Bible Strands
Psalms 34:16
But the face of the LORD is against those who do evil, to wipe out all memory of them from the earth.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The psalmist states this immediately after describing God’s attentive care for the righteous, framing the declaration as a direct contrast within a warning about divine justice. The words — פְּנֵי (pe.Nei) denotes the face or presence of Yahweh, while לְהַכְרִית (le.hakh.Rit) literally means to cut off or eradicate. The thread — This motif of divine opposition and legacy erasure runs through Jeremiah 44:11, where God sets His face to bring disaster and cut off a people, and Proverbs 10:7, which contrasts the enduring memory of the righteous with the rotting name of the wicked. Why it lands — It requires a reader to recognize that divine attention operates in two directions, demanding alignment with the righteous to avoid the stated consequence of total removal from the earth.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
The face of the Lord is against them that do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.
Cross-references
- Proverbs 10:7 The memory of the righteous is a blessing, but the name of the wicked will rot.
- Jeremiah 17:13 O LORD, the hope of Israel, all who abandon You will be put to shame. All who turn away will be written in the dust, for they have abandoned the LORD, the fountain of living water.
- Jeremiah 44:11 Therefore this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: I will set My face to bring disaster and to cut off all Judah.
- Leviticus 17:10 If anyone from the house of Israel or a foreigner living among them eats any blood, I will set My face against that person and cut him off from among his people.
- Job 18:17 The memory of him perishes from the earth, and he has no name in the land.
- Amos 9:4 Though they are driven by their enemies into captivity, there I will command the sword to slay them. I will fix My eyes upon them for harm and not for good.”
- Leviticus 26:17 And I will set My face against you, so that you will be defeated by your enemies. Those who hate you will rule over you, and you will flee when no one pursues you.
- Psalms 10:16 The LORD is King forever and ever; the nations perish from His land.
- Ecclesiastes 8:10 Then too, I saw the burial of the wicked who used to go in and out of the holy place, and they were praised in the city where they had done so. This too is futile.
- Ezekiel 14:7 For when any Israelite or any foreigner dwelling in Israel separates himself from Me, sets up idols in his heart, and puts a wicked stumbling block before his face, and then comes to the prophet to inquire of Me, I the LORD will answer him Myself.