'Wrath' in the Bible

And when Joseph’s master heard the words of his wife, saying, “This is the way your servant treated me,” his anger burned.

“Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce;And their wrath, for it was cruel.I will divide and disperse them in Jacob,And scatter them in [the midst of the land of] Israel.

and My wrath shall be kindled and burn; I will kill you with the sword, and your wives shall become widows and your children fatherless.

Now therefore, let Me alone and do not interfere, so that My anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them; and I will make of you (your descendants) a great nation.”

But Moses appeased and entreated the Lord his God, and said, “Lord, why does Your anger burn against Your people whom You have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand?

Why should the Egyptians say, ‘With evil [intent] their God brought them out to kill them in the mountains and destroy them from the face of the earth’? Turn away from Your burning anger and change Your mind about harming Your people.

Then Moses said to Aaron and to his [younger] sons Eleazar and Ithamar, “Do not uncover your heads nor let your hair hang loose nor tear your clothes [as expressions of mourning], so that you will not die [also] and so that He will not express His wrath and anger toward all the congregation. But your relatives, the whole house of Israel, may mourn the burning which the Lord has brought about.

then I will act with hostility against you in wrath, and I also will punish you seven times for your sins.

But the Levites shall camp around the tabernacle of the Testimony, so that there will be no wrath against the congregation of the Israelites. The Levites shall be in charge of the tabernacle of the Testimony.”

Moses said to Aaron, “Take a censer and put fire in it from the altar and lay incense on it; then bring it quickly to the congregation and make atonement for them, for wrath has gone forth from the Lord; the plague has begun!”

So you shall attend to the duties of the sanctuary and the duties of the altar [of burnt offering and the altar of incense], so that there will no longer be wrath on the Israelites [as with Korah, Dathan, and Abiram].

“Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, has turned my wrath away from the Israelites because he was jealous with My jealousy among them, so that I did not destroy the Israelites in My jealousy.

Remember [with remorse] and do not forget how you provoked the Lord your God to wrath in the wilderness; from the day you left the land of Egypt until you arrived in this place, you have been rebellious against the Lord.

And at Horeb (Sinai) you provoked the Lord to wrath, and the Lord was so angry with you that He would have destroyed you.

“At Taberah also and at Massah and at Kibroth-hattaavah you provoked the Lord to wrath.

‘The whole land is brimstone and salt, a burning waste, unsown and unproductive, and no grass grows in it; it is like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which the Lord overthrew in His anger and wrath.’

and the Lord uprooted them from their land in anger and in wrath and in great indignation, and cast them into another land, as it is this day.’

This [is what] we will do to them: we will let them live, so that the wrath [of God] does not come upon us for [violating] the oath which we have sworn to them.”

Did not Achan the son of Zerah act unfaithfully in the things under the ban, and [as a result God’s] wrath came on the entire congregation of Israel? And that man did not perish alone in his wrongdoing.’”

Because you did not obey the voice of the Lord and did not execute His fierce wrath on Amalek, therefore the Lord has done this thing to you this day.

Then the king of Moab took his eldest son, who was to reign in his place, and offered him [publicly] as a burnt offering [to Chemosh] on the [city] wall [horrifying everyone]. And there was great wrath against Israel, and Israel’s allies [Judah and Edom] withdrew from King Jehoram and returned to their own land.

“Go, inquire of the Lord for my sake and for the sake of the people and for all Judah concerning the words of this book which has been found, for great is the wrath of the Lord which has been kindled against us, because our fathers have not listened to and obeyed the words of this book, so as to act in accordance with everything that is written concerning us.”

Because they have abandoned (rejected) Me and have burned incense to other gods, that they might provoke Me to anger with all the work of their hands, therefore My wrath burns against this place, and it will not be quenched.”’

However, the Lord did not turn from the fierceness of His great wrath which was kindled against Judah because of all the despicable acts with which Manasseh had provoked Him.

Joab the son of Zeruiah began a census but did not finish; and because of this, [God’s] wrath came on Israel, and the number was not recorded in the chronicles of King David.

When the Lord saw that they humbled themselves, the word of the Lord came to Shemaiah, saying, “They have humbled themselves so I will not destroy them, but I will grant them some measure of a remnant [that escapes]; and My wrath shall not be poured out on Jerusalem by means of Shishak.

When Rehoboam humbled himself, the wrath of the Lord turned away from him, so as not to destroy him completely; and also conditions were good in Judah.

Jehu the son of Hanani the seer went out to meet him and said to King Jehoshaphat, “Should you help the ungodly and love those who hate the Lord and in doing so bring wrath from the Lord on yourself?

Whenever any dispute comes to you from your brothers (relatives) who live in their cities, between blood and blood, between law and commandment, or between statutes and judgments, you are to warn [and instruct] them so that they may not be guilty before the Lord; otherwise [God’s] wrath will come on you and your brothers. Do this and you will not be guilty.

They abandoned the house of the Lord, the God of their fathers, and served the Asherim and the idols; so [God’s] wrath came on Judah and Jerusalem for their sin and guilt.

So Amaziah dismissed the troops that came to him from Ephraim, to go home. So their anger was kindled and burned greatly against Judah, and they returned home in the heat of anger.

Now therefore, hear me and return the captives whom you have captured from your brothers (fellow descendants of Israel, i.e. Jacob), for the burning anger of the Lord is against you.”

Therefore the wrath of the Lord has been against Judah and Jerusalem, and He has made them an object of terror, of horror, and of hissing, just as you see with your own eyes.

But Hezekiah did nothing [for the Lord] in return for the benefit bestowed on him, because his heart had become proud; therefore God’s wrath came on him and on Judah and Jerusalem.

However, Hezekiah humbled his proud heart, both he and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the wrath of the Lord did not come on them during the days of Hezekiah.

“Go, inquire of the Lord for me and for those who are left in Israel and in Judah in regard to the words of the book which has been found; for great is the wrath of the Lord which has been poured out on us because our fathers have not kept and obeyed the word of the Lord, to act in accordance with everything that is written in this book.”

Because they have abandoned (rejected) Me and have burned incense to other gods, in order to provoke Me to anger with all the works of their hands, My wrath will be poured out on this place and it will not be extinguished.”’

But they kept mocking the messengers of God and despising His words and scoffing at His prophets until the wrath of the Lord arose against His people, until there was no remedy or healing.

But because our fathers provoked the God of heaven to wrath, He handed them over to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, the Chaldean, who destroyed this temple and exiled the people to Babylon.

Whatever is commanded by the God of heaven, let it be done diligently and with enthusiasm for the house of the God of heaven, so that there will not be wrath against the kingdom of the king and his sons.

For I was ashamed to request troops and horsemen from the king to protect us from the enemy along the way, because we had told the king, “The hand of our God is favorable toward all those who seek Him, but His power and His anger are against all those who abandon (turn away from) Him.”

Let our leaders stand for and represent the entire assembly; let all those in our cities who have married foreign wives come at appointed times, together with the elders and judges of each city, until the burning anger of our God over this matter is turned away from us.”

Did your fathers (ancestors) not do the same, and did our God not bring all this trouble on us and on this city? Yet you are adding to the wrath on Israel by profaning the Sabbath.”

This [very] day the ladies of Persia and Media who have heard of the queen’s refusal will speak [in the same way] to all the king’s officials, and there will be plenty of contempt and anger.

After these things, when the wrath of King Ahasuerus (Xerxes) had subsided, he remembered Vashti and what she had done and what had been decreed against her.

Haman went away that day joyful and in good spirits. But when he saw Mordecai at the king’s gate refusing to stand up or show fear before him, he was filled with rage toward Mordecai.

Then in his fury, the king stood up from drinking wine and went into the palace garden [to decide what he should do]; but Haman stayed to plead for his life from Queen Esther, for he saw that harm had been determined against him by the king.

So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. Then the king’s anger subsided.

“Why should I take my flesh in my teethAnd put my life in my hands [incurring the wrath of God]?

“Oh, that You would hide me in Sheol (the nether world, the place of the dead),That You would conceal me until Your wrath is past,That You would set a definite time and then remember me [and in Your lovingkindness imprint me on your heart]!

“He will not escape from darkness [fleeing disaster];The flame [of God’s wrath] will wither his branch,And by the blast of His mouth he will go away.

“His wrath has torn me and hunted me down,He has gnashed at me with his teeth;My adversary sharpens His gaze and glares [with piercing eyes] at me.

“He has also kindled His wrath [like a fire] against meAnd He considers and counts me as one of His adversaries.

“When he fills his belly,God will send His fierce anger on himAnd will rain it upon him while he is eating.

“The produce and increase of his house will depart [with the victors];His possessions will be dragged away in the day of God’s wrath.

“Let his own eyes see his destruction,And let him drink of the wrath of the Almighty.

“That evil men are [now] reserved for the day of disaster and destruction,They will be led away on the day of [God’s] wrath?

“For it will hurl [thunderbolts of God’s wrath] at him unsparingly and without compassion;He flees in haste from its power.

“Do not let wrath entice you into scoffing;And do not let the greatness and the extent of the ransom turn you aside.

It came about that after the Lord had spoken these words to Job, that the Lord said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “My wrath is kindled against you and against your two friends, for you have not spoken of Me what is right, as My servant Job has.

Kiss (pay respect to) the Son, so that He does not become angry, and you perish in the way,For His wrath may soon be kindled and set aflame.How blessed [fortunate, prosperous, and favored by God] are all those who take refuge in Him!

You will make them as [if in] a blazing oven in the time of your anger;The Lord will swallow them up in His wrath,And the fire will devour them.

Cease from anger and abandon wrath;Do not fret; it leads only to evil.

O Lord, do not rebuke me in Your wrath,Nor discipline me in Your burning anger.

Because of the voice of the enemy,Because of the pressure of the wicked;For they bring down trouble on me,And in anger they persecute me.

Destroy them in wrath, destroy them so that they may be no more;Let them know that God rules over Jacob (Israel)To the ends of the earth. Selah.

For a cup [of His wrath] is in the hand of the Lord, and the wine foams;It is well mixed and fully spiced, and He pours out from it;And all the wicked of the earth must drain it and drink down to its dregs.

For the wrath of man shall praise You;With a remnant of wrath You will clothe and arm Yourself.

Therefore, when the Lord heard, He was full of wrath;A fire was kindled against Jacob,And His anger mounted up against Israel,

The wrath of God rose against themAnd killed some of the strongest of them,And subdued the choice young men of Israel.

But He, the source of compassion and lovingkindness, forgave their wickedness and did not destroy them;Many times He restrained His angerAnd did not stir up all His wrath.

He sent upon them His burning anger,His fury and indignation and distress,A band of angels of destruction [among them].

When God heard this, He was filled with [righteous] wrath;And utterly rejected Israel, [greatly hating her ways],

Pour out Your wrath on the [Gentile] nations that do not know You,And on the kingdoms that do not call on Your name.

You have withdrawn all Your wrath,You have turned away from Your burning anger.

Your wrath has rested heavily upon me,And You have afflicted me with all Your waves. Selah.

Your fierce wrath has swept over me;Your terrors have destroyed me.

But [in apparent contradiction of all this] You [the faithful Lord] have cast off and rejected;You have been full of wrath against Your anointed.

How long, O Lord?Will You hide Yourself forever?Will Your wrath burn like fire?

For we have been consumed by Your angerAnd by Your wrath we have been terrified.

For all our days pass away in Your wrath;We have finished our years like a whispered sigh.

Who understands the power of Your anger? [Who connects this brevity of life among us with Your judgment of sin?]And Your wrath, [who connects it] with the [reverent] fear that is due You?

“Therefore I swore [an oath] in My wrath,‘They absolutely shall not enter My rest [the land of promise].’”

Because of Your indignation and Your wrath,For You have lifted me up and thrown me away.

Therefore He said He would destroy them,[And He would have done so] had not Moses, His chosen one, stepped into the gap before Him,To turn away His wrath from destroying them.

Therefore the anger of the Lord was kindled against His peopleAnd He detested His own inheritance.

Then they would have [quickly] swallowed us alive,When their wrath was kindled against us;

Though I walk in the midst of trouble, You will revive me;You will stretch out Your hand against the wrath of my enemies,And Your right hand will save me.

Riches will not provide security in the day of wrath and judgment,But righteousness rescues from death.

The desire of the righteous brings only good,But the expectation of the wicked brings wrath.

The [arrogant] fool’s anger is quickly known [because he lacks self-control and common sense],But a prudent man ignores an insult.

A calm and peaceful and tranquil heart is life and health to the body,But passion and envy are like rottenness to the bones.

The king’s favor and good will are toward a servant who acts wisely and discreetly,But his anger and wrath are toward him who acts shamefully.

A soft and gentle and thoughtful answer turns away wrath,But harsh and painful and careless words stir up anger.

The wrath of a king is like a messenger of death,But a wise man will appease it.

The king’s wrath terrifies like the roaring of a lion,But his favor is as [refreshing and nourishing as] dew on the grass.

A man of great anger will bear the penalty [for his quick temper and lack of self-control];For if you rescue him [and do not let him learn from the consequences of his action], you will only have to rescue him over and over again.

A gift in secret subdues anger,And a bribe [hidden] in the pocket, strong wrath.

He who sows injustice will reap [a harvest of] trouble,And the rod of his wrath [with which he oppresses others] will fail.

Or the Lord will see your gloating and be displeased,And turn His anger away from your enemy.