Render unto them a recompence, 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.
- BSB You will pay them back what they deserve, 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 28:4Give them according to their deeds, and according to the wickedness of their endeavours: give them after the work of their hands; render to them their desert.
- Jer 11:20But, O LORD of hosts, that judgest righteously, that triest the reins and the heart, let me see thy vengeance on them: for unto thee have I revealed my cause.
- 2 Tim 4:14Alexander the coppersmith did me much evil: the Lord reward him according to his works:
- Rev 6:10And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?
- Rev 18:6Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works: in the cup which she hath filled fill to her double.
- Jer 50:29Call together the archers against Babylon: all ye that bend the bow, camp against it round about; let none thereof escape: recompense her according to her work; according to all that she hath done, do unto her: for she hath been proud against the LORD, against 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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