Bible Strands
Psalms 88:16
Your wrath has swept over me; Your terrors have destroyed me.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The psalmist addresses God while describing a prolonged state of affliction and near-death despair that began in youth.
The words — The Hebrew suffixes on חֲרוֹנֶ֑י/ךָ (cha.ro.Nei./kha) and בִּ֝עוּתֶ֗י/ךָ (bi.'u.Tei./kha) explicitly mark "wrath" and "terrors" as belonging to God. The verb עָבְר֣וּ ('a.ve.Ru) literally means "they have passed over," describing divine judgment sweeping across the speaker.
The thread — This motif of God's wrath as an inescapable, engulfing force appears in Psalms 38:1 and Revelation 6:17, while Galatians 3:13 contrasts it with Christ bearing the curse.
Why it lands — The text states that the speaker's destruction results directly from divine judgment rather than external enemies. It asks the reader to acknowledge the reality of unmitigated wrath before considering any redemptive resolution.
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
Thy fierce wrath goeth over me; thy terrors have cut me off.
Cross-references
- Galatians 3:13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. For it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.”
- Revelation 6:17 For the great day of Their wrath has come, and who is able to withstand it?”
- Psalms 38:1 A Psalm of David, for remembrance. O LORD, do not rebuke me in Your anger or discipline me in Your wrath.
- Psalms 89:46 How long, O LORD? Will You hide Yourself forever? Will Your wrath keep burning like fire?
- Psalms 90:7 For we are consumed by Your anger and terrified by Your wrath.
- Psalms 90:11 Who knows the power of Your anger? Your wrath matches the fear You are due.
- Psalms 102:10 because of Your indignation and wrath, for You have picked me up and cast me aside.
- Isaiah 53:4 Surely He took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows; yet we considered Him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted.
- Isaiah 53:8 By oppression and judgment He was taken away, and who can recount His descendants? For He was cut off from the land of the living; He was stricken for the transgression of My people.
- Daniel 9:26 Then after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut off and will have nothing. Then the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood, and until the end there will be war; desolations have been decreed.