May my accusers be clothed with disgrace; may they wear their shame like a robe.
Parallel translations
- WEB Let my adversaries be clothed with dishonor. Let them cover themselves with their own shame as with a robe.
- KJV Let mine adversaries be clothed with shame, and let them cover themselves with their own confusion, as with a mantle.
- ESV May my accusers be clothed with dishonor; may they be wrapped in their own shame as in a cloak!
- NKJV Let my accusers be clothed with shame, And let them cover themselves with their own disgrace as with a mantle.
- NASB May my accusers be clothed with dishonor, And may they cover themselves with their own shame as with a robe.
- NLT May my accusers be clothed with disgrace; may their humiliation cover them like a cloak.
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 his adversaries be clothed with disgrace and shame as with a robe. The dishonor they sought for him will cover them instead.
Overview
Echoing the clothing imagery used of the wicked man's cursing (vv. 18-19), David asks that shame visibly envelop his accusers. It is a plea for just reversal, that those who dishonored the righteous be themselves dishonored before God. The believer, by contrast, is clothed with Christ's righteousness rather than shame (Galatians 3:27).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Ps 35:26May those who gloat in my distress be ashamed and confounded; may those who exalt themselves over me be clothed in shame and reproach.
- Ps 132:18I will clothe his enemies with shame, but the crown upon him will gleam.”
- Job 8:22Your enemies will be clothed in shame, and the tent of the wicked will be no more.”
- Jer 20:11But the LORD is with me like a fearsome warrior. Therefore, my persecutors will stumble and will not prevail. Since they have not succeeded, they will be utterly put to shame, with an everlasting disgrace that will never be forgotten.
- Ps 109:17–19The cursing that he loved, may it fall on him; the blessing in which he refused to delight, may it be far from him.
- Ps 6:10All my enemies will be ashamed and dismayed; they will turn back in sudden disgrace.
- Dan 12:2And many who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake, some to everlasting life, but others to shame and everlasting contempt.
- Ps 140:9May the heads of those who surround me be covered in the trouble their lips have caused.
- Mic 7:10Then my enemy will see and will be covered with shame—she who said to me, “Where is the LORD your God?” My eyes will see her; at that time she will be trampled like mud in the streets.
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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 109:29 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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