divine retribution
God's wrathful justice
Divine retribution is punishment inflicted by God or the gods for wrongdoing.
The concept appears across religions—sinners suffer consequences ordained by higher powers.
It can describe actual theological belief or be invoked loosely: Some saw the hurricane as divine retribution for the city's sins.
The phrase often carries ironic or skeptical undertones when used by nonbelievers.
- NemesisGreek deity of vengeance
- wrath of GodSupreme being's anger
- damnationEternal punishment decree
- punishmentPenalty for an offense
- judgmentReasoned decision-making capacity
day of judgment · final judgment · smiting · sin · seven deadly sins · fall from grace · Armageddon · cosmic justice · poetic justice · Gomorrah · plague of locusts · Old Testament · fate · Greek tragedies · morality plays · Sodom · eye for an eye · Dante's Inferno
- afterlifeheaven, hell, paradise, purgatory, limbo
- Afterlife Judgmentscales of justice, judgment day, final judgment, Book of the Dead, Osiris
- Divine Punishmentwrath of God, smite, smiting, damnation, judgment day
- End Timesapocalypse, Armageddon, rapture, end times, tribulation
- Judgment Dayjudgment day, final judgment, day of reckoning, doomsday, second coming
- karmacomeuppance, good deeds, poetic justice, karmic debt, what goes around comes around
divine retributioncriminal justice
State apparatus for prosecuting offenders
natural consequences · secular law · civil justice · legal consequences · court judgment
divine retributiondivine grace
Unmerited favor from deity
divine mercy · divine blessing · divine favor · divine reward · heavenly reward
divine retributionabsolution
Formal clearing of guilt
redemption · forgiveness of sins · pardon · atonement · deliverance