Psalms 78:50

50 to clear the ground, preparing the way before him. He didn't spare those people, he let the plague rage through their lives.

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.


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 He pounded their cattle with hail, let thunderbolts loose on their herds.
49 His anger flared, a wild firestorm of havoc, An advance guard of disease-carrying angels
50 to clear the ground, preparing the way before him. He didn't spare those people, he let the plague rage through their lives.
51 He killed all the Egyptian firstborns, lusty infants, offspring of Ham's virility.
52 Then he led his people out like sheep, took his flock safely through the wilderness.
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.