Psalms 9:20

BSB · Public Domain (CC0)

“Lay terror upon them, O LORD; let the nations know they are but men. Selah”

What this verse means

A short, plain-language explanation of Psalms 9:20 goes here — the kind of answer a reader (or an AI assistant) can quote in one breath. Original meaning coming soon.

Compare translations
BSBPD

“Lay terror upon them, O LORD; let the nations know they are but men. Selah”

Berean Standard Bible · Public Domain (CC0)
KJVPD

“Put them in fear, O Lord: that the nations may know themselves to be but men. Selah.”

King James Version · Public Domain
ASVPD

“Put them in fear, O Jehovah: Let the nations know themselves to be but men. [Selah”

American Standard Version · Public Domain
YLTPD

“Appoint, O Jehovah, a director to them, Let nations know they <FI>are<Fi> men! Selah.”

Young's Literal Translation · Public Domain
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Cross references

Other passages that echo Psalms 9:20 — 14 related verses from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.

  1. Exodus 15:16and terror and dread will fall on them. By the power of Your arm they will be as still as a stone until Your people pass by, O LORD, until the people You have bought pass by.
  2. Exodus 23:27I will send My terror ahead of you and throw into confusion every nation you encounter. I will make all your enemies turn and run.
  3. Deuteronomy 2:25This 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.”
  4. 2 Chronicles 14:10So Asa marched out against him and lined up in battle formation in the Valley of Zephathah near Mareshah.
  5. Psalms 3:8Salvation belongs to the LORD; may Your blessing be on Your people. Selah
  6. Psalms 62:9Lowborn men are but a vapor, the exalted but a lie. Weighed on the scale, they go up; together they are but a vapor.
  7. Psalms 76:12He breaks the spirits of princes; He is feared by the kings of the earth.
  8. Psalms 82:6I have said, ‘You are gods; you are all sons of the Most High.’
  9. Isaiah 31:3But 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.
  10. Jeremiah 32:40I 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.
  11. Ezekiel 28:2“Son of man, tell the ruler of Tyre that this is what the Lord GOD says: Your heart is proud, and you have said, ‘I am a god; I sit in the seat of gods in the heart of the sea.’ Yet you are a man and not a god, though you have regarded your heart as that of a god.
  12. Ezekiel 28:9Will 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.
  13. Ezekiel 30:13This 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.
  14. Acts 12:22And they began to shout, “This is the voice of a god, not a man!”

Cross-reference data: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain) via OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0).

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