anger. His anger was stayed or mitigated, and they were suffered still to live.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Psalms 78:38. But he, being full of compassion — Feeling for them as a father for his children.

Forgave their iniquity — יחפר yechapper, made an atonement for their iniquity.

And did not stir up all his wrath. — Though they often grieved his Spirit, and rebelled against him, yet he seldom punished them; and when he did chastise them, it was as a tender and merciful Father. He did not stir up all his wrath - the punishment was much less than the iniquity deserved.