My enemies without reason Hunted me down like a bird;
Parallel translations
- WEB They have chased me relentlessly like a bird, those who are my enemies without cause.
- KJV Mine enemies chased me sore, like a bird, without cause.
- BSB Without cause my enemies hunted me like a bird.
- NKJV My enemies without cause Hunted me down like a bird.
- NLT My enemies, whom I have never harmed, hunted me down like a bird.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
His enemies have hunted him relentlessly without cause.
Overview
The poet, perhaps speaking for the faithful remnant or the city, describes being chased like a hunted bird by groundless foes. The phrase 'enemies without cause' marks the injustice of the persecution. This experience is taken up messianically of Christ, who said 'They hated me without a cause' (Ps. 69:4; John 15:25).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- Ps 35:19Don’t let those who are my enemies wrongfully rejoice over me; neither let those who hate me without a cause wink their eyes.
- Ps 35:7For without cause they have hidden their net in a pit for me. Without cause they have dug a pit for my soul.
- Jer 38:4–6Then the princes said to the king, “Please let this man be put to death; because he weakens the hands of the men of war who remain in this city, and the hands of all the people, in speaking such words to them: for this man doesn’t seek the welfare of this people, but harm.”
- 1 Sam 24:10–15Behold, today your eyes have seen how Yahweh had delivered you today into my hand in the cave. Some urged me to kill you; but I spared you; and I said, I will not stretch out my hand against my lord; for he is Yahweh’s anointed.
- 1 Sam 25:28–29Please forgive the trespass of your servant. For Yahweh will certainly make my lord a sure house, because my lord fights Yahweh’s battles. Evil will not be found in you all your days.
- Ps 69:4Those who hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of my head. Those who want to cut me off, being my enemies wrongfully, are mighty. I have to restore what I didn’t take away.
- Jer 37:15–16The princes were angry with Jeremiah, and struck him, and put him in prison in the house of Jonathan the scribe; for they had made that the prison.
- Ps 109:3They have also surrounded me with words of hatred, and fought against me without a cause.
- John 15:25But this happened so that the word may be fulfilled which was written in their law, ‘They hated me without a cause.’
- Ps 119:161Princes have persecuted me without a cause, but my heart stands in awe of your words.
- 1 Sam 26:18–20He said, “Why does my lord pursue his servant? For what have I done? What evil is in my hand?
- Ps 11:1For the Chief Musician. By David. In Yahweh, I take refuge. How can you say to my soul, “Flee as a bird to your mountain!”
- Jer 37:18Moreover Jeremiah said to king Zedekiah, “How have I sinned against you, against your servants, or against this people, that you have put me in prison?
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
The weeping over a ruined city and the steadfast mercies that are new every morning point to the man of sorrows who wept over Jerusalem and whose mercy rises new from the grave.
How Lamentations 3:52 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.