Psalms 90:11

Who knoweth the power of thine anger?.... Expressed in his judgments on men: as the drowning of the old world, the burning of Sodom and Gomorrah, the consumption of the Israelites in the wilderness;

Who knoweth the power of thine anger? even according to thy fear, so is thy wrath. -The Second part, First division.

Who knoweth? few or none sufficiently apprehend it, or stedfastly believe it, or duly consider it, or are rightly affected with it. For all these things are comprehended under this word knoweth. The power of thine anger; the greatness, and force, and dreadful effects of thine anger conceived against the sons of men, and in particular against thine own people, for their miscarriages. According to thy fear, i.e. according to the fear of thee; as my fear is put for the fear of me, , and his knowledge for the knowledge of him, . According to that fear or dread which sinful men have of a just and holy God. These fears of the Deity are not vain bugbears, and the effects of ignorance and folly or superstition, as heathens and atheists have sometimes said, but are just, and built upon solid grounds, and justified by the terrible effects of thy wrath upon mankind. So is thy wrath; it bears full proportion to it, nay, indeed, doth far exceed it. It cannot be said of God’ s wrath, which is said of death, that the fear of it is worse than the thing itself. But this verse is by many, both ancient and later interpreters, rendered otherwise, and that very agreeably to the Hebrew text, Who knoweth the power of thine anger, and thy wrath according to thy fear? i.e. either, 1. According to the fear of thee, or so as thou art to be feared, or answerably to thy terrible displeasure against sin and sinners. Or,

Psalms 90:11 Who knoweth the power of thine anger? even according to thy fear, [so is] thy wrath.Ver. 11. Who knoweth the power of thine anger?] None doth, since it is such as no man can either avoid or abide; and such is men’ s stupidity, that few will believe till they feel it; no, though their lives be so short and uncertain. Even according to thy fear, so is thy wrath] Ira tua non est minor timore nostro; let a man tear thee never so much, he is sure to feel thee much more, if once he fall into thy fingers.

(11) Who knoweth . . .—Better, Who regardeth Thine anger And—in a measure due to reverence—Thy wrath? Who (no doubt with thought of Israel’s enemies) has that just terror of Thy wrath which a truly reverential regard would produce? It is only the persons who have that fearful and bowed apprehension of His Majesty, and that sacred dread of all offence to Him, which is called the “fear of God.” And this is not inconsistent with a child-like trust and love, and a peaceful security (“Of whom, then, shall I be afraid?”). On the other hand, those who scoff against religion often become the victims of wild and base terror.

Verse 11. Who knoweth the power of thine anger?] The afflictions of this life are not to be compared to the miseries which await them who live and die without being reconciled to God, and saved from their sins.

11. Who knoweth the power of thine anger, And thy wrath according to the fear that is due unto thee? (R.V.) Who understands or lays to heart the intensity of God’s wrath against sin so as to fear Him duly with that reverence which is man’s safeguard against offending Him? Cp. Psalms 5:7; Proverbs 3:7; Proverbs 8:13; Proverbs 16:6; Exodus 20:20; Deuteronomy 5:29.

Who knoweth the power of thine anger? - Who can measure it, or take a correct estimate of it, as it is manifest in cutting down the race of people?

11. Who knoweth—Who considers. The word implies a knowledge which leads to the avoidance of the cause of divine anger. The power of thine anger—The effective force and terror of thy judgments.