Bible Strands
Psalms 9:20
Lay terror upon them, O LORD; let the nations know they are but men. Selah
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The psalmist addresses Yahweh directly, pleading for divine intervention against oppressive nations at a moment when human power threatens to triumph.
The words — The plea hinges on מוֹרָה (mo.Rah), meaning "terror," and אֱנ֖וֹשׁ ('e.No.osh), meaning "human being[s]," which together mark the boundary between divine judgment and mortal limitation.
The thread — The contrast between human frailty and divine sovereignty runs through Isaiah 31:3, Psalms 62:9, and Psalms 82:6.
Why it lands — The text commands the nations to recognize their mortality under God's judgment, requiring the reader to abandon reliance on human strength and submit to divine authority.
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
Put them in fear, O Lord: that the nations may know themselves to be but men. Selah.
Cross-references
- Isaiah 31:3 But the Egyptians are men, not God; their horses are flesh, not spirit. When the LORD stretches out His hand, the helper will stumble, and the one he helps will fall; both will perish together.
- Psalms 62:9 Lowborn men are but a vapor; the exalted are but a lie. Weighed on the scale, they go up; together they are but a vapor.
- Psalms 82:6 I have said, ‘You are gods; you are all sons of the Most High.’
- Jeremiah 32:40 I will make an everlasting covenant with them: I will never turn away from doing good to them, and I will put My fear in their hearts, so that they will never turn away from Me.
- Deuteronomy 2:25 This very day I will begin to put the dread and fear of you upon all the nations under heaven. They will hear the reports of you and tremble in anguish because of you.”
- Psalms 76:12 He breaks the spirits of princes; He is feared by the kings of the earth.
- Acts 12:22 And they began to shout, “This is the voice of a god, not a man!”
- Exodus 23:27 I will send My terror ahead of you and throw into confusion every nation you encounter. I will make all your enemies turn and run.
- Ezekiel 28:9 Will you still say, ‘I am a god,’ in the presence of those who slay you? You will be only a man, not a god, in the hands of those who wound you.
- Ezekiel 30:13 This is what the Lord GOD says: I will destroy the idols and put an end to the images in Memphis. There will no longer be a prince in Egypt, and I will instill fear in that land.