Let his children be continually vagabonds, and beg: let them seek their bread also out of their desolate places.
Parallel translations
- WEB Let his children be wandering beggars. Let them be sought from their ruins.
- BSB May his children wander as beggars, seeking sustenance far from their ruined homes.
- ESV May his children wander about and beg, seeking food far from the ruins they inhabit!
- NKJV Let his children continually be vagabonds, and beg; Let them seek their bread also from their desolate places.
- NASB May his children wander about and beg; And may they seek sustenance far from their ruined homes.
- NLT May his children wander as beggars and be driven from their ruined homes.
Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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
David prays that the wicked man's children be left homeless and begging. It pictures the total collapse of an evildoer's legacy under God's judgment.
Overview
The image of wandering, begging children driven from their ruined homes conveys the comprehensive undoing of the oppressor's house. Such imprecations express the psalmist's longing for justice against entrenched evil, not personal spite. The harshness underscores the seriousness of sin and the wholeness of the salvation Christ brings to those who, by contrast, are gathered rather than scattered.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- Ps 37:25I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.
- Gen 4:12–14When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength; a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth.
- 2 Kgs 5:27The leprosy therefore of Naaman shall cleave unto thee, and unto thy seed for ever. And he went out from his presence a leper as white as snow.
- Ps 59:15Let them wander up and down for meat, and grudge if they be not satisfied.
- Isa 16:2For it shall be, that, as a wandering bird cast out of the nest, so the daughters of Moab shall be at the fords of Arnon.
- Job 30:3–9For want and famine they were solitary; fleeing into the wilderness in former time desolate and waste.
- 2 Sam 3:29Let it rest on the head of Joab, and on all his father’s house; and let there not fail from the house of Joab one that hath an issue, or that is a leper, or that leaneth on a staff, or that falleth on the sword, or that lacketh bread.
- Job 24:8–12They are wet with the showers of the mountains, and embrace the rock for want of a shelter.
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 109:10 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.