Exodus 32:19

32:19 When he approached the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, Moses became extremely angry. ¹  He threw the tablets from his hands and broke them to pieces at the bottom of the mountain. ² 

Exodus 32:22

32:22 Aaron said, “Do not let your anger burn hot, my lord; ³  you know these people, that they tend to evil. ⁴ 

Deuteronomy 29:20

29:20 The Lord will be unwilling to forgive him, and his intense anger ⁵  will rage ⁶  against that man; all the curses ⁷  written in this scroll will fall upon him ⁸  and the Lord will obliterate his name from memory. ⁹ 

Psalms 74:1

Psalm 74 ¹⁰ 

A well-written song ¹¹  by Asaph.

74:1 Why, O God, have you permanently rejected us? ¹² 

Why does your anger burn ¹³  against the sheep of your pasture?

Psalms 79:5

79:5 How long will this go on, O Lord? ¹⁴ 

Will you stay angry forever?

How long will your rage ¹⁵  burn like fire?

¹ tn Heb “and the anger of Moses burned hot.”

² sn See N. M. Waldham, “The Breaking of the Tablets,” Judaism 27 (1978): 442-47.

³ sn “My lord” refers to Moses.

⁴ tn Heb “that on evil it is.”

⁵ tn Heb “the wrath of the Lord and his zeal.” The expression is a hendiadys, a figure in which the second noun becomes adjectival to the first.

⁶ tn Heb “smoke,” or “smolder.”

⁷ tn Heb “the entire oath.”

⁸ tn Or “will lie in wait against him.”

⁹ tn Heb “blot out his name from under the sky.”

¹⁰ sn Psalm 74. The psalmist, who has just experienced the devastation of the Babylonian invasion of Jerusalem in 586 b.c., asks God to consider Israel’s sufferings and intervene on behalf of his people. He describes the ruined temple, recalls God’s mighty deeds in the past, begs for mercy, and calls for judgment upon God’s enemies.

¹¹ tn The meaning of the Hebrew term מַשְׂכִּיל (maskil) is uncertain. The word is derived from a verb meaning “to be prudent; to be wise.” Various options are: “a contemplative song,” “a song imparting moral wisdom,” or “a skillful [i.e., well-written] song.” The term occurs in the superscriptions of Pss 32, 42, 44, 45, 52-55, 74, 78, 88, 89, and 142, as well as in Ps 47:7.

¹² sn The psalmist does not really believe God has permanently rejected his people or he would not pray as he does in this psalm. But this initial question reflects his emotional response to what he sees and is overstated for the sake of emphasis. The severity of divine judgment gives the appearance that God has permanently abandoned his people.

¹³ tn Heb “smoke.” The picture is that of a fire that continues to smolder.

¹⁴ tn Heb “How long, O Lord?”

¹⁵ tn Or “jealous anger.”