“Do not touch my chosen people, and do not hurt my prophets.”
Parallel translations
- WEB “Don’t touch my anointed ones! Do my prophets no harm!”
- KJV Saying, Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm.
- BSB “Do not touch My anointed ones! Do no harm to My prophets!”
- NKJV Saying, “Do not touch My anointed ones, And do My prophets no harm.”
- NASB “Do not touch My anointed ones, And do not harm My prophets.”
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
God warns kings not to harm His chosen people, calling them His anointed and prophets. It matters because it shows God personally guards those He has set apart.
Overview
In the patriarchal period God restrained pagan rulers from harming Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Genesis 12; 20; 26). The terms 'anointed' and 'prophets' describe the covenant family as set apart and entrusted with God's word. The verse displays God's sovereign protection of His people, ultimately fulfilled in Christ, the true Anointed One through whom all the promises hold.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- Zech 2:8For Yahweh of Armies says: ‘For honor he has sent me to the nations which plundered you; for he who touches you touches the apple of his eye.
- Gen 26:11Abimelech commanded all the people, saying, “He who touches this man or his wife will surely be put to death.”
- Gen 20:7Now therefore, restore the man’s wife. For he is a prophet, and he will pray for you, and you will live. If you don’t restore her, know for sure that you will die, you, and all who are yours.”
- 1 Jn 2:27As for you, the anointing which you received from him remains in you, and you don’t need for anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is no lie, and even as it taught you, you will remain in him.
- Gen 49:8–33“Judah, your brothers will praise you. Your hand will be on the neck of your enemies. Your father’s sons will bow down before you.
- Gen 48:19–20His father refused, and said, “I know, my son, I know. He also will become a people, and he also will be great. However, his younger brother will be greater than he, and his offspring will become a multitude of nations.”
- Gen 27:39–40Isaac his father answered him, “Behold, of the fatness of the earth will be your dwelling, and of the dew of the sky from above.
- 1 Kgs 19:16Anoint Jehu the son of Nimshi to be king over Israel; and anoint Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel Meholah to be prophet in your place.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
The Psalms are Christ's own prayer book and a gallery of his portraits — the suffering one of Psalm 22, the risen Lord of Psalm 16, the priest-king of Psalm 110, the Son to whom the nations are given.
How Psalms 105:15 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.