As he clothed himself with cursing as with his garment, So let it enter his body like water, And like oil into his bones.
Parallel translations
- WEB He clothed himself also with cursing as with his garment. It came into his inward parts like water, like oil into his bones.
- KJV As he clothed himself with cursing like as with his garment, so let it come into his bowels like water, and like oil into his bones.
- BSB The cursing that he wore like a coat, may it soak into his body like water, and into his bones like oil.
- ESV He clothed himself with cursing as his coat; may it soak into his body like water, like oil into his bones!
- NASB But he clothed himself with cursing as with his garment, And it entered his body like water, And like oil into his bones.
- NLT Cursing is as natural to him as his clothing, or the water he drinks, or the rich food he eats.
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
The wicked man wore cursing like clothing, and it soaked into his very being. His evil was not occasional but his whole character.
Overview
Cursing penetrated him 'like water' and 'like oil into his bones,' picturing sin that has saturated a person inwardly and outwardly. The image warns that habitual sin becomes one's identity. It magnifies the gospel hope that Christ can clothe the sinner instead in His own righteousness (Isaiah 61:10).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- Ps 73:6Therefore pride is like a chain around their neck. Violence covers them like a garment.
- Num 5:22and this water that brings a curse will go into your bowels, and make your body swell, and your thigh fall away.” The woman shall say, “Amen, Amen.”
- Matt 27:3–5Then Judas, who betrayed him, when he saw that Jesus was condemned, felt remorse, and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders,
- Col 3:12Put on therefore, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, a heart of compassion, kindness, lowliness, humility, and perseverance;
- Acts 1:18Now this man obtained a field with the reward for his wickedness, and falling headlong, his body burst open, and all his intestines gushed out.
- Job 29:14I put on righteousness, and it clothed me. My justice was as a robe and a diadem.
- Col 3:8but now you also put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and shameful speaking out of your mouth.
- 1 Pet 5:5Likewise, you younger ones, be subject to the elder. Yes, all of you clothe yourselves with humility, to subject yourselves to one another; for “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”
- Num 5:27When he has made her drink the water, then it shall happen, if she is defiled, and has committed a trespass against her husband, that the water that causes the curse will enter into her and become bitter, and her body will swell, and her thigh will fall away: and the woman will be a curse among her people.
- Job 20:12–16“Though wickedness is sweet in his mouth, though he hide it under his tongue,
- Matt 26:24The Son of Man goes, even as it is written of him, but woe to that man through whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would be better for that man if he had not been born.”
- Acts 1:25to take part in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas fell away, that he might go to his own place.”
- Job 20:20–23“Because he knew no quietness within him, he shall not save anything of that in which he delights.
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 109:18 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.