I am a joke to people everywhere; when they see me, they shake their heads in scorn.
Parallel translations
- WEB I have also become a reproach to them. When they see me, they shake their head.
- KJV I became also a reproach unto them: when they looked upon me they shaked their heads.
- BSB I am an object of scorn to my accusers; when they see me, they shake their heads.
- ESV I am an object of scorn to my accusers; when they see me, they wag their heads.
- NKJV I also have become a reproach to them; When they look at me, they shake their heads.
- NASB I also have become a disgrace to them; When they see me, they shake their head.
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 has become an object of scorn, with people shaking their heads at the sight of him. His suffering brings public contempt.
Overview
The shaking of the head was a gesture of mockery and derision. This experience of reproach is taken up most fully by Christ, at whose cross the passersby 'wagged their heads' (Matthew 27:39; Psalm 22:7). David's affliction thus foreshadows the rejection endured by the suffering Messiah.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Ps 22:6–7But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised by the people.
- Ps 69:19–20You know my reproach, my shame, and my dishonor. My adversaries are all before you.
- Rom 15:3For even Christ didn’t please himself. But, as it is written, “The reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me.”
- Ps 69:9–12For the zeal of your house consumes me. The reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me.
- Job 16:4I also could speak as you do. If your soul were in my soul’s place, I could join words together against you, and shake my head at you,
- Heb 13:13Let us therefore go out to him outside of the camp, bearing his reproach.
- Heb 12:2looking to Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising its shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
- Mark 15:29Those who passed by blasphemed him, wagging their heads, and saying, “Ha! You who destroy the temple, and build it in three days,
- Ps 35:15–16But in my adversity, they rejoiced, and gathered themselves together. The attackers gathered themselves together against me, and I didn’t know it. They tore at me, and didn’t cease.
- Ps 31:11–13Because of all my adversaries I have become utterly contemptible to my neighbors, A fear to my acquaintances. Those who saw me on the street fled from me.
- Matt 27:39–40Those who passed by blasphemed him, wagging their heads,
- Isa 37:22this is the word which Yahweh has spoken concerning him. The virgin daughter of Zion has despised you and ridiculed you. The daughter of Jerusalem has shaken her head at you.
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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 109:25 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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