Pour your wrath upon the nations that did not know You and upon the kingdoms that did not call upon Your Name! Since they have consumed Jacob and laid waste His habitation (Ps. 79:6-7). Pour out Your fury upon them and the fierceness of Your anger shall reach them (Ps. 69:25)! You shall pursue them with anger and eradicate them from under the skies of the Lord (Lam. 3:66). Pour out Your wrath: One can explain this based on the first chapter of the Talmud Avodah Zarah, “You alone have I singled out all the families of the earth; that is why I will call you to account for all your iniquities.” (Amos 3:2) “One who has wrath [siseya], does he raise it against his beloved?99 I will relate a parable to you. To what is this matter comparable? To a person who lends money to two people: one of whom is his friend and the other one is his enemy. In the case of his friend, he collects the debt over time, little by little, whereas in the case of his enemy he collects the debt from him all at once.” And it is written, “For Your enemies rage, Your foes lift up the head. They plot craftily against Your people...”(Ps. 83:8-9) The sages explain, those who are enemies of God are enemies of Israel - they learned it from this verse. That which is stated, “Pour out Your wrath,” on the nations all at once because they are Your enemies. The proof is that they are our enemies, and those who are hated must pay back all at once. The proof that they are our enemies is in the second verse, “For they devoured Jacob…” and those who hate Israel also hate God. Rabbeinu Bachya100). (wikipedia) writes in Parshat Va’era, “The sages decreed that we begin the fourth cup of wine with “pour out Your wrath,” since in the future the blessed Holy One will make the nations of the world drink four cups of vengeance….” Rabbeinu Abudraham101 and the Rashbatz102 (at the end of his essay on chametz) do not accept this since this reason does not obligate one to say this for the fourth cup of wine and not for the other cups. They explain that for four cups of wine there is fear in pairs,103 but on this night, which is a night of vigil, we don’t have to be afraid of vengeance because of pairs, and so, “Pour out Your wrath,” is clearly on the nations and not against us. That is why we continue with “Not us…” which follows this.

According to my simple opinion it seems that the opinion of Rabbeinu Bachya and those who agree with him is correct, and that the question that is raised by others why, “Pour out Your wrath,” appears at the fourth cup is not a question at all. One might say that it is for the fourth cup of redemption that we ask God to pour forth four cups of vengeance on the nations. This request is more appropriate during the fourth cup which is the conclusion of the cups of wine. The idea that we say “Pour out Your wrath,” has to do with the danger of drinking pairs of cups is not clear. If one drinks a pair of cups would cause damage but if you don’t drink two cups it would not cause damage. It doesn’t make sense to blame God, God forbid, and also the verse says, “For they devoured Jacob.”