The Lord portrayed the outpouring of his wrath towards the unfaithful in terms of a fire that consumes the wicked (Deuteronomy 32:22; Exodus 15:7). In Psalm 21:9, King David used imagery similar to that used in this verse when referring to the destruction of the enemies of the Lord’s anointed king. He wrote, You will make them as a blazing oven when you appear. The Lord will swallow them up in his wrath, and fire will consume them. It is clear, therefore, that the day burning like an oven refers to the day when the wicked will be punished. John the Baptist used the imagery of fire for the judgment that Christ would render to the wicked (Matthew 3:12). And Jesus himself referred to the day of harvest (that is, the day of judgment) as a day when the weeds would be gathered, bound, and burned with fire (see Matthew 13:30, also Matthew 25:41, where Jesus refers to the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels, into which the wicked will be cast on the day of judgment).