May my accusers be clothed with dishonor, And may they cover themselves with their own shame as with 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.
- BSB May my accusers be clothed with disgrace; may they wear their shame like a robe.
- 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.
- NLT May my accusers be clothed with disgrace; may their humiliation cover them like a cloak.
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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 35:26Let them be disappointed and confounded together who rejoice at my calamity. Let them be clothed with shame and dishonor who magnify themselves against me.
- Ps 132:18I will clothe his enemies with shame, but on himself, his crown will be resplendent.”
- Job 8:22Those who hate you shall be clothed with shame. The tent of the wicked shall be no more.”
- Jer 20:11But Yahweh is with me as an awesome mighty one. Therefore my persecutors shall stumble, and they shall not prevail. They shall be utterly disappointed, because they have not dealt wisely, even with an everlasting dishonor which shall never be forgotten.
- Ps 109:17–19Yes, he loved cursing, and it came to him. He didn’t delight in blessing, and it was far from him.
- Ps 6:10May all my enemies be ashamed and dismayed. They shall turn back, they shall be disgraced suddenly.
- Dan 12:2Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.
- Ps 140:9As for the head of those who surround me, let the mischief of their own lips cover them.
- Mic 7:10Then my enemy will see it, and shame will cover her who said to me, where is Yahweh your God? Then my enemy will see me and will cover her shame. Now she will be trodden down like the mire of 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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