Psalms 78:50

50 He let his wrath have its way; he did not keep back their soul from death, but gave their life to disease.

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 Ice was rained down on their cattle; thunderstorms sent destruction among the flocks.

49 He sent on them the heat of his wrath, his bitter disgust, letting loose evil angels among them.

50 He let his wrath have its way; he did not keep back their soul from death, but gave their life to disease.

51 He gave to destruction all the first sons of Egypt; the first-fruits of their strength in the tents of Ham;

52 But he took his people out like sheep, guiding them in the waste land like a flock.