You will pay them back what they deserve, O LORD, according to the work of their hands.
Parallel translations
- WEB You will render to them a recompense, Yahweh, according to the work of their hands.
- KJV Render unto them a recompence, O LORD, according to the work of their hands.
- NKJV Repay them, O Lord, According to the work of their hands.
- NASB You will repay them, Lord, In accordance with the work of their hands.
- NLT Pay them back, Lord, for all the evil they have done.
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
He prays that the Lord will repay his enemies according to their deeds.
Overview
The poet calls on God to render just recompense for the evil his enemies have done. This is an imprecatory plea, committing judgment to God rather than seizing it himself. Such prayers long for God's righteous justice, which the gospel both upholds and tempers with the call to love enemies and leave vengeance to God (Rom. 12:19; Rev. 19:2).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- Ps 28:4Repay them according to their deeds and for their works of evil. Repay them for what their hands have done; bring back on them what they deserve.
- Jer 11:20O LORD of Hosts, who judges righteously, who examines the heart and mind, let me see Your vengeance upon them, for to You I have committed my cause.
- 2 Tim 4:14Alexander the coppersmith did great harm to me. The Lord will repay him according to his deeds.
- Rev 6:10And they cried out in a loud voice, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You avenge our blood and judge those who dwell upon the earth?”
- Rev 18:6Give back to her as she has done to others; pay her back double for what she has done; mix her a double portion in her own cup.
- Jer 50:29Summon the archers against Babylon, all who string the bow. Encamp all around her; let no one escape. Repay her according to her deeds; do to her as she has done. For she has defied the LORD, the Holy One of Israel.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 3:64 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
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