Psalms 78:50

50 to clear a path for his wrath. He did not spare them from death, but gave them over to the plague,

Psalms 78:50 Meaning and Commentary

Psalms 78:50

He made a way to his anger
Or, "for" it, so that nothing could obstruct it, or hinder the execution of it; or "he weighed a path for his anger" ^F13; he weighed it in the balance of justice, and proportioned his anger to their crimes, and punished them according to their just deserts:

he spared not their soul from death, but gave their life over to the
pestilence;
which some understand of their cattle, and of the murrain that came upon them, by which they were destroyed, and which was the fifth plague of Egypt, ( Exodus 9:3 ) , so the Targum,

``their beasts he delivered unto death;''

but Aben Ezra interprets it of the slaughter of the firstborn, expressed in the following verse; and so others.

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FOOTNOTES:

F13 (wpal bytn olpy) "ponderavit semitam furori suo", Pagninus, Vatablus; "libravit semitam irae suae", Tigurine version; "iter ad iram suam", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.

Psalms 78:50 In-Context

48 Their cattle too he gave over to the hail and their flocks to lightning bolts.

49 He sent over them his fierce anger, fury, indignation and trouble, with a company of destroying angels

50 to clear a path for his wrath. He did not spare them from death, but gave them over to the plague,

51 striking all the firstborn in Egypt, the firstfruits of their strength in the tents of Ham.

52 But his own people he led out like sheep, guiding them like a flock in the desert.